First attempt at portraits

This is something I have never tried before, apart from street shots and a few in daylight. They were all shot at my 50th birthday party. I'd appreciate any input, tips on how to improve etc, as it's a new field for me and I think I like it! At the moment I am only getting anything I like with one method of processing.

All taken with the K7, 18-55WR, a Tumax on-camera flash, and a home-made softbox.


Gavin




Gavin and Julie




Morgan




Gillian




And lastly, my lovely wife Jackie

Some very good images! Home made soft box, i would love to see a picture of it. If you are into mono, a plugin for photoshop well worth a look is Nik silver Efex Pro, it will provide you with a lot of processing effects which would be well suited to these images.

by the way Happy 50th

Thanks for the birthday wishes! I used a trial version of Nik Silver Efex Pro a while ago, maybe I will have to get it....

Here's a picture of the softbox. It's made from a plastic container about six inches across with tin-foil inside it, and two layers of the foam paper stuff the flash came wrapped in ovet the top, with a hole cut in the back to fit over the flash. It seems to work pretty well.

These are really distinctive, Jon. I love the silvery glow which comes from the high-lights. Flash is hard to get right but that soft box certainly does the trick.

I really like them, but perhaps the approach is more suited to craggy weatherbeaten individuals than women like Gillian. I'm sure craggy and weatherbeaten isn't exactly the look she's aiming for

And here's me thinking I'd made it into a flattering portrait

As I mentioned, I really only have one technique so far for processing portraits, which I used on all these shots. Photoshop is an ongoing learning curve, and two years in I am starting to realise how little I know about it! Add to that my beginners status with flash, and I think it'll take me a while to get where I would like to be with portraiture.

Well done for a great set of portraits.

Can't offer any advice or tips as I wouldn't know where to start myself.