A few from yesterday's studio shoot with the 18-135

I needed to complete my final assignment for my portrait course and so had some family over yesterday for a 'lunch and portrait' event.

I thought I would share a couple of the images here for your comment and information. Normally I would have used my DA* 16-50 but this has had to go away, to SRS, for a warranty repair of the SDM . I needed a backup lens anyway so took the opportunity to acquire a DA 18-135 WR. It turns out that this is an almost prefect portrait lens being able to get groups, full length and heads and shoulder shots all with one lens. I also found it to be a perfect walk around lens during a recent business trip. I can definitely recommend this lens. It does suffer from purple and green fringing but this is easily sorted in Camera Raw and it isn't as sharp as my DA* but, for portraits, sharp isn't always best.

Anyway here are some of my efforts:

1.



2.



3.



4.



5.



6.



7.



Camera was a K3, ISO 100, 1/125 @ f8. Lighting via 2 or 3 Elinchrom D-Lites using a combination of softboxes and large and small umbrellas. I also used a Lastolite Tri-flector.

As always C&C very welcome.

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CaptureLight Ltd
flickr
"I carry a camera to capture memories and the occasional photograph worthy of sharing"

Ralph, its going well, I think you've got plenty of interest in the 'poses' and expressions, the subjects are clearly engaged with it and thats the main thing.

I would take a closer look at the flash power or distribution of the light perhaps - in the group shots the light falls a bit unevenly, slightly underexposing those faces that are set back (eg the top girl in the first, the rear two in the second). On the shots with the black background the flash looks a little overpowered to me.

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My Guides to the Pentax Digital Camera Flash Lighting System : Download here from the PentaxForums Homepage Article .... link
Pentax K7 with BG-4 Grip / Samyang 14mm f2.8 ED AS IF UMC / DA18-55mm f3.5-5.6 AL WR / SMC A28mm f2.8 / D FA 28-105mm / SMC F35-70 f3.5-4.5 / SMC A50mm f1.7 / Tamron AF70-300mm f4-5.6 Di LD macro / SMC M75-150mm f4.0 / Tamron Adaptall (CT-135) 135mm f2.8 / Asahi Takumar-A 2X tele-converter / Pentax AF-540FGZ (I & II) Flashes / Cactus RF60/X Flashes & V6/V6II Transceiver

Nigel, thanks for the comments. You're absolutely right about the light fall off. One of the key problems is trying to get an even exposure across multiple faces. The flash power is fine it's managing to get all the faces the same distance away from it. I think the word I'm looking for here is practice, practice, practice

The dark background shots are specifically 'well' lit. There are two lights above and three reflectors below and to the sides. It's meant to be a 'make over' 'beauty' shot aimed at eliminating wrinkles and blemishes in the skin. I may well have overcooked it slightly but the girls liked the results which is a partial result.

I'll find out if I got it right when I get my professional critique next week

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CaptureLight Ltd
flickr
"I carry a camera to capture memories and the occasional photograph worthy of sharing"

No. 7 for me - lovely composition and lighting

I like these but would crop 4 and 7 to remove the dead space (if that is allowed)

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K10D, K5 plus plenty of clueless enthusiasm.

My Flickr site link

Thanks but I can't help smiling when I read that. Little Honey was just running around, standing up, sitting down, jumping and dancing whilst I valiantly tried to keep her in focus. As such the composition on this one was pure luck Thanks anyway
.

Anything is allowed. I would agree on number 4 but I feel that the 'white space' helps to make the image in Number 7. As always; we all like different things. It would be boring any other way.

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CaptureLight Ltd
flickr
"I carry a camera to capture memories and the occasional photograph worthy of sharing"

I really like #1, #3 and #5 although I think I would have been please to have taken any of them. Well Done

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Regards
Stan

PPG

I wouldn't have clue how to go about taking shots like these so I'd be very pleased with them if they turned out like this.

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Best wishes,

Andrew

"These places mean something and it's the job of a photographer to figure-out what the hell it is."
Robert Adams
"The camera doesn't make a bit of difference.  All of them can record what you are seeing.  But, you have to SEE."
Ernst Hass
My website: http://www.ephotozine.com/user/bwlchmawr-199050 http://s927.photobucket.com/home/ADC3440/index
https://www.flickr.com/photos/78898196@N05

Thanks guys. However I am near the end of a 6 month portrait training course so it's not 'natural talent' that's showing here just the application of good training.

I will also confess that number 5 was a combination of 3 different images (against the same background) merged in photoshop CC. Trying to get 3 kids to all jump to the same height, at the same time and all with a good pose was juts too much

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CaptureLight Ltd
flickr
"I carry a camera to capture memories and the occasional photograph worthy of sharing"

I hope you realize you've disillusioned a lot of people

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Regards
Stan

PPG

Damn, my cover is blown

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CaptureLight Ltd
flickr
"I carry a camera to capture memories and the occasional photograph worthy of sharing"