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First dabble into teenage/senior portraits... Thoughts?


ali_bleckinger

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<p>I'm brand new, be gentle. Critiques on composition, technical advice, likes and dislikes are appreciated.<br>

Thanks.<img src="../photo/10263925" alt="" /><br>

<a href="http://www.photo.net/photo/10263922"><img src="../photo/10263922" alt="" /></a><br>

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<img src="../photo/10263902" alt="" /><br>

<img src="../photo/10263933" alt="" /><br>

<img src="../photo/10263927" alt="" /></p>

 

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<p>My opinion:<br>

Avoid shooting in full sunlight, it washes out everything and makes the photos bland. Try using reflectors or an off-camera flash to brighten up faces and make them pop more. A piece of white foam board from a craft store is a good inexpensive option. Also try adjusting contrast and color saturation to get more out of them as well, but don't overdo it or it will look 'fake'. </p>

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<p>Watch out for backgrounds. She has a tree growing out of her head.</p>

<p>Watch out for expressions. She looks angry at the cannon.</p>

<p>Fill the frame. The cannon is larger than your subject and the background makes it look like a snapshot.</p>

<p>Since people are paying for these pictures, you should strive to make them a professional as possible. That includes poses that show off the subject to their best advantage, locations that are unique and uncluttered, and compositions that draw the eye to the subject.</p>

<p>I suggest that you look at other senior pictures to see how they are lit and posed and at least at the beginning try to emulate those until you get the hang of it.</p>

<p><Chas></p>

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<p>Hi Ali,<br>

It looks like you have fun with this kind of shoot : ) And the girls look like they're at ease with you. Those are two really important things (I think) when doing portraits. I also see a lot of creativity in your posing. I think it's a really great start. There's definitely some issues with harsh light in some pictures ... and others are underexposed. It looks like you were shooting without any fill flash or reflectors. Some photographers prefer to shoot this way (myself included). If this is how you prefer to shoot, my suggestion would be to read up on natural light shooting and then get out there and practice, practice, practice : ) Or, if you decide to work with a flash or reflector (which many photographers recommend), then the same thing would be good ... a book and lots of practice. <br>

Best wishes! Like I said, I think you're off to a great start : )<br>

Kate</p>

 

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<p>To me, the "rule of thirds," "fill the frame," and "if it doesn't contribute it detracts" are ideas in conflict. And it looks like you need to sort that out, too. For instance, the shot with the brick wall is really two shots, with a line down the middle. That's an innovative composition choice, but it is probably pretty hard to pull it off. You have clever set-ups. So the issue becomes how to you add "brick-ness" to the portrait in a way that supports the subject rather than distracts from the subject. It's a composition challenge. But it looks like you enjoy composition challenges...... Similar issue with the back-to-back shot with a friend. Does the left side contribute? I have to leave that as a question, 'cause so many successful shots break the "rules."<br>

(Team Jump: a great shot. Could use some Photoshoping to de-emphasize the busy-ness of the ceiling.)</p>

 

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<p >Thanks for the feedback all. I just ordered two books about photoshop that should help my cause… and after posting my pictures on facebook (I have an embarrassingly large teen network due to my cheer coaching – which will be great if I can get my skills up to par and be able to charge… (baby steps)) I have a bunch of shoots on the horizon to practice and continue building a portfolio up. Anyone have any suggestions on MUST HAVE books for beginners… lighting, business end of photography, etc?</p>

<p >Nathan – I had a TON of trouble with sunlight… but that day fit best for our schedules. So my question is what do you do if you have a shoot scheduled and it’s super bright out? Find shade? (is this a silly question?) Do you limit where you take your shots to where the sun isn’t hitting or use a certain time of day for outdoor stuff? Also, with reflectors – is this something that can be done without an additional person there to help? I will dig into more forums about this as well to find out more.</p>

<p >Kate – thanks for the constructive words on the creativity… very nice to hear. I will add natural lighting to the list of books to buy. Any good examples of this kind of shooting you can recommend? Thanks.</p>

<p >Michael – I’m not even sure I know what all of those rules pertain to. I will be looking those up next. But I hear what you’re saying about compositional choices. I was wondering (after getting the pictures home and seeing them on a sizable screen) if the brick wall shots could’ve looked better had I moved the gals away from the wall and blurred it out. (probably something I can learn from my photoshop book and do after… though easier with the camera) But then when I gave all the shots to the girls – and they picked the ones they liked the most to put up on their facebook pages (my personal litmus test)… they put those ones up. So then my question is, who are you marketing to in the end… the teen or the parent? (my mom hated most of what I liked when I had mine done… and she didn’t like the brick wall shots either when I showed her these.)</p>

<p >Thanks again for the help.</p>

<p >Ali</p>

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<p>Ali, a self-taught local pro gave a talk at our camera club, and she talked about photos that have won the "green ribbon," specifically speaking about a straight-ahead portrait of a high-school football player in uniform. The green ribbon shot is one that a mother would buy. A friend told me that for a portrait of a couple to sell, the lady in the portrait has to like it.</p>

<p>It's best to know how to make photos a mother would buy <em><strong>and</strong> </em> photos your friends want on facebook. I believe that the things you learn about lighting, posing, and composition while mastering "Sears-studio" portrait-taking will make your gritty brick-shots a lot better. <br /> There is a current discussion in the Casual Photo Conversations Board about composition that has links to the Photo.net tutorials on composition. I warn you, though, to mix a lot of shooting in with your study of the "rules," cause they are pretty bewildering when taken all at once.<br>

<br /> http://www.photo.net/casual-conversations-forum/00V8ds<br>

(If you have the time and there is one close to you, join a camera club. You will get a lot of eyes on your photos, and the live critiques will probably expose you to some helpful composition alternatives.)</p>

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<p>Hello Ali.<br>

See that grey concrete under the canon. Put a mask over a section of that concrete..not the part in shadow...then look at a histogram of your selection..it should read about mid on the histogram. It doesn't though..it's about a stop over mid and a bit more. It's showing the frame as overexposed.<br>

The skin on a caucasian is generally about one stop above mid. If you mask a small area on the subjects cheek and look at the histogram..you can see the same result..the histogram will show you the exposure is over two stops higher than mid, which is a full stop above what we expect to see in an average caucasian<br>

There is a simple method of calculating your exposure. For an average sky, with about 20% cloud cover, the rule is sunny sixteen. F16@1/100@100iso. This can change..nothing is set in stone..but it's a good starting point.<br>

Converted to your setting of F5@1/250@100iso it translates to approx. F6.3@1/125@100iso...which is approximately one and two thirds over exposed..which is pretty much what your histogram shows.<br>

If you get the exposure closer to correct..the colours will reproduce as you expect them to.<br>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_16</p>

 

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