First go at portrait, C&C please

[Dave.H]

This is my first attempt at portrait photography. I have a make shift studio in the basement. I have a couple flashes setup, one in a shoot through umbrella, one aimed at the white ceiling for some hair lighting and then a reflector disk on the opposite side of the umbrella to help fill in the shadows.

My first thought of these photos is that I need to move the shoot through light back a bit. I tried stopping the light down one and it was too dark, maybe moving it back or stopping the camera down??

All shots were taken at 125 and F14.

Let me know your thoughts and what I could do better.

http://www.haughs.net/gallery/d/9508-1/IMG_3873-Edit.jpg
http://www.haughs.net/gallery/d/9510-1/IMG_3882-Edit.jpg

[Dave.H]

Both pictures above are after some photoshopping. Here are the originals:

[Claribel]

I actually like the originals better. Your pp made them too dark.... also, the second pose isnt very flattering... in the first one, it seems as if the eys/face isnt in focus... i think the focus fell on the big flower.... I dont know much about studio lighting, so I cant help with that... also, a little eyes whitening will do a whole lot for a photo when the eyes are so dark.

btw, she is a gorgeous baby, and i love the cute little outfit.

i tried to do some pp... im not very fond of the white background.... mostly because it doesnt look very white... im sure once you learn how to adjust your lighting,it'll look great...... i still think you did great for your first portraits.



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v637/bxchick1230/Portfolio/2fcanon-davedoth.jpg

[Dave.H]

Yeah I am thinking the white backdrop isn't very good. Its white felt. A sheet would probably be better ??


Posses where just practice, she doesn't sit still very long, I am trying to get the lighting and such down. Thank you for you critique, gives me some ideas!

[Robert_Lay]

When I am walking in the Mall and I see the adverts for the photography studios, I always find that the professionally done portraits of children are so enchanting, and I marvel at the skill of the photographer.

Looking at your posted images (the ones that were processed) I find them to be every bit as enchanting and professional as I've seen anywhere. I felt that your originals were a bit overexposed - especially the first one, and I like what you did to correct that.

Congratulations!

[Dave.H]

We tried again this am. We only get about 5 minutes of happy time. She knows how to walk now and does not like to sit still one bit.

Disregard poses in the following pictures as I am still working on dialing in the lighting and such. Also disregard her angry face, she's not a mean baby, I promise!

Looking at this morning's attempt I think the background has to go. I thought I would give it a try cause it was only about $10. Its white felt with a piece of dark grey felt behind it to limit any light coming through. But I think it lacks the properties of a good background. With my daughter, Sidney, overexposed I like the nice bright white background, but with her properly exposed (what I think is proper) the background looks more greyish. Which isn't bad, its just not the look I am going for. My problem with poses is that one of the flashes I am using has a very slow recharge time. I guess its time for an upgrade in that department too.

Anyway, here are some unprocessed pictures from today:

There are two pictures here. The first I think may be a tad under exposed. The second is one stop greater exposure and it seems about right for her, but not the background look I want.

I look forward to your oppinions.

[Robert_Lay]

Very difficult to find anything wrong with either shot.
However, I did some work on them with PSCS Levels and with about 1 stop increase in exposure plus some readjustment of the black point and mid-tones, I get a bit more range of tones and more contrast. Give the OK and I can post them here.

[Dave.H]

Give the OK and I can post them here.

I'd love to see them!

[Robert_Lay]

I'd love to see them!
Voila'

[cdmonkey]

I'd love to see them!

I take this as its ok to post edited images, although you should really enable image edit ok in your preferences.

These pics are well cute, and I thought with a little extra pp they could really shine.

My edits might not be to everyones taste but i thought they are worth posting. Also my lcd needs calibrating so I may have pushed these to far althought they look ok on my screen.

[cdmonkey]

looking at it in the browser there may be too much blue in my edit.

Bob, again not sure if its my monitor but your edits look very dark, I really need to get my monitor calibrated, I might see if I can borrow the spyder pro from work.

Carl

[Dave.H]

Voila'

I like the contrast. And the more I am looking at it the more I like the backdrop not being bleeched out. I went with the couple types of felt for check to get an idea and practice before I drop big money on a backdrop, so I couls spend the money on lighting and such.

I take this as its ok to post edited images, although you should really enable image edit ok in your preferences.


thanks for the tip. Done!


These pics are well cute, and I thought with a little extra pp they could really shine.

My edits might not be to everyones taste but i thought they are worth posting. Also my lcd needs calibrating so I may have pushed these to far althought they look ok on my screen.

I like. I am still learning, which is why I put them up here. I have zero experience with portrait photography and I am self learning pping now and am only a few months in.

looking at it in the browser there may be too much blue in my edit.

Bob, again not sure if its my monitor but your edits look very dark, I really need to get my monitor calibrated, I might see if I can borrow the spyder pro from work.

Carl


Hard for me to say. Some of mine look great on my computer with a black background then look completely different when posted with a white background. but I don't have a calibrated monitor yet....

Thanks again. I will keep trying now that I am bassically setup.

Here is my setup, only doing these pictures I had the umbrella turned around and the black off it so I could shoot through. Both flashes are old (not using the one on the right in these pictures) and the one on the umbrella does pretty well, but my other has a very long recharge time which with a baby that likes to move isn't working out to well. I have a 430ex, but it does funny things when hooked up to my chinese RF flash triggers. I haven't quite figured it out yet.