Recent Senior Portraits-Critiques welcome!

[laynea24]

I am open to any suggestions you may have! Thank you!

 

[12sndsgood]

Just a couple of things that are standing out to me. in one I would try and straighten it up. And for number two, it just almost looks like shes positioned on her hands and knees. I am thinking shes laying down maybe? But it just doesnt look like the right pose in this situation.

 

[laynea24]

Just a couple of things that are standing out to me. in one I would try and straighten it up. And for number two, it just almost looks like shes positioned on her hands and knees. I am thinking shes laying down maybe? But it just doesnt look like the right pose in this situation.

I think you're right about straightening out the first one. On the second one, she is laying on a log. We tried taking them with her sitting up, but there wasn't enough room with the foliage around us. How would you have positioned her?

 

[12sndsgood]

I'm not sure, i'm still working on learning posing myself. and it's even harder when im not there to see how the log and everything was laid out to really be of any help. It just looks a bit awkward to my eyes. Thinking where her fingers are coming up thru the bottom of the image isn't helping matters. I would probably just scrap that one myself. but its just an opinion and we all know about those lol.

 

[laynea24]

Yeah posing is something I really need to work on. I don't like that her hands are cut off either, but I couldn't get any further away from her because of where we were. We had to do some climbing. Lol. Thanks for the tips!

 

[DiskoJoe]

Its not posing you have a problem with. The framing is the issue here. Her poses were both great but in #1 your frame is not aligned well and that fence post is protruding into the picture and a odd angle. Easy to fix with some distortion correction. #2 was just cropped too tight. Other then that they are pretty decent. Watch the white balance though. #1 she is slightly yellow and #2 she is really pale white. Go kind of in between those two and she should look good.

 

[laynea24]

Thanks for the tips! I just bought a white balance card, so that should help me. I didn't crop the second one at all.. I was just really close to her and could not move any further back because of where we were.

 

[The_Traveler]

What follows is my OPINION only. take it for what its worth.

Upright it a bit.
Note that:
A bit cold (note sclera of eyes)
the background is pretty bright, her face is sort of dark and low contrast
her right shoulder is bright
She has lots of facial blemishes.

After uprighting, warming, making the background and shoulder darker, the face brighter and more contrasty and removing some facial stuff.

 

[The_Traveler]

What follows is my OPINION only. take it for what its worth.

Upright it a bit.
Note that:
A bit cold (note sclera of eyes)
the background is pretty bright, her face is sort of dark and low contrast
her right shoulder is bright
She has lots of facial blemishes.

After uprighting, warming, making the background and shoulder darker, the face brighter and more contrasty and removing some facial stuff.

View attachment 8148

and perhaps clear up her fly-away ends a bit.
I'm far from an expert at this but a quick work looks OK.

 

[MReid]

She looks uncomfortable in both shots, let her pose herself.
1 is green 2 is pink.
Neither shot is flattering to her...keep working at it.
Find better light and settings. Work with her until she is acting naturally then she will look more comfortable and be able to pose herself.
Contrary to popular opinion, shaded light in a green environment (like a park) is the worst kind of light for natural light photography.

 

[DiskoJoe]

Thanks for the tips! I just bought a white balance card, so that should help me. I didn't crop the second one at all.. I was just really close to her and could not move any further back because of where we were.

A white piece of paper works in a pinch too. Not quite as accurate but it will get you closer then the camera settings.

 

[laynea24]

The_Traveler- Your corrections look great! How many photos do you generally edit per client? I feel like that would take up a lot of time to touch up every photo that much.

 

[laynea24]

She looks uncomfortable in both shots, let her pose herself.
1 is green 2 is pink.
Neither shot is flattering to her...keep working at it.
Find better light and settings. Work with her until she is acting naturally then she will look more comfortable and be able to pose herself.
Contrary to popular opinion, shaded light in a green environment (like a park) is the worst kind of light for natural light photography.

What is the best kind of light for natural light photography?

 

[o hey tyler]

The_Traveler- Your corrections look great! How many photos do you generally edit per client? I feel like that would take up a lot of time to touch up every photo that much.

It doesn't take that much time when you get used to it. And trust me, if you're going to pursue photography, you need to get used to it. Clients want to look their best. Especially for work that will be published.

For me (not speaking for The Traveler), it depends on the length of the session and what the client wants in terms of volume of photos. Senior sessions are usually between 10 and 20 for me.

 

[o hey tyler]

She looks uncomfortable in both shots, let her pose herself.
1 is green 2 is pink.
Neither shot is flattering to her...keep working at it.
Find better light and settings. Work with her until she is acting naturally then she will look more comfortable and be able to pose herself.
Contrary to popular opinion, shaded light in a green environment (like a park) is the worst kind of light for natural light photography.

What is the best kind of light for natural light photography?

At dawn or dusk. Look up the 'golden hours.' Shooting during those time frames will lead to decreased harshness of shadows, better light wrapping, and +2 experience.