Christie Photo
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Yeah... you're gonna want a longer lens. I suggest at least 80mm for individual portraits.
But I think the best place to put your attention right now is posing and lighting.
Let's look at the first one. The lighting here is pretty flat, mostly due to the on-camera flash. As a result, we don't get a sense of roundness or shape. The pose isn't too bad, but all the problems are compounded by the short lens. Posing her hands bunched together and close to her face exaggerates the size of her hands so that they compete for attention with her face. Her body is creating horizontal line, which is stagnant and not as flowing as a diagonal line (like her arms).
Did you consider cropping this one to a vertical format? That might help with the background and minimize the effect of the short lens.
I hope this helps!
-Pete
But I think the best place to put your attention right now is posing and lighting.
Let's look at the first one. The lighting here is pretty flat, mostly due to the on-camera flash. As a result, we don't get a sense of roundness or shape. The pose isn't too bad, but all the problems are compounded by the short lens. Posing her hands bunched together and close to her face exaggerates the size of her hands so that they compete for attention with her face. Her body is creating horizontal line, which is stagnant and not as flowing as a diagonal line (like her arms).
Did you consider cropping this one to a vertical format? That might help with the background and minimize the effect of the short lens.
I hope this helps!
-Pete