Trying to step up my portrait/headshot game - critique please! (picture heavy)

[angelinabee]

I shot all of these with my Canon t1i with my 50mm. I did a lot of creative cropping. What do you think? These are ones pulled from facebook, so the quality isn't 100% accurate to what the pics really look like.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

 

[Light Artisan]

Lighting, lighting, lighting... most of these seem very flat and lifeless to me.

 

[angelinabee]

I don't have lights yet. I'm a total newb. At this point I'm just trying to do what I can with the sun.

That's the reason why I tell people I can't accept their money yet when they offer. Ha ha.

 

[Light Artisan]

Reflectors would help, you can also diffuse your on camera flash using something like the Gary Fong Puffer or a DIY version of it with an old clear film canister.

Grab one of those foldup reflective windshield covers, they work good to reflect light and are cheap/portable.

 

[Geaux]

Fill flash. Use pop up flash if you don't have the fancy stuff. Or, shoot at a better time with the sun.

 

[angelinabee]

I'm so excited about the upcoming holidays. I'm getting some lighting stuff and a reflector for Christmas, and then I'll be ready to turn my well composed shots, I think, that look just okay to really spectacular shots. : )

I never thought about using something to diffuse my flash!

Thank you so much for your advice.

 

[deebert]

1, 4, and 5 it doesn't seem like there is enough light on her face...my eyes are drawn to things in the background or her hair. In 3 she looks very uncomfortable...maybe trying a slightly different pose would have been better to make her look more relaxed? 6 is my favorite of the bunch but it doesn't "pop".

 

[Tbini87]

These look like a good start for not having much equipment to work with. I have heard of people using large white poster boards as a cheap alternative to a reflector. I like most of the compositions... and I too am very new to lighting to can't help much there. Good start though, keep it up and have fun!

 

[doziergraphic]

I like 6. Composition/poses are good on all, but lighting is flat as stated above. Should be able to fix that in pp.

 

[KmH]

All 6 needed fill lighting, either strobed or reflected.

 

[Derrel]

I like #6 the best, even though it doesn't have the beautiful golden color of light that some of the others do...just simple, smooth open shade lighting. I think shot #6 would look a bit better if it were warmed up a touch. A small amount of fill-in flash would have added some eye sparkle to these shots. Overall, you did what you could though, and they're generally "okay". I think a bit deeper blacks would help some of the shots, like #4 and #5, which are back-lighted; on those two frames, I think the black values need to be darkened, and then the image adjusted, with a solid,dark black as the anchor point. I think that would have helped them look better.