My first photoshoot

[mlipscomb]

So this is it, been taking pictures for a grand total of a week now! I finally found a model and tested all the theory I'd read about on the net and I'm thrilled with the results. I'd appreciate any criticism that can help me grow. These photos have been photoshoped.

[mlipscomb]

Here's another one...

[mlipscomb]

Just for the record, I had no light other than flashes. This was really hard for me! But I worked it out with a light meter....

[mlipscomb]

Less photoshop on this one...

[mlipscomb]

I wish someone would say something....44 views, not one comment? Don't worry, I can take the critisism...like i said, it's my first photoshot...I'm happy, but it doesn't mean I think it's great!

[stickfigure]

I have never done a photo shoot per say or used a human as a subject other than getting some photoninja shots. With that being said, I think they look great. The first one looks like something you would see in a commercial for a TV show where that lady is the main character.

I think that the lighting is very well done and the composition is great. I tend to gravitate towards more grungy types of photographs. I don't think the outfit says grungy necessarily but the location and her face as well as the lighting have that feel.

My judgement: great work, do some more shoots and post up!

[jayspec]

I call shennanigans! I was going to comment about how you lost the detail in the blacks in that first paintbrush photo. Then I look again, and there the details are! I can't criticize if you change the object of my criticism midstream. :)

My first comment is that I like the lighting a lot. Hard lighting isn't so bad at all when it's done off-camera. (I need to be less afraid of hard, off-camera light myself.)

In the first shot with the paintbrush, the hair light is nice, but might be a little much. Also, I'd like for her to have a little more breathing room in the frame. I don't like that the end of the paintbrush is cropped out, either.

The shot with the white jacket isn't thrilling me. She seems a little underexposed (I think you needed a hair more flash power) while the background is... Not underexposed enough to go away. You've pushed the woman so far to the left, and gone to the trouble of photographing some dirty snow and random building. The woman is separated from it and not interacting with it, so I don't see why you bothered to shoot it at all. Also, you cut off the woman's feet on what should ostensibly be a full body shot.

Don't like the brush positions in the last shot. They look like they're going through her head, and emerging from her knee. Again, the crop really seems kind of tight here.

Overall, not bad. You've already set yourself miles apart from most of the pack with your willingness to use off-camera light.

[mlipscomb]

LOL about cutting off her feet! Why did I do that? Not sure. Thanks for your comments, criticism dully noted.

[mlipscomb]

hummm....

[ashjamesgav]

The one where her legs are cut off: I don't like that her legs are cut off. I don't like the stuff on the right.

The one where the lady is kneeling: The first one you posted has way too much contrast, it was definitely overdone. You lost her arms in this picture. So the paintbrushes appear to be coming out of her knee. You have a lot of space above her head, so what you could've done is used some of that space to get more of a full-body shot and have her put her hands on her knees, or rest her arms on the knees with the paintbrushes.

The one where she's painting: As mentioned above, another tight crop. Give her more room on the left and more room on the right (to see the rest of the paint brush). The lighting on her hair is too much and on my screen it's giving her hair a purple-ish tint.

The one where she's standing up against the wall: Waaaay too dark. Her lower half is nowhere to be found and her upper half looks blown out.

I noticed in almost every picture she's not smiling, except the very last one you posted. And even then it looks forced.

This is all just IMO.

[mlipscomb]

I only have one lens, a 50mm, I think this is why the crops all suck. I was working in a tight space and I was always up fairly close. Although in the case where I killed her legs, I had lots of room. I wonder what the problem with the building is, I imagine that it's ok to have other elements in the photo especially BG stuff like a grungy building?

I think my monitor (laptop) is also causing the brightness to be way off, because as far as exposure goes it was bang on for most of the shots.. And ya, she was very nervous with the camera. I have some where she's smiling, but I don't think they're any better. My main aim for the shoot was to practice with my flashes and in doing so, I think I may have over looked the composition of the images.
But thanks for the comments, I tend to improve fast and I'll definitely post some new stuff soon.