Trying some new things. C&C please

[beni_hung]

I was going for sort of a vintage look to this photo. Let me know what you think and/or how to make it better. Thanks!

 

[Kpablo]

Hope you get some CC from people who know way more about photography from me. The shadow is throwing me off.

 

[beni_hung]

Thanks for the response!

 

[Inst!nct]

Hum, my initial thoughts is that portraits are supposed to be focused on the eyes, which on this young lady, are very pretty, and im sure this is her thing to have the hair in front of her face, i think its quite annoying. The colors are good however, maybe a head adjustment, as to more to the middle then pointing down would be better . Um, and also for more critique i would say the vignetting is throwing me off, if any, might just be weird flash . Anyways, it's a good picture, dont get me wrong, just trying to point out things i would change.

 

[beni_hung]

No flash was used here. It was a very sunny day and plus my flash didn't come in the mail until the day after Thanks for the feedback! All critiques are taken into consideration!

 

[Provo]

Around the facial area looks too dark, can't see the detail in her eyes and the shadow makes a portion of her hair look darker then night

 

[IgsEMT]

Ordinarily, 1-2 ppl should be vertical, horizontal is more head and shoulders - which you nailed :thumbup:.
The image is off-centered - some ppl like it, others will come there with a ruler. If shooting and selling your work, keep that in mind.
HAIR - oh the lovely hair in the eyes. Again, if it is your partner in life or sister or whom ever and you are just playing, then you are just playing but when selling this, she isn't a pirate thus seeing both eyes would very nice.
Lighting: Sunny day or not, lighting is probably THE MOST important aspect of photography. Under her eyes are shadows (raccoon eyes) you need a fill-flash here, should have used the built-in flash, it would also create catch light which to me are of very high importance during portraiture. The shadows around her are nice but again the ones under her eyes do not glamor her.
For Futurebe careful when shooting on a sunny day: #1 ppl will squint and that doesn't look good, sun throws harsh shadows, thus either find a shade, or use a reflector to shade the subject or even use reflector to direct the light where you want it to go. BRIGHT DAY doesn't mean you can use your flash - at least to fill in the shadows just a drop and to create catch lights.
Shooting at wide apertures: you shot this at ISO 100 (ok it is a sunny day) 1/1000 (ok, it's a sunny day) at 2.8 - WHY? If you're focusing on her eye (b/c you can't focus on both eyes) then one of them will be crispy sharp and second won't be (depending on how far you're from her) and in this case, it seems like your focus is actually on the right side of the face (hair covering the eye) thus her nose and other parts of the face that are not in same plane of focus are not focused on. Hence the image seems soft and out of focus. BE VERY CAREFUL when shooting at wide apertures, even at 4.5 you can mess up based on reasons above. For that reason and that reason only, normal portraits I shoot anywhere b/n 5.6-11 (lots of factors at play). ALSO most lenses are sharpest at around 1-2 stops down from their widest - in your case it is probably 5.6 anyways. Situations that I'd shoot wide open portraits - for example I have the bride bring the flowers to her face, she puts the hand with engagement ring on her face flowers, I focus on the ring and throw everything else out of focus, things like that.
now that you know how to alter your technique keep on shooting and improving!!!
good luck
P.S.
On this thread http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...-three-useful-youtube-series-photography.html someone posted nice videos, look over them
good luck

 

[beni_hung]

Thanks for the advice! Now that I have my flash (a Canon 580exII) I'm going to go back out and retry everything. And thank you for the link to those videos. A lighting set up is next on my list of things to buy!

 

[iolair]

I actually like this quite a lot, and the pose/facial expression and composition are great (though with a straight-on pose, it might be better still if she'd dropped her right shoulder to the same level as the right - just nit-picking on this though) ... however there are a few technical details that could improve it.

- dunno if she's leaning against the wall (if she is, it's essential to the pose, so forget this) - but if she's not, moving her a short distance from the wall would kill the deep, dark, distracting shadow to her left.

- shadow under her hair too deep, and the visible part of her chest is overexposed. You need to reduce the difference in lighting between the two areas. IMHO the best way to do this would be to hold a white reflector just under the frame of the image. Alternatively use the fill-flash built into your camera (making sure it doesn't overpower the sunlight).

 

[beni_hung]

Thanks for the feedback! I know I should have used a reflector at least, but I don't have one just yet. But I will soon. (First rent needs to get paid ) I was using the built in flash on my 7D, but I haven't quite mastered that yet. Whenever I did use the flash everything got over exposed. Even if I tuned it down in the settings. I have my new flash now but there is still much to learn. There will be more pics to come. I'm having fun!