Some portraits of my daughter

[SquarePeg]

Spent a breezy afternoon with my daughter and took some portraits of her before she graduates!. It’s definitely not my area but I do enjoy it occasionally. A few of these were a bit softer than I wanted but all in all I’m happy with them. Suggestions and critique always welcome. Posing is a weak spot! The wind was challenging but I think it worked in our favor to give these some movement.

1
Sophia 2021 by SharonCat..., on Flickr

2
Sophia 2021 by SharonCat..., on Flickr

3
Sophia 2021 by SharonCat..., on Flickr

4
Sophia 2021 by SharonCat..., on Flickr

5
Sophia 2021 by SharonCat..., on Flickr

 

[stapo49]

I am not really a portrait guy but to me lovely shots of a beautiful girl.

 

[Jeff15]

I agree with stapo........

 

[Original katomi]

I don’t do people/portraits but I like the set
Images 2&3 would be my choice if you had done the shoot for me
You have some really nice images there.
I can’t C&C as this is an area where I have next to no skill in

 

[jcdeboever]

Very nice. I don't have much critique. I would have used a flash (more than likely in HSS mode) to brighten the subject up or fill as they say. The fill and control of the ambient light will offer greater separation, saturation, clarity,, and fidelity of subject. Even a simple godox 685 on camera in hss mode can be useful. It's very easy to do.

Probably would have went for a more decisive pose... more deliberate on where I am cropping the body to highlight the curves of the body and accentuate the face.

I love that you didn't run after the bokeh and provided a more classical approach to the depth of field. It is apparent that you have a great feel feel for the lens you were using.

Your results are super impressive considering the lack of fill.

As an experiment, I would go back in camera and see what Arista simulation offers the render quality. More out of curiosity for me as the scene seems like a wonderful opportunity to display a more pastel color visual.

Great job over all, this little critique is probably more personal style and taste. Beautiful young lady and your love is obvious.

 

[SquarePeg]

I am not really a portrait guy but to me lovely shots of a beautiful girl.

Thank you. I also think she’s beautiful and love every photo I take of her but you’d be surprised how picky she is about photos of herself. Unless you have had a teenage daughter in which case you’d not be surprised at all!

I agree with stapo........

Thanks...

I don’t do people/portraits but I like the set
Images 2&3 would be my choice if you had done the shoot for me
You have some really nice images there.
I can’t C&C as this is an area where I have next to no skill in

Thank you very much.

 

[paigew]

She looks beautiful, these are beautiful. Congrats [emoji322][emoji178]

My favorites are 2&3. I just love those flowers!

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

 

[SquarePeg]

Very nice. I don't have much critique. I would have used a flash (more than likely in HSS mode) to brighten the subject up or fill as they say. The fill and control of the ambient light will offer greater separation, saturation, clarity,, and fidelity of subject. Even a simple godox 685 on camera in hss mode can be useful. It's very easy to do.

Probably would have went for a more decisive pose... more deliberate on where I am cropping the body to highlight the curves of the body and accentuate the face.

I love that you didn't run after the bokeh and provided a more classical approach to the depth of field. It is apparent that you have a great feel feel for the lens you were using.

Your results are super impressive considering the lack of fill.

As an experiment, I would go back in camera and see what Arista simulation offers the render quality. More out of curiosity for me as the scene seems like a wonderful opportunity to display a more pastel color visual.

Great job over all, this little critique is probably more personal style and taste. Beautiful young lady and your love is obvious.

Thanks for the detailed feedback jc. Yes flash would have helped and I did have a godox with me but it was too windy to use the tripod stand that I usually mount it to and in most cases I was too far away for any hand held or on camera flash to be effective (I think? Not my wheelhouse at all). My usual assistant was too busy posing to be any help!

I’ll have to look into Arista - I don’t use a lot of the in camera sims other than vivid for flowers, but I do sometimes convert to them in LR. I don’t think I’ve seen that one in there. Is it new? I did just update my firmware which was out of date so maybe I’ve been missing out. My subject doesn’t like anything to pastel/girly but I could do a few of those for me. The kids seem to prefer that contrasty super dramatic look. I edited a few of those like that for her Instagram but didn’t post them here.

As for the bokeh - I think it would have been a shame to waste the beautiful garden backgrounds. I exclusively used the 16-80 f4 for these because, while it’s not tack sharp, it’s so versatile. I had the 90mm f2 with me but with the wind and it not having any OIS it would have been difficult I think to make it work so I left it in the bag. We do have plans to do some additional shots with the 90mm when we get a less windy day. My subject gets impatient after an hour and then crankiness sets in and the rest of the session is a waste of time.

Thanks again for the comments. Much appreciated.

 

[smoke665]

Wow what a beautiful young lady. As to critique your eye for what comprises a good composition is pretty good. She seems to be relaxed in her poses and doesn't come across as forced. Maybe manage the vertical space a little different, some could use less headroom, some more, same with foreground at the bottom.

I would agree with JC above, fill of some sort either flash or reflector is needed. #4 and #5 are my favorites.

 

[jcdeboever]

Very nice. I don't have much critique. I would have used a flash (more than likely in HSS mode) to brighten the subject up or fill as they say. The fill and control of the ambient light will offer greater separation, saturation, clarity,, and fidelity of subject. Even a simple godox 685 on camera in hss mode can be useful. It's very easy to do.

Probably would have went for a more decisive pose... more deliberate on where I am cropping the body to highlight the curves of the body and accentuate the face.

I love that you didn't run after the bokeh and provided a more classical approach to the depth of field. It is apparent that you have a great feel feel for the lens you were using.

Your results are super impressive considering the lack of fill.

As an experiment, I would go back in camera and see what Arista simulation offers the render quality. More out of curiosity for me as the scene seems like a wonderful opportunity to display a more pastel color visual.

Great job over all, this little critique is probably more personal style and taste. Beautiful young lady and your love is obvious.

Thanks for the detailed feedback jc. Yes flash would have helped and I did have a godox with me but it was too windy to use the tripod stand that I usually mount it to and in most cases I was too far away for any hand held or on camera flash to be effective (I think? Not my wheelhouse at all). My usual assistant was too busy posing to be any help!

I’ll have to look into Arista - I don’t use a lot of the in camera sims other than vivid for flowers, but I do sometimes convert to them in LR. I don’t think I’ve seen that one in there. Is it new? I did just update my firmware which was out of date so maybe I’ve been missing out. My subject doesn’t like anything to pastel/girly but I could do a few of those for me. The kids seem to prefer that contrasty super dramatic look. I edited a few of those like that for her Instagram but didn’t post them here.

As for the bokeh - I think it would have been a shame to waste the beautiful garden backgrounds. I exclusively used the 16-80 f4 for these because, while it’s not tack sharp, it’s so versatile. I had the 90mm f2 with me but with the wind and it not having any OIS it would have been difficult I think to make it work so I left it in the bag. We do have plans to do some additional shots with the 90mm when we get a less windy day. My subject gets impatient after an hour and then crankiness sets in and the rest of the session is a waste of time.

Thanks again for the comments. Much appreciated.

Spell check, Asttia Sim. I think anything under 60ft at 100 Asa is gonna fill (Godox 685). As far as tripod, you wouldn't need it as you would be metering the bright background which would give you ample shutter speed. You would be OK on camera for this shoot. If your SS is higher than sync, refer to godox instruction to enable HSS in camera and flash. Make certain flash is 90° (head on) or HSS can't be set in camera.

 

[SquarePeg]

She looks beautiful, these are beautiful. Congrats [emoji322][emoji178]

My favorites are 2&3. I just love those flowers!

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

Thanks Paige!

Wow what a beautiful young lady. As to critique your eye for what comprises a good composition is pretty good. She seems to be relaxed in her poses and doesn't come across as forced. Maybe manage the vertical space a little different, some could use less headroom, some more, same with foreground at the bottom.

I would agree with JC above, fill of some sort either flash or reflector is needed. #4 and #5 are my favorites.

Thank you. Will definitely use a flash next time. I didn’t think it would reach but jc’s latest post says I’m wrong and he would know. As for the cropping, I can see what you mean - it was a challenge to get space without a lot of other people in the frame and many of these were cropped to avoid those distractions in both the foreground and backgrounds. As you can imagine this is a very busy place. There was even a bride and groom doing some portraits when we were on the bridge. Although their photographer had them facing into the sun in direct sunlight so not sure how those will come out! It was at least 2 hours before golden hour...

 

[Tropicalmemories]

Beautiful model, nice, natural poses and lovely sunlight in her hair.

As others mentioned, more light to her face would be good. I prefer a reflector to flash for outdoor shots like these, as the light is naturally balanced to the sunlight, but when it's windy you need a good stand or an assistant.

Simple editing programs like Snapspeed or Lightroom also have options for brightening faces ..... for quick edits of jpeg files on a mobile, Snapspeed has a 'portrait' setting that uses AI to increase light on the face.

 

[SquarePeg]

@jcdeboever

I lightened this one up a bit but didn't recrop it. What do you think? Better? Too much?

Sophia 2021 by SharonCat..., on Flickr

 

[SquarePeg]

Beautiful model, nice, natural poses and lovely sunlight in her hair.

As others mentioned, more light to her face would be good. I prefer a reflector to flash for outdoor shots like these, as the light is naturally balanced to the sunlight, but when it's windy you need a good stand or an assistant.

Simple editing programs like Snapspeed or Lightroom also have options for brightening faces ..... for quick edits of jpeg files on a mobile, Snapspeed has a 'portrait' setting that uses AI to increase light on the face.

Thanks. I do use Snapseed a lot but haven't really tried out the portrait settings much. I can lighten most of these by quite a bit using the Exposure brush in LR. I was afraid to take it too far but since everyone has the same advice I'll give it a try. See above.

 

[CherylL]

Lovely set! Beautiful daughter. I like #4 how the wind blew her hair for framing.