Two portraits...

Senor Hound · Jun 23, 2008

I'd like some good beginner feedback on these. They were taken a long time ago, but they're the only portraits I've ever shot. I know the lighting is harsh, and the limb in the close-up needs to be gone (I tried to clone it out, but it got ugly...

). But what other suggestions would you make to improve these two photos?

Thanks ahead of time for any suggestions.

niforpix · Jun 24, 2008

Honestly they're not too bad. Other than the lighting being a bit too strong (which you already mentioned) I don't see anything wrong with them. I like them

LaFoto · Jun 24, 2008

With the top photo, I'm not too fond of the fact that there's heaps of headroom, yet her legs got cut off just below her knees. The frame looks like without you needing to move a step or two backwards, by only putting the camera further down, you could have included the entire person.

Not so sure about your POV, you were below the models in both cases and are (were) actually photographing into their noses. They are young, slim, don't have double chins, but imagine someone had?

The girl in 2 has many layers of underwear, all of which show. I don't know if that is considered a fashion statement today, but I prefer not to see all the underwear.

Just a couple of tips for the future, and what all there needs to be observed also among the "little things", leaving BIG things such as unfortunate lighting aside.

Senor Hound · Jun 24, 2008

I was trying to place the first model's head in one of the "rule of thirds" hot spots. Plus, I took this before I knew about cutting off people's limbs. If you saw the others... oh goodness!

And I agree with the clothing statement, thank you for pointing that out. I'm a guy, so I don't really know women's fashion very well. But a female perspective tells me her wardrobe is distracting, which is good to know.

My camera doesn't have any of that TTL flash stuff on it, and to further that, it has no way to shoot at half power or anything. I had the flash EV set at -2, the lowest it would go. But I should have gotten farther back and zoomed in more (used my feet as a diffuser... haha

) And in the future, I'll try not to place my model at a higher perspective than the one I'm at. As you said, I got lucky my models are naturally photogenic.

I'm not saying these to discredit your observations, but only to tell you where my logic is in doing what I do, you know? I figure maybe if I tell you why I was doing something a certain way it will help me improve. But maybe not...

Also [gloat] I did some PP on the second one! I took her teeth which were more yellow, and lowered the saturation on them. I figured it would keep some natural yellow in by doing that, but bleach them out a bit

I also got rid of her red-eye issues.[/gloat]