Simple Headshot (Looking for lots of CC please)

[Mandasue13]

Totally new here and desperate to learn more. I'm posting a SOOC shot and processed shot (that I thought I liked and hate the more I look at it).

Nikon D7100, 50mm, ISO 800, f/3.2, 1/400

Shot with a large window midday sun behind her, reflector on her lower left, and darned if I didn't leave the overhead fluorescent lights on. Set WB at Auto, so there's that.

The SOOC is warmer than I like, but I think I cooled it down too much. Post processing was pretty basic with adjustments to Tone, Contract, Sharpen Filter, Curves, and Levels in PS6. Perhaps too much?

All CC welcome on the before and after please. If they're too small or big, let me know.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Desi]

Hey, welcome aboard.

I don't think the lighter version is too light. The shadows on her left (nose, eye, upper lip) all have a yellow, almost greenish tinge that could use a local white balance adjustment brush.

The crop is a bit awkward, with parts of the arms cut off. Maybe crop in a bit tighter. Also, you chopped off the top of the head.

 

[Gavjenks]

I will be fairly brutal, since you specified "lots of C/C please" Please note that this is by no means terri-bad, just giving you what you want =)

-stripes are really distracting here from her face
-she looks a little confused or incredulous. A more comfortable or happier or mysterious expression would be preferable. Confused isn't very flattering.
-lighting is fairly flat. Looks like you had a window and nothing else. And it is too far to the side so all we get is her cheek and the tip of her nose, odd things to be drawn to. Move the main light closer in angle to the camera to model the face better, at the very least.
-Even if it were lit more across her face, broad lighting tends to be less flattering for females (lighting the side of the face that you see more of). as opposed to flipping her whole pose the other way so that the narrower side of the face further from you is lit
-Her shoulders are very flat to the camera which is unflattering. Combined with stripes that run off the side of the image, this is made worse. Give her body a little more room to breathe on the sides, either with cropping more widely or by having the arms run off into shadows, etc. and certainly with a different pattern of cloth.
-slicing people's arms right down their length is kind of bad. It looks awkward and it draws the eye out of the image. Again the horizontal stripes come back to haunt you by increasing the rate at which I leave the photo this way.
-Maybe it's just a SOOC thing, but your original image looks pretty underexposed. Might get better tonality if you expose it better to start with and don't have to push as much in post.
-I would probably change your angle ever so slightly to hide that blue floor area behind the model.
-I'm not sure how you ended up with only one eye in focus at f/3.2. You might be focused a bit too far back. It should be able to get both rather sharp at that aperture.

You should definitely get whole books on lighting and portraiture posing if you have not already, but a very quick guide online to the lighting stuff for faces is here, which I like:
http://digital-photography-school.com/6-portrait-lighting-patterns-every-photographer-should-know
It is geared toward beginners who don't have equipment and are just using convenient light like windows. Basic styles defined by simply the main light.

 

[Mandasue13]

Thank you both! Lots of great things to think about. I've only been shooting for about 6 months ish (around a full time job and full time school), with one class under my belt and another that starts in a few weeks (which focuses on light). I haven't shot as much indoors as I have outdoors, but did this as a favor for a friend who needed some casual head shots for their business website of all the employees. Free for free, if you will, but I'm grateful for the practice as I learn each time I shoot.

I do want to get good at this, so all great feedback. Thank you!

 

[DiskoJoe]

I wish that she would have been centered just a bit better. But the edit is better. I would render this b/w, the blue spot from the floor is a bit distracting. Or maybe just desaturate the blue and get it out of there.

 

[j-digg]

You could have dropped the ISO a stop or so - at the cost of shutter speed. At 1/400th you still have some room for shooting a portrait ( at that focal length ).

 

[ronlane]

As far as wb goes, I think that it should be somewhere between the two images. I did a wb adjustment and moved the white and black sliders just a little.