Portrait

[SoCal69]

Well, my wife figured that since I spent so much money on a new camera, I should be taking some great portraits of our two daughters. I have no real experience doing portraits, but thought I would give it a try.

Having nothing available for a background, I used nothing but a painted wall as a backdrop. I know the photo would be better with a backdrop, so no need to address that. The lighting was done as follows: Ambient light from a window to the left and a direct light source was used from the front right. Flash was bounced from the ceiling.

I was fairly pleased with the result, not having done this type of work before, but would like some input on how I fared and whether there is anything I might have done to improve this shot. All comments are appreciated and welcomed, good or bad. Thanks.

http://images.fotopic.net/?id=1171550&outx=600&noresize=1&nostamp=1

[pappy]

This is a lovely portrait of your beautiful daughters, Chuck. I have not tried any portrait photography but regardless I like this and it's definitely a family "keeper". As far as what should be changed, I'll leave that to others more qualified than I.

regards,
peter

[CyberDyneSystems]

Great photo of two great looking kids :)
I bet they keep you busy!

I have no insight as to improvements to this photo as taken,. I think the composition would be perfect,. my only critique is the background,. the off white is a little off putting,. and in particular the fact that it is so close to the subjects,. you have very little DOF blurring to help make it go away.

I assume this is a white walll in your house,. so I realize this is kind of a lame critique to offer, but really the exact same photo taken at a park,. or with a colored backdrop of some sort would IMO have made for a better keeper.

[SoCal69]

Thanks Peter and CDS.

As for the background, I agree with you completely. A properly burred outdoor background would have worked, but I wanted to try a "studio setting." The original plan was to insert a digital background, but that didn't look right, so I ended up adding a vignette which matched the wall in the final print which helped quite a bit. I will have to look into getting some appropriate backdrops.

Overall I am encouraged by the lack of criticism :D But I am sure there are things I could have done with lighting and technique which might improve on this somewhat. In the final analysis, I was still very pleased that I could acheive such good results (at least to my amateur eye) on my first try!

Thank you both for the compliments... and yes, they do keep me busy!

[Conk]

The expressions are very natural. The two girls are very cute. They look very close to one another.
I agree with the background issue. no more need to be said there.
A couple very small things that caught my eye right away were:
1- The younger one on the left goes into a slight blur as she turns her head. Her eyes are not quite as clear as here sister's.
2- Our left, their right eye's have a reflection of light.
Like I said, these are real small things. This photo can probably benefit from a soft focus filter as well.
Overall this is a great shot at portraiture.
Keep it up Chuck!

[SoCal69]

Conk wrote:
They look very close to one another.


Physically only! They are constantly fighting and I can't tell you how hard it was to get them just to sit for a portrait!


A couple very small things that caught my eye right away were:
1- The younger one on the left goes into a slight blur as she turns her head. Her eyes are not quite as clear as here sister's.

I had noticed that also, but given that it was fairly slight and that this was the best shot out of several, and I just decided it was good enough to use rather than try to reshoot.


2- Our left, their right eye's have a reflection of light.


Now that I had not noticed before, and now that you bring it up, it is quite obvious and somewhat annoying. But, it's a good mistake to learn from! I didn't have a reflector on the light source (it was a painter's lamp from home depot). I will have to look into diffusing or reflecting the light source in future attempts.

I appreciate the input! Thanks to all for your comments and insights... That's what keeps me coming back here!

[Laziferous]

Like Peter, and CDS... I don't have much to offer as far as critiquing goes. I have absolutely no experience shooting portraits (unless turning my camera on it's side counts http://photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smile4.gif ).

I'll just say as has been mentioned, that I think you caught their expressions wonderfully. You'd never expect they don't get along. They look so happy.

The lighting looks great. Bouncing flashes is all new to me. You look like an old pro. This should get you some brownie points with the wife :D

[henkbos]

Cute picture, a keeper.
Could use a little sharpening overall and perhaps a little extra for the eyes only.
A closer crop from the right might be better since the girls are looking out of the picture to the left.
This is a great shot to experiment with backgrounds. Try to extract the background in a seperate layer and make it gradient or something like that. Or take the suggestion and 'put' them in a park. Lots of fun and not always that easy with the hair.

In the pic below, I used the gradient tool:
http://www.henkbos.com/web_pics/zen7_std.jpg

[SoCal69]

Thanks Chris and Henk!

I thought about cropping more, but I didn't want to cut her off on the right. As far as gradient backgrounds, that was similar to what I had planned, but I had a hard time getting a natural looking extraction and finally gave up... the hair was difficult. Yours looks great though and I may have to retry the extraction when I have some time.

[GPR1]

I think it is crucial that the eyes are sharp. I'd reshoot; you're daughters are so cute they deserve another chance.

[SoCal69]

Thanks GPR1! As for a reshoot... don't worry, my wife has spoken, and there will be numerous additional attempts! :D

[stopbath]

Your wife was right. You're first attempt was a great start!

They are very photogenic kids. You've got some great subjects there.

Future shots need not have that 'in the studio' look. A few shots of them 'going at each other' could very well get you a few gems. Any sisterly activity that they share could be really great.

As for this particular photo, perhaps you could try to to darken the wall behind them in your graphics program. The grey sweater and grey wall are only a little apart in tone.

[SoCal69]

Thanks Stopbath! I wanted the studio look for this because I had never tried it before. My main concern initially was how to do lighting, but after all the comments, I realize how much more I need to consider! Thanks for your input.

[Leighow]

Well also, I wish that I knew PS well enough to add a sort of lighter backgound to surround their heads -- just to see if this adds a bit of formality and studio look. It might be a nice touch.