Portraits tryout

[hollow]

Well, this is first time when I'm posting portraits pictures. I'm using a Canon A95 so be gentle with my DOF :lol:. I want your opinions about croping, sharpness, and all other comments that you have.

Thank you for looking.

[hollow]

Two more :)

Oh I forgot to tell you :o : the "model" is my wife ! :D

[MichaelE]

IMHO you should open up the aperature as wide as possible to blur out the background. It's a little distracting if you want to focus of the portrait subject.

[hollow]

IMHO you should open up the aperature as wide as possible to blur out the background. It's a little distracting if you want to focus of the portrait subject.

:lol::lol::lol: I know I know ! But is just an A95. And for maximum focal length (which is 23 mm ) minimum F/stop is f/4,9 ! :lol:

So I've tried my best !
Thank you for comments :)

[Fer]

Considering what u have u did good. Your wife looks a little bit tense, maybe you should tell her the story when you fell in love with her so she can act more natural and smile a bit ;)

[Dimitry]

Adding to what the humble Fer has said, I think picture 1 works the best in terms of pose, color etc. For me at least.

[Fer]

Adding to what the humble Fer has said, I think picture 1 works the best in terms of pose, color etc. For me at least.

Humble Fer? ;)

Yes, about the color and all, I like them too, you did good!

[hollow]

When I fall inlove with her it was 12 years ago at a party dancing together and singind in her ear "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" Guns 'n Roses.
This shots were taken in a little park so I think me singing "Knockin' On Heeaven's Door" there it would have totally different effect that a romantic air ! :lol::lol::lol:
And my voice is not like 12 years ago anymore ! :p

Thanks for the comments you all ! ;)

[Fer]

When I fall inlove with her it was 12 years ago at a party dancing together and singind in her ear "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" Guns 'n Roses.
This shots were taken in a little park so I think me singing "Knockin' On Heeaven's Door" there it would have totally different effect that a romantic air ! :lol::lol::lol:
And my voice is not like 12 years ago anymore ! :p

Thanks for the comments you all ! ;)

Oh ic... Well, I was just a thought ;)

[Dante King]

Great job considering the cameras limitations!

[Titus213]

I think the last two play to the cameras strengths. (Number 3 is really nice, I like it best). If you can't control the depth of field get rid of the background. I like the close-ups much better. It looks like you found a shady spot on a sunny day. I would think a little flash would put some hi-lites in her eyes and really bring the last two together. I don't know what the fill flash capabilities of your camera are. Nice job though. You are definitely on the right track and already noted what you thought would be problems.

[hollow]

I think the last two play to the cameras strengths. (Number 3 is really nice, I like it best). If you can't control the depth of field get rid of the background. I like the close-ups much better. It looks like you found a shady spot on a sunny day. I would think a little flash would put some hi-lites in her eyes and really bring the last two together. I don't know what the fill flash capabilities of your camera are. Nice job though. You are definitely on the right track and already noted what you thought would be problems.

Thank you Titus. In fact that day I was playing with burst shooting mode of my camera and I've made about 50 pictures in that park :).

Well I guess you are right. Next time for sure I will try to use the flash too. The problem is that those close-up pictures are taken from about 1 meter distance to the subject. And the built-in flash is pretty strong even at the lowest level so I don't know the effect for such distance. But I'll try and I'll find out :).
Tank you again, and thank you Dante too for stoping here and comment.

Best regards

[Andy_T]

They are nice :D
I like the first one best, mainly for the colour.

The crop in the last one is not optimal for my taste.
Too much of her torso, but the top of the head cut ... doesn't work for me.

Best regards,
Andy

[hollow]

The crop in the last one is not optimal for my taste.
Too much of her torso, but the top of the head cut ... doesn't work for me.


Not for my taste too Andy. It's not the crop. It's the bad composition :o:o
The original is the same.

I've posted it just for facial expression.

Thanks for comments and best regards.

[Dimitry]

I was just thinking about what someone else said about blurring out the background. If you want to do that, try shooting against something that's very similar in color. What I mean is shoot against a wall, green grass, bushes, the sky etc so that the background is already fairly uniform. Might make post processing easier afterwards.

Humble Fer? ;)


Well, I just couldn't resist not saying something about a lady such as yourself. ;) Or was I off a bit and you would rather be called witty? :p :lol:

[Huckaback Photo]

Hello Hollow

Nice images & vary attractive lady, she does appear a litle tense , sometimes not all people are comfortable in front of the camera and need to be given time to relax.
take a lot of shots, the further into the shoot you tend to get better results .

I thought no 1 and no 3 were good images, certainly no problems with sharpness & colour saturation,
no 1 needed some additional work in Photoshop (if you use it). as already mentioned the background could improvre from being blured, if not possible with wide aperture in camera post process with PS, most basic way is the blur tool.
A small crop from top and right to cut away some distracting highlites
also lose any other over bright areas in the background, use clone tool or burn tool.
the use of paint brush tool, set to small /colour white can then put some catch lites in the eyes.

see what you think

Regards
Martin (Huckaback Photo)

[hollow]

Thank you Huckaback

I know about using blur tool in Photoshop :);). The only problem is background selection. Which is very difficult especially in the hair area. But yes with hard work the results can be excellent.

" also lose any other over bright areas in the background, use clone tool or burn tool."
Well that's a good tip !

" the use of paint brush tool, set to small /colour white can then put some catch lites in the eyes "

That's even better ! And I've read about this but I forgot ! Thanks for reminding me. I will use this anytime it needs because the effect is great.

The conclusion is that in this cases (portraits) I have to seriously use the power of that Potoshop buddy to compensate my "equipment" lacks ! :D

Thank you again for comments and for your time.

edited: I've followed some of your advices plus a little play with other tools too and I've tought to post the result :