Senior shoot first try CC please.

juicegoose

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I posted some pics on my website of my first attempt at a senior shoot. I didn't charge anything as it was just practice. They asked if I could take some senior shots. Kinda nervous but you know how it goes.
Please look over the photos and let me know which ones you think are the strongest and weakest and overall what you think I could do to improve both shooting and post processing. As they sit on the site right now I am just letting them proof the ones they like and then I will go in and really do alot of the finish work before printing.

Adam
 
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Pictures 28-34 are the most solid of the bunch. Your background choices are hindering the overall quality of the image with distractions and harsh shadows. Some fill flash would've greatly enhanced the overall quality. It takes a lot of practice to attain a nice photograph of a subject pressed up against a tree or bush. If you're dead set on using it as a backdrop, put some distance between it and the subject and use a shallower depth of field. Lastly, for a quick "how to", google "Benji's Rules of Portraiture" for a pictorial example of posing seniors.
 
Agree ^^!!

On another note entirely: Shooting on an active rail line is both dangerous and illegal, but shooting on/near a trestle on an active rail line is absolutely stupid! PLEASE DO NOT do this again! At least on open roadbed, you have an escape route if a train 'sneaks up' on you, when you're on a trestle you don't have that option.
 
Agree ^^!!

On another note entirely: Shooting on an active rail line is both dangerous and illegal, but shooting on/near a trestle on an active rail line is absolutely stupid! PLEASE DO NOT do this again! At least on open roadbed, you have an escape route if a train 'sneaks up' on you, when you're on a trestle you don't have that option.

I appreciate your concern.
 
You have some very charming pictures in there, it's clear that you have a good rapport with the model, and got some expressiveness from her. Well done.

Good use of the available light, generally. I will note that the best ones are where the light is on her, giving some shadows and highlights on her face. A diffusor to spread the sunlight out a bit would make that light more pleasing and less harsh, or as noted you can start working with fill flash.

Lots of cliches in there, but that's the senior portrait business.

I would watch the framing a bit. Many of these are fine, you're either committed to "the whole girl is in the frame" or "this is a head shot" but there's some in-betweeners where it's not really a head-shot, not really a 3/4 length shot, she's just kind of there, with various parts of her in-frame and various parts out of frame.

You might also look through the portfolio and consider which poses were flattering for her, and which were not. File that information away for further use. Many of the poses are quite flattering, but there are a few which are not.
 
You have some very charming pictures in there, it's clear that you have a good rapport with the model, and got some expressiveness from her. Well done.

Good use of the available light, generally. I will note that the best ones are where the light is on her, giving some shadows and highlights on her face. A diffusor to spread the sunlight out a bit would make that light more pleasing and less harsh, or as noted you can start working with fill flash.

Lots of cliches in there, but that's the senior portrait business.

I would watch the framing a bit. Many of these are fine, you're either committed to "the whole girl is in the frame" or "this is a head shot" but there's some in-betweeners where it's not really a head-shot, not really a 3/4 length shot, she's just kind of there, with various parts of her in-frame and various parts out of frame.

You might also look through the portfolio and consider which poses were flattering for her, and which were not. File that information away for further use. Many of the poses are quite flattering, but there are a few which are not.



Thanks for the notes. I was able to use a reflector in the shots taken in the yard to brighten up her face some but out at the tracks I only had a parent with me. I had them hold up the diffuser to block direct light into her face on some of the shots and on others I realized I was just going to have to deal with it. I agree there are some that seem to make her look larger then she really is(rolls and such) and if i had more time I would of had her put something else on. The open back isn't flattering. it's a learning process though right!!!
On a side note I won't be doing the track shots again. Although I had spoken with a neighborhood cop about it and had a spotter for the tracks I realize now that it was ill advised.

Posing i'm sure comes with experience and training.
 
I would watch the framing a bit. Many of these are fine, you're either committed to "the whole girl is in the frame" or "this is a head shot" but there's some in-betweeners where it's not really a head-shot, not really a 3/4 length shot, she's just kind of there, with various parts of her in-frame and various parts out of frame.

You might also look through the portfolio and consider which poses were flattering for her, and which were not. File that information away for further use. Many of the poses are quite flattering, but there are a few which are not.

Here is a really good example of two unflattering poses, combined with bad framing. (frames 30 and 34)

Adam Lathrop Photography | Miss. Rodriguez | A. Rodriguez-1

Adam Lathrop Photography | Miss. Rodriguez | A. Rodriguez-1
 
A fill flash would work wonders. I feel like my eyes are drawn to the well lit background before the subject. A fill flash will allow you to darken the bg and give the subject more light.
 
Thanks for the notes how could i have made the two unflattering poses and bad framing shots better?
 
Adam Lathrop Photography | Miss. Rodriguez | A. Rodriguez-1
For my $00.02... The cropped boots and skirt, and her placement so far low and right in frame, combined with skin that is at least 1.5 stops below the highlight means that the eye follows the much brighter girders image left along the leading line of the track to the bright background. Almost any other post would have been nice; sitting down with feet outstretched, leaning back against the bridge... When you're using leading lines, remember that the eye follows them; they are almost always the strongest compositional element in an image and ideally you want the subject at or obscuring the vanishing point so that they can't pull the eye past the subject.

Adam Lathrop Photography | Miss. Rodriguez | A. Rodriguez-1
Again the subject is crammed into the right side of the frame with a great deal of empty space to the left which adds nothing compositionally. As well, avoid subjects square on to the camera ("football" shoulders). Your decision to have her in this pose has given her the appearance of having a very wide, flat face which is rather less than attractive.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John
 
Thanks for the notes how could i have made the two unflattering poses and bad framing shots better?

A woman crouching down in that "pose" without an ancillary subject (like a friendly dog to pet, or a small kid to interact with, etc.) is often thought of as a "potty pose"...

As to framing, in the crouched by the railroad tracks shot (#30), she's crouching down...okay...well, show her as being grounded, meaning show her feet, show her in the entirety.Try not to crop people off at the ankles or show only half of the feet.

With the later shot, #34, where she's cropped off at the bust and jammed into the corner of the frame: a better idea there would be to spin the camera to "tall", step to the right a step or two, and shoot that as a half-body shot, and eliminate 50% or so of the wall off to the left. As-shot, there's an awkward crop across her body, and there's a huge amount of "pull" from the huge expanse of the old wall.

In the last shot: you have a 3:2 frame aspect ratio, but you allocated the VAST majority of the area to....the background...not to the girl. If the camera had been spun to tall, it would have automatically increased the amount of "her" in the frame, and cut down the amount of "wall". She's cute! The wall is not!

I was impressed by the way you modified the on-location light, as detailed in post #7. Good job on that.
 
Adam Lathrop Photography | Miss. Rodriguez | A. Rodriguez-1
For my $00.02... The cropped boots and skirt, and her placement so far low and right in frame, combined with skin that is at least 1.5 stops below the highlight means that the eye follows the much brighter girders image left along the leading line of the track to the bright background. Almost any other post would have been nice; sitting down with feet outstretched, leaning back against the bridge... When you're using leading lines, remember that the eye follows them; they are almost always the strongest compositional element in an image and ideally you want the subject at or obscuring the vanishing point so that they can't pull the eye past the subject.

Adam Lathrop Photography | Miss. Rodriguez | A. Rodriguez-1
Again the subject is crammed into the right side of the frame with a great deal of empty space to the left which adds nothing compositionally. As well, avoid subjects square on to the camera ("football" shoulders). Your decision to have her in this pose has given her the appearance of having a very wide, flat face which is rather less than attractive.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John


No no i appreciate all the comments. It's funny how you can read and watch videos and tutorials till your blue and you have it but as soon as the client is in front of you all of that goes out of the window.
So in a lot of these I should have exposed for the background possibly stepping it down and then thrown some off camera flash in the mix possibly through a umbrella for the fill?
I agree as well on my cutting off the boots. I was using a 70-300 for most of the shots at the track and got so caught up in making sure i focused on her eye that I failed to remember not to crop out her feet. I should be able to adjust the exposure on the first on in post but i know thats no excuse for doing it right the first time.
 
juicegoose said:
No no i appreciate all the comments. It's funny how you can read and watch videos and tutorials till your blue and you have it but as soon as the client is in front of you all of that goes out of the window.
So in a lot of these I should have exposed for the background possibly stepping it down and then thrown some off camera flash in the mix possibly through a umbrella for the fill?
I agree as well on my cutting off the boots. I was using a 70-300 for most of the shots at the track and got so caught up in making sure i focused on her eye that I failed to remember not to crop out her feet. I should be able to adjust the exposure on the first on in post but i know thats no excuse for doing it right the first time.

Well, your comments have the ring of truth to them; especially when you're pretty new, it CAN BE very easy to let things slip, to not watch the edges or bottom or top of the frame. I don;lt want to rip on you, or be seen as ripping on you, but do want you to think about two practices, two guides, things that will REALLY help you. First is to literally move your eyes around the frame, and make SURE you are not cutting off anything desired at the edges or top of the frame, meaning look all around the subject, not just at the focus brackets or whatever, or at the face, but SCAN the entire frame, and look for background issues and crop issues.

Second: shoot a bit more loosely; do not frame so that the frame is irreversibly as-shot; leave some more room at the bottom, or the top, and then CROP later. Like in the first few shots, there's more top space above her head, and the bottom of her skirt is cropped off. Or at the railroad tracks, the bottom of the frame issues; if these were to have been framed a bit looser, then you'd have saved each frame! Modern,m high-rez digital has plenty of crop-capability...you can throw away 20% of a frame and still make a 16x20!

Keep it up.You've done better than many people, and you're showing a great attitude, and you will get less-nervous and more in-control with more shoots and more time behind the eyepiece.
 

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