First Portrait Shoot!

[LoganH91]

Hey everyone, have not posted to much here on the forums but I visit everyday. Back in March I picked up my Rebel T3i and of course the 50 1.8. This past Sunday I did my first actual portrait photoshoot with a friend. If you have a minute take a look and let me know what you think. Hopefully I am allowed to link to outside websites? It is my Flickr account. I noticed some mistakes that I made after the fact but anxious to hear what everyone has to say. Thank for your time!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/logan_hickle/sets/72157631742148688/

 

[Menace]

Well done or your first shoot. Looks like your friend is pretty comfortable in front of the camera.

Just watch out when cropping / framing that you do not chop off shoes etc.

Keep practicing and have fun

Cheers

 

[K-amps]

Well done or your first shoot. Looks like your friend is pretty comfortable in front of the camera.

Just watch out when cropping / framing that you do not chop off shoes etc.

Keep practicing and have fun

Cheers

Yep... Don't cut off limbs/Digits... unless by design. learn where the transition points are in the human body, some parts are ok to cut/ frame... but other points become distracting... you are off to a good start though, keep practicing.

 

[LoganH91]

Yeah that's one of the things I noticed after i got them loaded into lightroom. Will definitely be more careful next time. Like the one of her sitting on the bench, that was just a bad call butting off the bottom of her boot/foot. The swing, that was a challenging one. Focused on one swing and captured on another. Like a focus/recompose, she was just doing the recompose.

Will be posting a lot more here!!!

I also have a blog that I post a photo on everyday which mainly has landscape/architecture shots on it so far.

loganhickle.wordpress.com

 

[MatthewLewis]

Never photograph a woman straight. I did photo shoot with my wife... the first time. That was her tip... though it was
expressed just a bit differently. I would get rid of the last shot as well... kind of looks pre----. Other than that I agree with the other posts. You also want to pay attention to light, know where it is. If it is high in the sky try to bounce light to fill harsh shadows.

Looks good for the first time. Good luck to you.

 

[Freshprince08]

Well done on your first shoot, top effort

I think you've got your exposure nailed on most of the shots which is great, also really like the pp'ing on the black and white conversions. Your colours pop too, however if you were ever selecting your best 2-3 shots for a client/displaying then maybe spend a bit of time on skin and blemishes.

As the guys have already said, watch out for your composition (I find this the most challenging too) - as well as limb/finger cut offs, careful of shots taken from a low angle, especially with skirts and swings I know it can feel great when you've got a shot that was "technically" difficult however just try and make sure you are flattering your subject as much as possible too.

Keep practicing - 50mm f1.8 was my first "proper" lens!

 

[gonzalo]

just 5 minutes in PS
i'll like to explain more things to you about portrait but my english is quite bad,

 

[pdirestajr]

I would also suggest fill flash (on very low power to blend with ambient), or a reflector. Your model has pretty strong facial features and deep set eyes- a lot of the images have dark shadows cast around her eyes. Not the most flattering for a female subject. You can also slightly correct this in post.

 

[Canihaspicture]

Instead of fill flash just overexpose a bit... especially with her skin and make sure the ground underneath her or just in front of her is reflecting light onto her. (like a reflector or use an actual reflector). Unless using a softbox a fill flash looks like garbage IMHO.

-Some poses are absolutely not flattering and you can only figure it out by doing it... In one photo she's squatting to go to the bathroom it appears

-In one a single leg is behind her where she looks like an amputee.

-In the picture reposted above her arm is being flattened by something making it appear larger than it really is. Try to minimize this. Girls like looking thin.

-Many of the pictures appear to be taken from a low angle... get to eye level or even above eye level looking down to make her appear a little thinner.

-I don't see any close ups of her face? What does she really look like?

-Many shots appear soft or downright out of focus, make sure that shutter speed is at least double the focal length, lock that focus and hold still. With that 50 all you need to do is sway slightly and your focus is gone. You might consider AI Focus/AI Servo.

 

[tbadowski]

watch the background too- on the one of her jumping in the air, it looks like she's impaled on the fence post.

The one before it, the playground structure roof is coming out of the top of her head

 

[AprilForever]

Dark circles on eye sockets are always killer... as mentioned, fill flash, flash as main light, or use a reflector... I like the one you posted here the head and shoulders shot...

 

[dasgetier]

Very good job for your first effort!!!

Something I'd like to add: The bokeh of the 50/1.8 is quite nervous at certain apertures, maybe you could improve that by checking out how different aperture settings work with the background.

 

[RLPhoto]

Not bad, The only tips I can offer is watch you backgrounds as some were distracting and secondly, IMO the person is the most important thing in a portrait. Environmental portraits are nice but too many can take away from the person.

 

[LoganH91]

Thanks everyone for the tips! Very much appreciated and will make notes of it!

A couple of responses here:

-I forgot to mention that I have yet to touch PS and am trying to stay away as much as possible. I like to keep the image of the real person. Not taking out acne/scars or whatever may appear on a face. I am sure one day I will have no choice but to dive in. But for now, i want to keep the image as true as possible. Like the image that someone posted where he took it into PS. To me it looks blown out and just can tell it was post processed like crazy. I appreciate the help though!

-Still working on that posing thing. That last image of her squatting down(looking back it does seem as if she is using the bathroom) she wanted badly.

-I do need to watch out for those low angle shots. A couple of times i setup for the shot and had to go over to her to adjust the dress to not show to much. In those really low angle shots I was actually laying on my back on the ground shooting.

-I noticed some of the soft/just not in focus shots when i first got them into lightroom. I know how the triangle works with iso/shutter speed/aperture and how the aperture affects the background and such. However, I made a rookie mistake in not changing my aperture much at all. For almost all of these shots it was at 1.8 when for the wider shots i should have bumped it up to keep her sharp in focus. Definitely something i noticed and kicked myself for.

-Definitely could have used a fill flash in some shots. Will keep that in mind!