Critique needed for first time "portraits"

[rkoshy]

Should have put this here instead of the SHARE PICS topic:

Please let me know what you'd have done different--

Equipment:
- 300D + Sigma 70-200 f/2.8, about 8-10 feet away from subjects.

Lighting:
- Home Depot work light, double head, 500W halogen, facing up & away from the scene, being bounced off a white melamine sheet clamped to a ladder on the left side
- Home Depot work-light, single 500W floor model, inside a home-made soft-box (cotton fabric over the front of a big box about 2'x2'x4') on the right side
- 550EX on camera bounced off a white ceiling in front.

Background is an ivory colored bed-sheet.

http://www.rubixinfotech.com/~renny/IMG_6004.jpg

This one has FEC of +2 on the 550:
http://www.rubixinfotech.com/~renny/IMG_6013.jpg

[chops]

Other than the fact that they are a bit soft, they look good to me. The exposure on the close-up might be a little on the hot side though.

It looks like your camera focused on the props in front of your subjects.

[Hellashot]

On a 300D/Drebel and a 550EX for taking portraits you shouldn't need to go all the way up to +2 flash exposure. You just need to do a manual zoom on the 550 to put in the effective focal length given the 1.6 multiplication factor. WIth a +2 I'm surprised they weren't blinded after that shot.

The second one looks over exposed. 300D/Drebel often take darker images that come through just fine through quick fixes by post processing.

Also, did you do any post processing? It looks like the images need a bit of sharpening.

[Andy_T]

Looks like the camera focused on the tree bits in front.

They are sharp, while the two girls are not.

Best regards,
Andy

[Thornfield]

I think you've got the right models etc...great smiles
The only things that I would do different is take the red santa stockings off the background and give it the once over with an iron or crumple it right up so that it's like it all over rather than just some creases. I find they compete for attention with the kids
Focus does look a bit off
Other than that it's a great shot

[colliewalker1]

These photos are beautifully composed - quite a professional studio look - and the lighting and exposure looks very good.

As other members have said, the foreground greenery looks sharper than the subjects - I can't understand how this could happen though....!

Denis Boisclair
Cheshire, England

[PhotosGuy]

You HAVE to focus on the eyes. Other than that, I'd move them farther away from the sheet & maybe add a bit of hair light from above/back. Putting the black top against a light background is just asking for unnecessary trouble.
#2 is much better.

[OneManArmy]

A little soft, and the whiet balance looks off. The first one is an ok capture, the second one is a pretty good capture.

[rkoshy]

Thank you all for the great suggestions.

I don't understand why it focused like that... the camera was set to use the center focus point, and it gave me the red dot & beep-beep, etc... and I had focused on the eyes / shifted to compose & triggered the shot. All of this while the camera was on the tripod.

Do you think my lens is bad? or front focusing? how can I tell?