Photoshoot of friend...C&C extremely welcomed

[TenaciousTins]

Today a friend of mine came over and we went to a big church and had a photo shoot. Now for one, I am not really happy with the way the pics turned out, but I want to post some anyway for the heck of it. I have post-processed them a lot in Lightroom and in some of them, I wasn't sure what exactly I was missing. I did use a reflector (white) but there wasn't a lot of sun today so it fell relatively flat. I don't have any extra equipment so these are pretty much au naturale lol

ETA: I shot with a Canon Rebel T1i, the kit 18-55m lens, at 400ISO and varying shutter speeds. It was cloudy with a bit of sun, and I used auto white balance as I have yet to get a gray card. I did not use a tripod as we were moving around quite a bit. I started out shooting in the Tv mode (without realizing it) and later switched to full manual and thus changed my aperture accordingly.

This girl was adopted so doesn't know her heritage. Her skin tone is very interesting and it's very hard to get right. So anyway, here are the pics...and I'm happy to provide the originals or you can edit these as you like! And I won't be offended no matter what you say. I just do this for fun and today I wanted to practice poses, something I've never tried to do before (not to mention using the reflector which I am not used to, and shooting at a new location)

1. ISO400, 18mm, 1/200sec, F11

2. ISO400, 21mm, F21 (it chose this for me...eek), 1/125sec.

3. ISO400, 55mm, F5.6, 1/400sec

4. Same as shot no. 3 only with 1/500sec

5. ISO400, 55mm, F14, 1/125sec

6. ISO400, 55mm, F5.6, 1/250sec

7. (I know the hands are monster in this pic...oops...won't be doing that again!) ISO400, 27mm, F5.0, 1/400sec...b+w in PP

Rip me to shreds :mrgreen:

 

[Stobber]

I know one thing for sure, you had a great subject to work with! She is extremely photogenic, has great eyes, and every pose seems very natural and comfortable. I think they were well composed, and they all look great to me. I am no expert but I like what I see.

2 & 6 are my favorites

 

[TenaciousTins]

Thank you Stobber. She is absolutely stunning. I love her. She is willing for me to do photo shoots with her any time...she'll even get into any pose I ask her to. And wear pretty much anything. I get stuck on words as to how to explain different poses and stuff, because I am sooooooo visual and NOT auditory! But she is great...she's fun and flexible so guarantee you'll be seeing more of her!

 

[Desi]

I really like #2. The gold "cap" seems better in BW. #6 is next best for me. #1 is interesting for the symmetry, but she seems a bit lost in the picture.

 

[Ulriksen]

I really like number 4. I like that you managed to take such good pictures with only a reflector. I do however miss the little shadows in her face from an external flash put to the side to create more of a character in her face. However, I love number 4, and again great work with the lighting

What kind of camera and lens did you use?

 

[lepierce3]

Im pretty much a newbie, but from what I see these look pretty good. I love 6 the most. I like how bright and colorful it is and the pose looks very natural. I dont really know much about camera settings, but as far as thr posing goes I'd like to see her turned more so you dont get such straight on shots, especially with the close-ups. I think this could have been very useful on number 7, because the pose is nice but if you turned her so that her hands were at more of an angle they wouldnt have looked so big

 

[TenaciousTins]

*blushes* thanks guys.

I have a Canon T1i, and the kit 18-55mm lens. My reflector is a 22 inch round cheapo and I hardly used it at all cause, well, I didn't have anyone or anything to hold it at the time. I love shooting in natural light if at all possible.

I have the Speedlite 430EXII flash, but don't know (and am going to find out) if it can be used as an external flash off to the side. I have no budget for anything new at the moment but as I get a few bucks here and there I get new stuff.

Thanks so much for your feed back. I really appreciate it. She is a great girl and I enjoy "shooting" her. She's extremely photogenic and I reckon she has American Indian somewhere in her blood...but she says she came from Mexico as a baby to be adopted. Either way, she is very ideal. This was her Halloween costume and she was dressing up as Cleopatra. She posted a phone picture of her in it, and I instantly begged her to do a photoshoot, to which she readily agreed. I'm glad, because it totally fits her personality.

I'm terrible at telling my "models" what to do even though I can envision it. I guess that comes with experience and doing it a lot though.

 

[fjrabon]

I felt like 6 was a great shot, but a little washed out.

Here's what I did:


modelhelp by franklinrabon, on Flickr

I lowered the brightness a touch, jacked the highlight compensation a lot. After this the image was still a little flat, so I bumped the vibrancy and saturation a little bit. Then I straightened and cropped it somewhat.

Thoughts?

 

[TenaciousTins]

I really like it, except for the dimensions in her face...I don't know, it seems sort of orangey and flat, but maybe that's me (and I have no experience with editing). I like the rest of the edit though...love that it's not so washed out anymore!

Here is the original:

And here's one slightly closer up that I actually like better, but I didn't like that I cut off her hair when it's so long and beautiful

And the original of that:

 

[MTVision]

I think you did a great job!

#4 - The pose would have been more flattering if she hadn't been square to the camera. Maybe if she was turned slightly. I love the plaque in the shot though! I had forgotten you were from Vermont!

5 - I love the close up shot but the hand on the face looks weird to me. Because you can't see the rest of the arm it looks like a disembodied hand on her face. It could just be me though!

 

[fjrabon]

yeah, it was hard to get the coloring right, because I wasn't actually sure what any of the colors in the photograph actually were exactly supposed to be.

 

[TenaciousTins]

MT: That's what I was going for in the first shot, but I was stumbling over my words trying to explain to her how to turn so I just kept snapping because we were freezing Yeah, definitely in Vermont...this is an 1821 church, beautiful location...I want to learn how to use everything that this location has.

Number 5 was a suggested pose but you're right LOL! Is this better?

I didn't like the crop on this one or the light but yeah lol

Or this

Or this

Didn't like the crop on this either

And without the gold cap thingymajigger and no hand

 

[TenaciousTins]

Yeah, it is hard! She has a very strange skin tone too. It's not quite hispanic but not quite American Indian either and sometimes she could pass for an Indian too. It has plenty of yellow AND red in it...making it come out in a picture is hard!

 

[Meekminx]

Gorgeous model!

I have to agree with Stobber; she is so very photogenic!

Although I am in the same boat as you, here's my critique!

1) With this shot, the subject is too far back to be visually appealing. You did a good job composing the building, but with the subject just standing dead center, hands at her side... it's almost like she's lost in the scene.

2) Her ankle looks twisted (I sit like this too, so I understand that she could have been comfy, too). I'm not a fan of this and I believe it's because of the crazy busy ground. She's sitting on a half step, but then the door frame is on another level. It just seems disorienting to me. The focus seems soft on her face, as well.

3) I like this portrait and I would love to see it in B/W

4) This was my favorite. If you rotate her left hip slightly back, her waist would appear less centered to the frame. As beautiful as she is, this picture is great in color. The fall background and the way you included the "in honor of" sign in the bottom right, so she's poised with it. My only nit-picks are wardrobe malfunctions. Keep an eye on clothing. Her hip was against the stone so it puffed up the fabric (which makes her hip look a bit strange), and the left sleeve seems a lot bigger than the right.

5) Would love to see this in B/W. The gold headpiece just seems a bit over done in color. Great portrait though.

6) I agree with the others about wanting a tighter crop. Try not to center all of your pictures. Google the "Rule of Thirds" to see what I mean. The exposure looks off, underexposed (is the right term).

7) My 2nd favorite, actually. You're right, the hands ruin it, but go Shoot this again! I love the poised look she has. She appears tall, defiant, and determined. Go and re-shoot!

 

[TenaciousTins]

Otto, I'll be interested to see what you come up with!

And the rule of thirds...I know about it, know how to use it, and still forget about it... *smacks forehead*

About the first picture...I'm not sure what I was thinking other than to show the size and the grandness of that huge church. But I strangely like it even though she does seem a bit lost in the pic. That was almost sort of on purpose lol

B&W on 3rd and 5th pic...

I didn't change any of the settings on the second one, just converted to B+W, messed with it a little on the first one. I am not good with B+W pics because I don't know what makes a really good B+W portrait yet.

Meek, where would you suggest I place the hands the next time I shoot this shot? It will probably be a while before I get to do it again but, live and learn! I almost don't notice the hands because the picture does get drawn to her face more. I love it enough the way it is, now will just redo it with hands somewhere else...but where? It's a round stone...this is the stone (and a not so good pic of her)