my first photo shoot!! C&C please!!!

jackieclayton · Dec 20, 2009

Monochrome Fish said:
Love the moped and some of the composition arraignment in a few of them. I would post the settings of each photo so others have a better idea. (also might want to post fewer photos per thread so you can get better critique/comments).

Also to me it seems that is a little to much white in the picture, the moped, sky, hat and pants. Also the pictures overall seem a little bright, overexposed maybe? Thanks for posting.

wow, i never thought about it like that... you're right! i should have picked a bolder color outfit throughout since the moped is white. :thumbup:

jackieclayton · Dec 20, 2009

timfrommass said:
OH and just my 2 cents...which is worth less than others' here haha

I LOVE the composition on #9

#10 seems to capture her natural color the best, but you may have lost the sky a bit

#11 really has great emotion, just wish you got her hand and a bit more of the bike on the left side.

Great scenery though, wish I was there! Where is it?

-tim

thanks Tim! i live in Guam... the first place we went to was downtown Tumon (similar to Hawaii's Waikiki district) but the security guy kicked me off the sidewalk and said i coudln't park my moped there

So, there is an abandoned building near my house that kids have spray painted, i thought it would be a good alternative to urban setting.

IgsEMT · Dec 20, 2009

Question for everyone though, how can i adjust the skintone on the camera settings to limit the amount of post processing? It was sunny in the morning but by the time we moved over to the graffiti wall it was overcast and rainy... gotta the love the ever-changing island weather :er:

Porta Brace | White Balance Card | WBC | B&H Photo Video
or
CPM Delta 1 9122030 Gray Cards 8 in. X 10 in. - Focus Camera

same idea.

c.cloudwalker · Dec 20, 2009

I don't know if your sister is a natural or if you are good at directing your model but something nice was going on and you have good results in that respect.

However, as pointed out, you picked a hard color to deal with in bright sunlight for a beginner and a lot of your whites are blown. For such a shoot you should have waited for an overcast day or have a friend go along to hold a reflector.

As for the cut off body parts, here is an example of a famous photographer doing it: P090109-0127 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I would worry more about light control than body parts right now. Once you get the light under control, worry about about the rest. There are ways to cut off body parts that are better than others (Leibovitz's photo of the first family really surprises me, tbh) but they do get cut off all the time.

mostly sunny · Dec 20, 2009

Here is my 2 cents-

For me, there is too much going on int he back ground. I want to look at it, not the beautiful young lady.

Keep trying.. That is all we newbies can do! I don't want to be professional.. just get a good picture here and there.

jackieclayton · Dec 20, 2009

c.cloudwalker said:
I don't know if your sister is a natural or if you are good at directing your model but something nice was going on and you have good results in that respect.

However, as pointed out, you picked a hard color to deal with in bright sunlight for a beginner and a lot of your whites are blown. For such a shoot you should have waited for an overcast day or have a friend go along to hold a reflector.

lol, i think my sis must be a natural because i've never directed anyone before! maybe too b/c we are family we didn't feel awkward. my maternity shoot on the other hand (i posted that recently for C&C as well) i really gave poor direction, you could feel the awkwardness... its something i gotta work on and i think will come with experience the more i do it and feel comfortable with it. Thank you though, i told her after taking these pictures she should try modeling, she does great!

Question: there was bright sunlight for the first couple shots and then it turned overcast by the time we got to the wall... the pictures looked SO dark when i didn't use my flash so i used my SB900 flash and a deflector cover on the ones with a wall...

everyone has critiqued them for being overexposed, how can i correct this in the future on an overcast day? Any tips?

fiveoboy01 · Dec 21, 2009

Some of them look pretty good, others meh.

One thing that annoys me is that in some of the shots, the mirror of the moped is right in front of your subject. That's a no-no imo. Also, quite a few of them look a little soft to me. As said, there are some blown highlights. As a general rule you are off to a decent start though.

c.cloudwalker · Dec 21, 2009

Here is a book to help you with light control.

Amazon.com: Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera (Updated Edition) (9780817463007): Bryan Peterson: Books

ANDS! · Dec 21, 2009

Don't shoot into the sun. Especially if its so bright that it is screwing up the whites in your subject and props.

Second; you have an SB900 - take it off camera and use IT. They all come with that little stand I am assuming. Next time set it up on something (you don't even need a lightstand or an umbrella), and use it to control the light in your scene.

As for the setting in the first shots, its not bad, but my eyes are distracted by the busy background. Find a better angle that isolates the less busy parts of your scene if you are going to put folks in those settings.

Craig G · Dec 21, 2009

Your reflection is visible in the chrome on the mirror in your last shot.

GeneralBenson · Dec 21, 2009

I find the mirror to be pretty distracting in quite a few of the moped shots. Those are pretty big, and I'm sure it's kind of hard to get an angle without them blocking something important, but they are very distracting, being so shiny and all. As many have already said, many of the highlights are blown. That's quite a jump going from a d40 to a d700. That's like going from a dodge neon to a dodge viper.

Also, I find myself particularly offended by the way that the word 'moped' looks when written down.

iolair · Dec 21, 2009

1, 4, 9 ... shoulders straight onto the camera is rarely flattering of body shape.

1, 2, 3, 9, 10 ... have her drop her shoulders a little to appear more feminine. Compare the effect closely with the other shots where she does this.

1... that in-focus background is a bit too distracting. (in other similar shots you avoided the problem by blurring out the background).

10 ... the white hat and the almost-white sky blend, you lose your background separation.

My favourites are 8 and 11 (11 mostly because of the emotion - genuine smiles always help a photo!!)

iolair · Dec 21, 2009

jackieclayton said:
my maternity shoot on the other hand (i posted that recently for C&C as well) i really gave poor direction, you could feel the awkwardness... its something i gotta work on and i think will come with experience the more i do it and feel comfortable with it.

I know the feeling - the first time I shot a friend, I found incredibly awkward. When I did a shoot later with her and her boyfriend I'd prepared (though I didn't take it on paper) a list of poses, and the instructions I should give them to get into those poses. We obviously didn't stick to just the list but it made a good "ice-breaker" to get us started.

Reyna · Dec 21, 2009

I think for your first photo shoot you did a pretty good job. I also agree there is too much going on in the background and some are a bit to over-exposed.

iolair · Dec 21, 2009

jonahr said:
I have to tell you, the fact that you have a D700 and that you are a beginner, pisses me off to no end, that is a professional camera that you are clearly not taking full advantage of.

You might want to consider what posts like this say about you before you submit them.