ok, let me have it. Both barels

[TMBPhotography]

I did my first photo shoot indoors. It was horrible. So many blurry shots. Underexposed shots. I was playing around with everything to get the right exposure. Its just not connecting in my head as to what to do to fix the problem. If I raise the aperture, the shutter speed would go up and the shot becomes blurry. If I dialed it down, it still was blurry. I tried a tripod and that didn't seem to help based on where I had it and our lack of space. I didn't have a lot of time to prepare or think about my shots cause she had to run out the door so we just shot a lot and see what sticks. Here are a few of them. Yes, the focus is off. Other helpful comments?
1)

2)

3)

 

[GnipGnop]

Her posture in the bottom is awkward and makes her look like she has no neck. Her smile looks the most natural in the bottom one though.

Can you give some more info on what the photos are for? It looks like a bright room. What is the exif data for these?

 

[LightSpeed]

Red faced.


un-red faced

 

[rexbobcat]

In the first one, the mirror does nothing to complement the model. When I first saw the image, my eye looked at her face for a moment and then drifted to the reflection of the back of her head. The lighting is decent, but there is a shadow behind her which leads me to believe that a flash was used. When I don't have a proper lighting setup and I have to use flash, I try to stay away from walls and flat surfaces, because it accentuates the shadow.

In the second photo, her hair on the left side of her face seems in focus, but her face does not. It also looks a little dark, and underexposed. Her teeth are a dull grey, instead of being realisitically white. They're also a bit yellow as well, probably because of the white balance was set too high. I like her expression in this picture. I would have taken the photo with her pose like this without it being a reflection, though. Because we can see the side of her face, it doesn't really seem like the reflection matches her physical self because of the perspective that is shown. It looks like it's two seperate people. Clones. ಠ_ಠ

The last photo is not bad, but I agree with Gnip. The jacket makes her look neckless. I think the jacket doesn't work for that reason, and because there is no context that explains the jacket. If it was snowing outside, it would be understandable, but since she's inside a house it seems off. Did you choose the jacket because it matched the plants?

 

[MissCream]

That's when you bump the ISO up or add light

 

[TMBPhotography]

The point of the photo shoot was just to give me more practice.
1) Resolution: 682 x 1023 Focal Length: 50.0mm Exposure Time: 0.100 s (1/10) Aperture: f/1.8 ISO Equiv.: 1000 Metering Mode: spot Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)

2) Resolution: 1023 x 682 Focal Length: 50.0mm Exposure Time: 0.0100 s (1/100) Aperture: f/1.8 ISO Equiv.: 6400 Whitebalance: Manual Metering Mode: spot Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)

3) Resolution: 701 x 1023 Focal Length: 50.0mm Exposure Time: 0.0031 s (1/320) Aperture: f/2.0 ISO Equiv.: 5000 Metering Mode: spot Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)

 

[cgipson1]

Want SHARP under 10 feet to subject???? Quit shooting at F1.8! Use a minimum of F4/F5.6 until you learn how to use larger apertures. You are making a classic beginner mistake... you hear about Bokeh, and using LARGE apertures.. so you want to do it! But you aren't ready yet! (most lenses are also SHARPER stopped down a bit!)

Also.. indoors.. USE FLASH!!!! Even the pop-up is better than nothing. Diffuse it with a paper towel or printer paper. Roll a tube (1 thickness of paper) just big enough to fit over the popup (1.5 to 2").. leave it about 4" long. It will help....

That will let you keep the ISO lower.. say about 400....

try it.. and post the pics! I dare you!

 

[LightSpeed]

Gipson thinks he knows everything.
And sometimes I agree with him. lol

 

[TMBPhotography]

In the first one, the mirror does nothing to complement the model. When I first saw the image, my eye looked at her face for a moment and then drifted to the reflection of the back of her head. The lighting is decent, but there is a shadow behind her which leads me to believe that a flash was used. When I don't have a proper lighting setup and I have to use flash, I try to stay away from walls and flat surfaces, because it accentuates the shadow.

In the second photo, her hair on the left side of her face seems in focus, but her face does not. It also looks a little dark, and underexposed. Her teeth are a dull grey, instead of being realisitically white. They're also a bit yellow as well, probably because of the white balance was set too high. I like her expression in this picture. I would have taken the photo with her pose like this without it being a reflection, though. Because we can see the side of her face, it doesn't really seem like the reflection matches her physical self because of the perspective that is shown. It looks like it's two seperate people. Clones. ಠ_ಠ

The last photo is not bad, but I agree with Gnip. The jacket makes her look neckless. I think the jacket doesn't work for that reason, and because there is no context that explains the jacket. If it was snowing outside, it would be understandable, but since she's inside a house it seems off. Did you choose the jacket because it matched the plants?

Composition wasn't on my list of to do things tonight. Given my short amount of time to work with her, I just tried figuring out the focus and lighting issues. As for the coat, thats just what she was wearing at the time. She did take it off later on but I didn't have any shots that were good enough to post here. I took about 200 pics and these were the best of them. I do have some pics with flash. Here is one of them.

 

[cgipson1]

Gipson thinks he knows everything.
And sometimes I agree with him. lol

Would you agree that my advice would help him? I don't know everything... but I fake it pretty good!

 

[cgipson1]

Composition wasn't on my list of to do things tonight. Given my short amount of time to work with her, I just tried figuring out the focus and lighting issues. As for the coat, thats just what she was wearing at the time. She did take it off later on but I didn't have any shots that were good enough to post here. I took about 200 pics and these were the best of them. I do have some pics with flash. Here is one of them.

WHERE was your focal point????? It wasn't on her.. and sure wasn't on her eyes.. where it needed to be. Did you attempt to lock focus and then recompose.. or did you shoot with the focal point on the mirror between her and her reflection??

 

[TMBPhotography]

I went into panic mode when almost all of my early shots were coming out blurry. Then, they were coming out underexposed. So, the whole thought process on what to do to fix it flew out the window.

 

[LightSpeed]

The green HAD TO GO.
And the blue needed to be blue.

 

[TMBPhotography]

do you all think this flash shot is better than all the other shots?

 

[cgipson1]

Challenge....

Put a person in front of you.. have them just stand there facing you. have them at least 10 feet away from any background.. preferably a single color wall.

set camera to AV... at ISO 400. Aperture to F4 or F5.6. Set the focus method to SPOT.. if your camera will do that. Raise popup flash.. and diffuse per previous instructions.

Stand about 4 to 5 feet away.. put the focus spot on the subjects eye.. and shoot (gently click that shutter button.. don't hammer it!).. do not recompose.. just shoot! Check for sharpness. It should be razor sharp..

If your camera will let you.. move the focus point in the viewfinder to wherever it needs to be to allow you to get a good facial shot.. without recomposing... focus on the eye.. shoot...

If you are doing this right.. it should be nice! Post it! Say thank you!