Some portraits for critique

Thanks for your comments, Dan. How's this for comparison?




Thanks too to George and John.

I'm exhausted now... this stuff is difficult !

It's getting better. I think the next session can build on this very well. Try to get as much as possible right at the taking stage and that will serve you well.

I'm struck that there is very little depth of field in your shots. Using flash does have the benefit of enabling use of smaller apertures, although in general I prefer natural light where possible.

What aperture and shutter speed were you using?

Chris,

Just to be brutally frank, for a moment, I have to say that these pictures are not sharp enough to be worth spending too much more effort on.

Get the girl back, and shoot some more, making sure that your focus is correct (or are you using a Canon lens?).

G

Even when you are practicing, you'll find that you can achieve very different looks, with the same images.
Here's a couple of practice shots Gerri and I Worked on.
We collaberated on the setup, took the same shot into seperate workstations and came back with very different images...
Which do you like?
Personally, I'm going to rearrange the props for when the customer asks for this type of shot, but two different photographers will see the same scene very differently!

I agree. For that last one I was just seeing what I could do in response to Dan's comment about contrast, really.


Well that last one (which was very typical) was 1/20s at F4.5 at 130mm with the 75-300 FAJ.

I guess I need to get into flash a bit. I've no experience with it, other than for snaps.

Have you changed this image order on here? I'd swear it was image 3 i was talking about, anyway, it's this one I mean.




of the changed images i prefer the new 'blue-er' image to the original.

I think.... I'll go back to shooting at rats now.

That explains it. The lens you are using is not at its best wide open, so sharpness and contrast will suffer. DOF will be very small, hence my previous comment. At 1/20 sec the slightest shake will spoil the sharpness as well, not only camera shake but also movement of the model.

With studio flash you would have achieved an exposure of maybe f8 or even f11 and the shutter speed would have been the speed of the flash, so no movement there.

This leads me to think though that the light was also quite low, so if you are using available light in this way it might be better on a brighter day.

You can see the difference more "bite" gives in the other shots that have been posted, not just mine, so keep working at it and you'll get there.

If you have access to a Camera Club maybe they do portrait sessions for beginners. We do at ADAPS all the time and those nights are very, very popular. They are aimed at beginners and more experienced members help to guide people as needed.

Nope. I deliberately put the unsharpened one (the one with the head tilt) in last of the three.


Hmm. Only the original three have the blue cast. The background was white, not blue - I thought I'd sorted that out in the later edits.


Indeed. I was conscious of this at the time. Thanks for the suggestion re the camera club, and the flash. I'll have another go at some point.

Chris, as a constructive criticism, may I suggest you ask your model to pull her shoulders back a bit, straighten her back, pull in her stomach, and push her (Front) up and out a bit?
Beautiful girl, but your next shot(everything else being the same) will look better if you coax her into a better posture.
one technique I use is this:
(practice on yourself till it makes sense)
Exhale all the air in your lungs.
Make a motion like you're inhaling, but instead of drawing in air, pretend to block off your airway in the back of your throat, and pretend you are inhaling your stomach, pulling it into your chest cavity, instead of air into your lungs.
You will automattically straighten your back, pull up your shoulders, slim your waist and push out your chest.

Hi Chris,

I like the shallow depth of field - it helps concentrate the viewer on the eyes, too much in focus and your eye ends up wandering all over the place looking at detail in clothing etc. Your style gives a more immediate connection with the model, as far as I'm concerned.

Just need to get the eyes sharp - I'd say keep going with the window light for the time being, perhaps just a bit nearer the window! Get the shutter speed up and perhaps close the lens down a stop to improve it's sharpness.

Hope you don't mind, but I had a little play with the image I like, just to show you what I was thinking when I said brighter and more contrast.

Original



Altered



I think the image (either one) has a fresh, airy look to it. Definitely one of the best portraits I've seen on here (IMHO), just needs to be sharp!

Keep it up!
Dan