Senior Portraits of Cory

[JayG1372]

These are some portraits I did exactly 1 year ago. I would love any CC as it will help me continue to progress today! I still hope you enjoy the photos!

 

[tirediron]

The thing that strikes me about these first is that all needed fill light. In each case the young lady's eyes are dark holes. Even a simple reflector would have brought some life to them and reduced the overall dynamic range at least slightly. Additionally there are a number of fly-away hairs and skin issues that really need some retouching work. The poses are nice, and her expression is genuinely happy, which is a huge plus. I think with some effort in the pixel room these could be turned from rather mediocre to quite strong images.

 

[JayG1372]

I completely agree and appreciate your feedback. These were taken at my infancy with a camera. I did not have an off camera flash yet, had not really done a lot post production work, but she did mention she did not want me to touch her face, so I followed orders. It was one of my first interactions with a "client" as she was a friend of mine. But I will spend some time in lightroom/photoshop and see how I can ramp these up a year later. Thank you for taking the time to respond.

 

[waday]

Sooo... what have you learned in a year? Share some photos now to show how far you've come?

 

[JayG1372]

I just shared a post of some other portraits ive done in another gallery. But I will attach some here.

 

[Christie Photo]

Yup. John has already addressed the lighting problems. My take is a bit different. These all feel to me like there's nothing but fill, with no real main light.

The posing is week. LOTS of limbs amputated. The second view bothers me the most, but not because of rigid lines or cut-off hands. If this is a high school senior (as I suspect), I feel the pose is too risqué... revealing just a bit too much.

You found some really nice settings to work. I think I know just what you were going for in each scene, but didn't quite pull it off. Again... it's largely due to the absence of any portrait lighting scheme.

Your more recent additions show an incredible improvement. I wouldn't have guessed they were made by the same photographer. Good goin'!

-Pete

 

[JayG1372]

Thank you, Christie. I appreciate your take on the images. At the time of these photos, I had not really taken into account framing, lighting, as well as poses. This was an eye opener for me for sure. I remember at the time trying to reference images via google for ideas, rather than try to pose her in a way to make my own shots work for me.

I am still learning every day and working on building my equipment list to be able to pull off better shots with fill lighting/main lighting.

Thank you also for your compliment on my improvement, its always nice to hear that I am going in the right direction and is very humbling =)