First portrait set

[sparktography]

First time I've done portraits professionaly. Comments? Critiques? Ideas that could have made these better? Check them out at http://sparktography.com/erika

[Leighow]

OK SPARKY !

I look at them -- and I know squat about portraits .. but :

#2 -- this is the best. But I would crop the bottom to make this a square image. Also, the eyes are shadowed a bit. You see, as a male I found myself scanning her entire body (the scarfe frames it). But I really wanted to just look at the face underpineed by the jersey. I know that these are casual portraits. This lady could look marvelous in a different wardrobe and studio lighting. Have yoru followed some of the pro protraits here (e.g Charles) .


# 4 This is OK .. but the pros all use portable reflectors to throw lighton the face. That is easy to do -- just get some whie reflective materail . I have done just that with a white sweat shirt to balance the facial light. The backgound is pretty busy!


#5 -- not sure what response you are expecting here. The girl is too whilesome to be (IMHO) splayed out in this "natural setting". What did you have in mind?

# 7 -- suggests a wonderful model ... you just have to change the venue. I like to idea. Not sure about closed eyes in portraits.

You're close. Real close.

[ssim]

I'm in partial agreement with Howie that you are close. These shots look more like fun snapshots as opposed to a setting of formal portraiture.

I don't mean to harsh but if I was the customer I wouldn't take any of these. I've been there many years ago when I was freelancing and I thought I had a set of shots that were decent. The customer refused to pay anything for them and wouldn't even let me try and do a reshoot. That hurt like hell.

Howie mankes some very good points in his critique.

[sparktography]

OK SPARKY !

I look at them -- and I know squat about portraits .. but :

#2 -- this is the best. But I would crop the bottom to make this a square image. Also, the eyes are shadowed a bit. You see, as a male I found myself scanning her entire body (the scarfe frames it). But I really wanted to just look at the face underpineed by the jersey. I know that these are casual portraits. This lady could look marvelous in a different wardrobe and studio lighting. Have yoru followed some of the pro protraits here (e.g Charles) .


# 4 This is OK .. but the pros all use portable reflectors to throw lighton the face. That is easy to do -- just get some whie reflective materail . I have done just that with a white sweat shirt to balance the facial light. The backgound is pretty busy!


#5 -- not sure what response you are expecting here. The girl is too whilesome to be (IMHO) splayed out in this "natural setting". What did you have in mind?

# 7 -- suggests a wonderful model ... you just have to change the venue. I like to idea. Not sure about closed eyes in portraits.

You're close. Real close.

Thanks for the feedback. #2 was my favorite as well from a professional standpoint. I'll have to work on this. I'm much better at still life where I have absolute controll rather than a living talking being :/