Two of my Seniors

[KBM1016]

Been a crazy few weeks at the day job which is why I was happy to take a break and do Tisa and Jessica's Senior Portraits. I have known these two girls for so long through baton. They both leave for the National Baton Championships this weekend (which I am also headed to in order to shoot some sports action). Anyway, enjoy. This is my first time messing around with some gels....

C&C would be great, I am still trying to get better with studio lighting and strobes.


Tisa
1.

_MG_2689 by Autumnlightsphotos, on Flickr

2.

_MG_2604 by Autumnlightsphotos, on Flickr

3.

_MG_2887 by Autumnlightsphotos, on Flickr


Jessica
4.

_MG_2681 by Autumnlightsphotos, on Flickr

5.

_MG_2652 by Autumnlightsphotos, on Flickr

6.

_MG_2931 by Autumnlightsphotos, on Flickr

7.

_MG_2899 by Autumnlightsphotos, on Flickr

8. This is my fav! I am going to put this one up in the "studio"

_MG_2772 by Autumnlightsphotos, on Flickr

 

[PinkDoor]

Other than the b/w conversion, did you do any post processing?

 

[tirediron]

Way too many images for which to provide detailed critique, however in general: Crops are rather too tight, background light is too hot, and skin exposure needs to be evened out.

 

[jowensphoto]

The posing is a little awkward in some (1&5). Number 4 is not bad though. That was probably a difficult prop to work with, at least without a lot of movement.

Agree on the post processing. What software are you using?

 

[KmH]

Teeth. #1 & #2 - dull yellow teeth look bad. Needs post processing.

'Raccoon eyes' #3 and #7.

The lighting makes no attempt to highlight the flattering facial mask features of either girl - Short lighting for the first girls very round face, broad lighting for the second girls more oval shaped face.

Inconsistent white balance.

Posing for Portrait Photography: A Head-to-Toe Guide for Digital Photographers

Doug Box's Guide to Posing for Portrait Photographers

 

[KBM1016]

Thanks guys, I did a tiny bit of PP but not much using Photoshop. I aim to get it SOOC but I do a little bit of skin touch ups and a little on the eyes. Thanks Keith, I kinda see the WB difference. I will check out those links.

 

[Big Mike]

One of the things that jumps out at me (in a negative way) is the posing of the hands, especially in the first few images.

You should usually try to avoid having the back of the model's hand toward the camera, especially women and especially with 'head shot' photos. The back of the hand is a big, flat & thus bright area of skin. It will take attention away from where is should be, which is the model's face. Also, when you show a hand like that, it tends to look bigger, and girls especially, don't want to look like they have large hands.
Notice the difference in #8, with her hand turned so that the thin side is facing the camera...looks much better doesn't it?

Hands also tend to look awkward much of the time. In #5, her hands are just hanging there, looking silly/awkward. Plus they are distracting attention away from the face. I usually try to avoid having hands in photos like this, but if you do include them, you really need to pay close attention to how they look.

Another issue is the lighting. Keith mentioned short & broad lighting techniques, which is certainly something to think about. I noticed that the lighting is quite flat in most of them. There is little or no difference in brightness from one side of their face to the other....there are very few shadows etc. The B&W ones have more directional lighting, but it looks like it's too high (overhead) thus giving dark eye shadows. #6 has some nice directional (not flat) lighting.

Lastly, the first two photos of the first girl, her skin is too glossy and is picking up direct reflections quite a bit. If I had those in my photos, I'd edit them out, but a much easier solution would have been to have her apply some make up so the skin wasn't so glossy.

 

[Studio7Four]

In addition to the points above, I'm not fond of the use of the props (batons) in these particular shots.

1) I really had no idea what she was leaning on at first - light stand, golf club, and a few other things ran through my mind before I remembered reading "baton" in your intro. With her hands covering the knob at the end, all I can tell is that it is some sort of thin cylinder. Also, her pose indicates she is leaning on the baton, but the baton continues off the side of the frame leaving me feel like it isn't grounded.
4) I can tell that she is holding a baton in this one, but the baton doesn't really add to the shot graphically. This is akin to leaning the baton against the backdrop and making sure it's included in the frame - it's there to say "yes, she competes in baton" but doesn't engage with her at all.
5) On the other hand, she is very engaged with the baton in this shot. I like the pose and expression, you've managed to capture feminine athleticism. Unfortunately the baton manages to get lost. You can see the near knob, but the shaft and far knob are hidden or blend in with the navy of her jacket.

Unfortunately I have not been around competitive baton enough to offer better suggestions for more relevant use of it as a prop. I would say to use it if you are going with a wider shot, in which you can see all of the baton (it's no coincidence that my favorite of the three is #5). I'd also suggest using a different baton. If I had to guess, I'd say this is a practice baton (natural rubber knobs on the ends, boring black shaft). Had this had a more colorful shaft and/or more refined knobs the effect would have been different.

 

[KBM1016]

In addition to the points above, I'm not fond of the use of the props (batons) in these particular shots.

1) I really had no idea what she was leaning on at first - light stand, golf club, and a few other things ran through my mind before I remembered reading "baton" in your intro. With her hands covering the knob at the end, all I can tell is that it is some sort of thin cylinder. Also, her pose indicates she is leaning on the baton, but the baton continues off the side of the frame leaving me feel like it isn't grounded.
4) I can tell that she is holding a baton in this one, but the baton doesn't really add to the shot graphically. This is akin to leaning the baton against the backdrop and making sure it's included in the frame - it's there to say "yes, she competes in baton" but doesn't engage with her at all.
5) On the other hand, she is very engaged with the baton in this shot. I like the pose and expression, you've managed to capture feminine athleticism. Unfortunately the baton manages to get lost. You can see the near knob, but the shaft and far knob are hidden or blend in with the navy of her jacket.

Unfortunately I have not been around competitive baton enough to offer better suggestions for more relevant use of it as a prop. I would say to use it if you are going with a wider shot, in which you can see all of the baton (it's no coincidence that my favorite of the three is #5). I'd also suggest using a different baton. If I had to guess, I'd say this is a practice baton (natural rubber knobs on the ends, boring black shaft). Had this had a more colorful shaft and/or more refined knobs the effect would have been different.

These are actually their competative batons! Hence the dirty ends. Most of the "safe" shots are done at the competitions. Your typically baton poses etc. That's the reason we strayed from the normal, we just got back from Nationals and we did all the cookie cutter baton poses there