How are these as portraits?

Hi,<br /><br />

 

I've been shooting land and city -scapes for about five or six years, and have

gotten pretty good at it, but portraits are somewhat new to me. I've been

shooting as many of them as possible for about the past three months. I've

done some "pro bono" for parents who couldn't afford portraits of their

children, plus lots of friends and coworkers.<br /><br />

 

What I've found is no surprise: I'm much better at candid portraiture than

posed. I still have a great deal to learn about posing, and lighting in

general, but I'm moving in the right direction. Still, I really prefer

candids, they usually have more life to them.<br /><br />

 

I'm sensing that there's some demand for candid style portraits, especially of

kids. Even if I prefer grown-ups. So I'm hoping to get some feedback on how

I'm doing?<br /><br />

 

The WB was a little off on this one, and it was before (and why) I decided to

shoot exclusively in RAW mode with portraits:<br /><br />

 

<img src=http://www.forrestcroce.com/Images/IMG_7907.jpg><br /><br />

 

This is another good example, "Smiling Eyes:"<br /><br />

 

<a href=http://www.ForrestCroce.com/Photos/Bryanna3.html>

http://www.ForrestCroce.com/Photos/Bryanna3.html</a>

Nice work!!! You must have a natural talent for capturing the moment and know how to use your camera. You're right. Lifestyle portraiture is popular, and kids are much easier for that since they prefer to do their own thing anyway. You just need to be quick. I've found that even when people want the candid style, they often still want at least one traditionally posed portrait and it's a valuable skill to have as a photographer. A book you might like that covers both styles is "Group Portrait Photography Handbook" 2nd Edition, by Bill Hurter and published by Amherst Media. It's one of the best books I've found on the subject.

Great portraits. I can see a slight color cast (greenish yellow) in some, but still well done. Great DOF too!

added red and yellow to midtones and highlights, made a second layer, desaturated by about 25, auto mask and brought the saturation back in the baby's face. It's a great photo... t<div></div>