Senior Shoot C&C please and thank you :)

[Brandon Hill]

I dig #3 a lot. That shot flatters here. I think your shots from a distance are stronger, just keep the eyes in focus when you can. Don't feel the need to rush these kind of shoots, chose quality over quantity. Senior picture photographers are always going overboard with locations I think so don't feel pressure to do more than necessary.

3 great images in a single location > than 20 okay images in multiple locations.

 

[shinycard255]

Personally, I like #1 the best out of all of them, but I will agree with everyone that they are just a tad bit OOF (soft), I'm also not sure if that's the look you were going for or not. Work on getting the front eye tack sharp and you'll have some killer images

Sorry but can I ask what you mean specifically about the front eye tack sharp? ie: how I can make sure I am doing this Thanks again for your help

What I mean by this is when you have a person in front of your camera, you should be worried about focusing on the eye that is closest to the camera. So in this photo, I was referring to the girl's right eye, because it is closer to the camera than the left eye. Even if there is a little of fall off on the back eye, you still have the front eye in focus and it still would be a great shot.

Another tip that I would like to share is it seems you are 'shooting up' into them. Try standing a little higher than their height and shooting down into them. This will help with getting rid of the double chin that can occur in some people. Another way to help then get rid of it is to tell them 'forehead to the camera', or have them turtle out their neck. This will also help with making their jaw-line stronger

 

[Tony S]

Along with Derrel's comment on posing earlier, three of the four shots are square on shots, not usually a very pleasing feminine pose. Kind of gives the squared linebacker look when it's done.

On another note, your lighting ratio (in the first image and then the one you added later) from the highlighted side of her face to the shadowed side is too harsh. Bring down the exposure and use some fill for the shadows, a reflector would work good for this to soften that difference.

 

[KmH]

Light, posing, and camera perspective can all be used to minimize body features that do not flatter the client.

Derrel mentioned how broad lighting tends to make a persons face seem wider, so broad light works for people that have narrow faces while short lighting works for people that have wide faces.
Only using available light (often called 'natural' light) can be so very, very limiting.

Overweight people benefit from a higher camera angle, while under weight people benefit from a lower camera angle, which shinycard255 alluded to.

In short, a first step in planning a shoot involves doing some analysis of the subject, and then using light, pose, and camera perspective to the client's advantage.

Learning to do portrait photography well is a lot more involved than many new to portrait photography realize.

 

[CorrieMichael]

View attachment 27633 okay what about this one....chin down......what do I do about the shoulders? Should it be cropped differently? and what about focus?

This type of lighting, which is called broad lighting, makes her face look very fat.

As far as your comments to me in post #11: "Okay so I have switched my settings to OK to edit......please feel free to teach me a few things on cropping by going ahead and cropping the first image to your standards so that I may see what this picture should look like if cropping is one of many issues that you see. Again you may teach me how to crop if you would like to crop the fourth as well......other than that I can appreciate you do not like either the style, compositional techniques......well let's just be nice and say you don't really like anything about my photos! AND you are dealing with someone who would like to learn, so I have no issues with the criticism." --end quote

First image: cannot be saved by a post-capture crop...you cropped her off right at the bustline...the camera was held horizontal on a standing girl...nobody can recover that shot from that mistake, fully. The fourth shot? A crop cannot save it...she is positioned 100% square-shouldered to the camera AND standing flat-footed...shot #4 looks like shot #3, with her arm raised...these are fundamental posing issues, not issues about "cropping" post-capture. Cropping is not the key issue: the issues are posing and framing. Both happen in the field, not at the computer. I cannot fix these shots.

Thanks for your input

 

[CorrieMichael]

View attachment 27633 okay what about this one....chin down......what do I do about the shoulders? Should it be cropped differently? and what about focus?

This type of lighting, which is called broad lighting, makes her face look very fat.

As far as your comments to me in post #11: "Okay so I have switched my settings to OK to edit......please feel free to teach me a few things on cropping by going ahead and cropping the first image to your standards so that I may see what this picture should look like if cropping is one of many issues that you see. Again you may teach me how to crop if you would like to crop the fourth as well......other than that I can appreciate you do not like either the style, compositional techniques......well let's just be nice and say you don't really like anything about my photos! AND you are dealing with someone who would like to learn, so I have no issues with the criticism." --end quote

First image: cannot be saved by a post-capture crop...you cropped her off right at the bustline...the camera was held horizontal on a standing girl...nobody can recover that shot from that mistake, fully. The fourth shot? A crop cannot save it...she is positioned 100% square-shouldered to the camera AND standing flat-footed...shot #4 looks like shot #3, with her arm raised...these are fundamental posing issues, not issues about "cropping" post-capture. Cropping is not the key issue: the issues are posing and framing. Both happen in the field, not at the computer. I cannot fix these shots.

Thanks so much for your input

 

[CorrieMichael]

QUOTE=Tony S;2789370]Along with Derrel's comment on posing earlier, three of the four shots are square on shots, not usually a very pleasing feminine pose. Kind of gives the squared linebacker look when it's done.

On another note, your lighting ratio (in the first image and then the one you added later) from the highlighted side of her face to the shadowed side is too harsh. Bring down the exposure and use some fill for the shadows, a reflector would work good for this to soften that difference.[/QUOTE]

Thanks so much! I really appreciate it!

 

[CorrieMichael]

Personally, I like #1 the best out of all of them, but I will agree with everyone that they are just a tad bit OOF (soft), I'm also not sure if that's the look you were going for or not. Work on getting the front eye tack sharp and you'll have some killer images

Sorry but can I ask what you mean specifically about the front eye tack sharp? ie: how I can make sure I am doing this Thanks again for your help

What I mean by this is when you have a person in front of your camera, you should be worried about focusing on the eye that is closest to the camera. So in this photo, I was referring to the girl's right eye, because it is closer to the camera than the left eye. Even if there is a little of fall off on the back eye, you still have the front eye in focus and it still would be a great shot.

Another tip that I would like to share is it seems you are 'shooting up' into them. Try standing a little higher than their height and shooting down into them. This will help with getting rid of the double chin that can occur in some people. Another way to help then get rid of it is to tell them 'forehead to the camera', or have them turtle out their neck. This will also help with making their jaw-line stronger

Thanks so much for your help! I really appreciate it!

 

[CorrieMichael]

Light, posing, and camera perspective can all be used to minimize body features that do not flatter the client.

Derrel mentioned how broad lighting tends to make a persons face seem wider, so broad light works for people that have narrow faces while short lighting works for people that have wide faces.
Only using available light (often called 'natural' light) can be so very, very limit

Overweight people benefit from a higher camera angle, while under weight people benefit from a lower camera angle, which shinycard255 alluded to.

In short, a first step in planning a shoot involves doing some analysis of the subject, and then using light, pose, and camera perspective to the client's advantage.

Learning to do portrait photography well is a lot more involved than many new to portrait photography realize.

Thanks so much! I really appreciate it!

 

[ronlane]

Learning to do portrait photography well is a lot more involved than many new to portrait photography realize.

What? You mean I can't just go to best buy and buy a camera kit and then tell my kid to walk over there and let me take your portrait???? (Yes, I am joking. I totally agree with your statement. There is so much that I never realized that went into it.)

 

[CorrieMichael]

Learning to do portrait photography well is a lot more involved than many new to portrait photography realize.

What? You mean I can't just go to best buy and buy a camera kit and then tell my kid to walk over there and let me take your portrait???? (Yes, I am joking. I totally agree with your statement. There is so much that I never realized that went into it.)

Well I there actually was a lot of time and effort thought wise put into my camera and portrait lense.....phht gues that shows you how much I suck and how much I have yet to learn !!!!

 

[CorrieMichael]

okay so I am assuming I used the lighting wrong in this one as well. I should have her looking to the right as oppose to the left? but as far as posiyioning goes how does the position of her face look? or is this still making her chin too stong here as well?