my first self potrait

[FilmaTroy]

just got some umbrella flashes and still tryng to figure them out.. C+C would be appreciated! any tips on what to or what not to do? thanks!

 

[chip]

how about not cutting off your legs?

 

[DennyCrane]

Not to say this is a DiVinci, but ol' Leonardo cut off Mona Lisa's body... right?
I'm not worried about legs cut off... that's not any kind of issue. Most portraits aren't full head to toe shots.

I'm no expert in the mechanics of taking a good portrait, but maybe take a step forward and open the aperture a little to blur your backdrop? The wrinkles are a little distracting. Other than that, I can't offer anything positive or negative.

 

[Brian L]

looks alright man. Little more practice dude and you'll have it. The backdrop does need to not have so many winkles at the bottom. Get at incident meter too if you can. they help a lot metering for strobes or your setup. Portraits usually include full body. so in your shot include the feet. then I like to go waist up. giving or taking what the person is wearing. from there shoulders and heads.


Great start though man. you could even crop this picture some. I wouldn't say its bad. just needs a little work. Keep it up.

 

[robbie_vlad]

Not bad for a first try! However there are a few things I noticed right away:

Your WB seems off
Iron your backdrop so the wrinkles aren't distracting, then take a step or two foward to distance yourself from the backdrop. An larger aperture (f/8-f/11) will make the backdrop less distracting
As a personal rule I use, I would say don't cut off limbs or part of someones body unless doing so for compositional purposes. Here, cutting off at the knees will be annoying. For most portraits, either do full body shots, waist and up shots, or headshots to avoid this.

 

[FilmaTroy]

tahnks for all the help people, i didnt know about the leg cutting being a rule and all, but my wb wasnt off that was photoshopped like that.ill post another some other time