Graduate photos C&C

[HL45]

A friend of mine wanted me to take some shots to use in his college graduation invites.
First time shooting outdoors with only natural light and a male subject.
4:30 pm when we started, the sun was bright and clouds would block it regularly.
I took the 5D Classic 70-200 f/2.8 and a Sigma 50mm 1.4, took my flash but could not use it off camera due to buying cheap equipment that has now failed to work.
I've only had the 5D for a short time so I'm still not 100% on the controls compared to the T2i that I'm used to.
White balance was set at 5950 for all shots. I used the custom WB selector in LR4 to edit.
I think my editing skills are lacking, found myself using the tone curve allot which I normally don't use.
Thanks for any help in all aspects of this set.

I'm not getting paid for these but I think the point has come that I start setting a price even at amateur status for my time and effort!
Any thoughts on that would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Mitch

Exif available on flick


untitled-7801 by mtw2118, on Flickr

The sun was in his eyes here...squint!

untitled-7843 by mtw2118, on Flickr


untitled-7901 by mtw2118, on Flickr


untitled-7913 by mtw2118, on Flickr


untitled-7913 by mtw2118, on Flickr


untitled-7901 by mtw2118, on Flickr

 

[kathyt]

Your composition and focus is very nice. Your WB is really off. If you just compare his suit in all four of these images, they are all different. Go back and reset that first one, and take your eye dropper tool right around the grey part of his sock. See what you get from that. Try to get those 3 numbers as close together as possible. Once you think you have you WB down pat, then sync the WB on the images in the same lighting to keep your work consistant.

 

[ronlane]

Kathy, the wb in #1 & 4 will be different than #2 & 3 because of the shade vs sunlight, correct?

 

[pixmedic]

Kathy, the wb in #1 & 4 will be different than #2 & 3 because of the shade vs sunlight, correct?

yes..BUT, it could be corrected. the first two look cool to me, and the second two look warmer.
when you have different light placement giving your images a different tone, you have to adjust each one a little differently to make the WB match.
it just means processing each photo a little differently to make them all even in the end.

 

[runnah]

The one with the lion he is squinting big time.

 

[hirejn]

You have good contrast and sharpness going for you and a reasonable sense of composition. But there are many details that need attention. If you're doing custom WB in LR, what are you using as the target? You need a trusted white card. You can't just go off of something white in the scene or choose a camera setting. The clothes are a different color in every image. They should be more consistent, especially in the same light. This is difficult to do without correct WB and color profiling.

No. 3 is the most interesting pose, but it's overexposed. A hand-held light meter will get you exact much quicker than fiddling with matrix and exposure compensation. A professional portrait is exposed exactly and lit properly from the start and requires little to no exposure enhancement and is more about refining skin and the overall vision of the image than fixing.

No. 2 looks more like a tourist shot, like the lion is the feature and he's just a guy getting his picture next to it. No. 4 the background is brighter than the subject, which can be distracting, and there's no quality of light on the subject. I keep going to the leaves and the windows. The eye moves from left to right, so you want it to stop on the right side, not drift out of frame. No. 1 is a crotch shot. Get a no-crotch angle. For harsh mid day portraits you need some fill light.

 

[HL45]

Your composition and focus is very nice. Your WB is really off. If you just compare his suit in all four of these images, they are all different. Go back and reset that first one, and take your eye dropper tool right around the grey part of his sock. See what you get from that. Try to get those 3 numbers as close together as possible. Once you think you have you WB down pat, then sync the WB on the images in the same lighting to keep your work consistant.

Thanks, added a couple edits to my first post. I didn't think about the sock, I was picking from the white shirt.

 

[HL45]

You have good contrast and sharpness going for you and a reasonable sense of composition. But there are many details that need attention. If you're doing custom WB in LR, what are you using as the target? You need a trusted white card. You can't just go off of something white in the scene or choose a camera setting. The clothes are a different color in every image. They should be more consistent, especially in the same light. This is difficult to do without correct WB and color profiling.

No. 3 is the most interesting pose, but it's overexposed. A hand-held light meter will get you exact much quicker than fiddling with matrix and exposure compensation. A professional portrait is exposed exactly and lit properly from the start and requires little to no exposure enhancement and is more about refining skin and the overall vision of the image than fixing.

No. 2 looks more like a tourist shot, like the lion is the feature and he's just a guy getting his picture next to it. No. 4 the background is brighter than the subject, which can be distracting, and there's no quality of light on the subject. I keep going to the leaves and the windows. The eye moves from left to right, so you want it to stop on the right side, not drift out of frame. No. 1 is a crotch shot. Get a no-crotch angle. For harsh mid day portraits you need some fill light.

Thanks, hand-held light meter is on my list, I have the grey card just need to use the darn thing. Thanks again for the critique, didn't realize the crotch shot till you mentioned it.

 

[kathyt]

You have good contrast and sharpness going for you and a reasonable sense of composition. But there are many details that need attention. If you're doing custom WB in LR, what are you using as the target? You need a trusted white card. You can't just go off of something white in the scene or choose a camera setting. The clothes are a different color in every image. They should be more consistent, especially in the same light. This is difficult to do without correct WB and color profiling.

No. 3 is the most interesting pose, but it's overexposed. A hand-held light meter will get you exact much quicker than fiddling with matrix and exposure compensation. A professional portrait is exposed exactly and lit properly from the start and requires little to no exposure enhancement and is more about refining skin and the overall vision of the image than fixing.

No. 2 looks more like a tourist shot, like the lion is the feature and he's just a guy getting his picture next to it. No. 4 the background is brighter than the subject, which can be distracting, and there's no quality of light on the subject. I keep going to the leaves and the windows. The eye moves from left to right, so you want it to stop on the right side, not drift out of frame. No. 1 is a crotch shot. Get a no-crotch angle. For harsh mid day portraits you need some fill light.

Thanks, hand-held light meter is on my list, I have the grey card just need to use the darn thing. Thanks again for the critique, didn't realize the crotch shot till you mentioned it.

If you really want to tote something along for WB, I would suggest a Expodisc instead of a greycard. Very handy tool.

 

[kathyt]

Kathy, the wb in #1 & 4 will be different than #2 & 3 because of the shade vs sunlight, correct?

Yeah. So, he will want to sync only the ones in the same lighting scenario together. Even after I sync my WB, I will just go through and sometimes make minor tweaks. At least you get a good baseline.

 

[ryanwaff]

In your edited fourth shot, it looks as if you have oversharpened slightly. He has a slight halo all the way around him, which is especially visible around his head and bits of the right hand side. Nothing major, but noticeable.
Overall, very nice shots.

 

[jwbryson1]

WB and other issues aside, I think these are really good. Number 4 is $$$.

 

[HL45]

You have good contrast and sharpness going for you and a reasonable sense of composition. But there are many details that need attention. If you're doing custom WB in LR, what are you using as the target? You need a trusted white card. You can't just go off of something white in the scene or choose a camera setting. The clothes are a different color in every image. They should be more consistent, especially in the same light. This is difficult to do without correct WB and color profiling.

No. 3 is the most interesting pose, but it's overexposed. A hand-held light meter will get you exact much quicker than fiddling with matrix and exposure compensation. A professional portrait is exposed exactly and lit properly from the start and requires little to no exposure enhancement and is more about refining skin and the overall vision of the image than fixing.

No. 2 looks more like a tourist shot, like the lion is the feature and he's just a guy getting his picture next to it. No. 4 the background is brighter than the subject, which can be distracting, and there's no quality of light on the subject. I keep going to the leaves and the windows. The eye moves from left to right, so you want it to stop on the right side, not drift out of frame. No. 1 is a crotch shot. Get a no-crotch angle. For harsh mid day portraits you need some fill light.

Thanks, hand-held light meter is on my list, I have the grey card just need to use the darn thing. Thanks again for the critique, didn't realize the crotch shot till you mentioned it.

If you really want to tote something along for WB, I would suggest a Expodisc instead of a greycard. Very handy tool.

I just looked at the Expodisc on youtube! Gotta try that could be a big time saver for me lol

In your edited fourth shot, it looks as if you have oversharpened slightly. He has a slight halo all the way around him, which is especially visible around his head and bits of the right hand side. Nothing major, but noticeable.
Overall, very nice shots.

Thanks

WB and other issues aside, I think these are really good. Number 4 is $$$.

Thanks