First Portrait Shoot Outside

[willcodeforfoo]

Just had an informal photoshoot with a friend of mine. Here are some of my "keepers":

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/212/488944544_7a62d9c49f.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/219/488971581_20288a6a96.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/219/488943656_257243f29c.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/232/488970759_1c16e6e819.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/191/488943306_800e09cda8.jpg

Any thoughts or suggestions appreciated!

[kbreit]

#1 - Feels a bit dark. Maybe it lacks contrast. Also, the ground seems more in focus than her face, which feels a tad bit soft. She also has some hair on the right side which seems distracting.

#2 - Nice shot. See if you can clone out that building on the left.

#3 - A few of the hairs on her face are distracting. In addition to that, the shadow on the side of her face isn't sitting with me well. I cannot articulate why though. Maybe more lighting on her right eye would help slightly.

#4 - Nice shot. The hairs over her eyes are the only major thing I'd say.

Overall, it was a good shoot. She seems very willing to be in front of the camera and does a good job of it.

#4 - Interesting idea and I like it. The water bottle seems to be a bit distracting whereas the "flower" is a nice touch.

#5 -

[strmrdr]

with some PP 1 and 3 would be stunning.
they are a little flat, some smoothing of the skin tones, some color balance work and some saturation added would bring them out.
looks like real tough lighting, good job!

[Benji]

Direct sunshine is rarely used in portraiture because it is very unforgiving and leaves heavy dark shadows. Also people tend to squint in sunshine because it is so bright. If you go back and look at the shadows in these images you will see they are quite hard and dark and not very attractive. You can shoot in bright sunshine if you have six or eight assistants to hold the diffusers and reflectors needed to soften the light down to where it will look nice for portraiture, but for most people this is impossible.

Most outdoor portrait shots are done in the shade using either bounced sunlight or daylight as the light source. The image below was taken yesterday afternoon. The sun was in the western sky, so I headed for the east side of this building and used the sunshine bouncing off of the west facing building across the street as my main light. Note the soft shadows and the side lighting.

Benji

I have several free posing and lighting tutorials at http://www.photocamel.com/forum/tutorials/16516-rules-good-portraiture.html
http://www.photocamel.com/forum/tutorials/14669-portrait-head-shoulders-image.html
http://www.photocamel.com/forum/tutorials/14779-1-3-2-posing-technique.html

[Yeoer]

Did you use you 580EX to fill-in?, the lighting (sun) looks really harsh, maybe a reflector would have been a help as well.

Just one thing from me, in 1. her Fingers look a little odd...

Hey first attempt not bad and definatly a good platform to work from.