First Senior Portrait Attempt Need Help! NOOB

[tysrsx1]

Here are samples of from my first attempt at shooting in a semi-controlled setting with a direct purpose. I am using a 450D with a rented 70-200 2.8 on these samples. I am trying to learn the method of cropping/resizing and finishing for posting to this site, which I feel is making my image quality suffer. Please advise and keep in mind I am as green as it gets so any positive advice is appreciated.

[psycorpse]

I'm no expert by any means. These look OK. The first one seems a little soft or it is a little out of focus. The second one I am not sure about the angle along with the blown out hair. Just my 2cents.

[Benji]

The first one was lit by daylight. Note how soft and beautiful the light is. Note the nice shadow edge transfer from highlight to shadow on her right cheek. Note there are no blown out highlights. This is excellent lighting. Now look at the second image which was lit by sunshine. We have blown highlights in her hair and hard harsh shadows on her face. Now which light source should we use for lighting our outdoor portraits? I hope i don't need to tell you the answer.

Benji

[tysrsx1]

I agree on the second one being blown out, I was battling some direct sunlight, it also seems that the quality was degraded quite a bit after I posted it, I will try to go back in and work on the RAW image and see if I can improve it. Thanks for any and all input!

[joedlh]

I was battling some direct sunlight

The way to battle direct sunlight is to retreat. Find shade or pick the magic hour in the am or pm.

If you must shoot in sunshine, use either a reflector (with optional attached assistant) to fill the shadows or fill flash.

[jodelak]

I agree with Benji. In #2 you lost some details because of the the hair is overexposed by the sunshine.

--- i'm not an expert, just calling it the way i see it :)

[mosesport]

I think the 1st one is close to perfect. In my personal opinion, I probably would have boosted the contrast slightly, but that's just how I like my pictures. Maybe like a +2 on the saturation too, just to give it a subtle pop.

I agree with everyone else on the second one. The harsh shadow seems to detract from the pretty face.

Keep up the good work though. Really! :)

[mackmittonz]

Probably increase the exposure and bump up the contrast for the first pic. It looks slightly dull.

[PMCphotography]

I love the first one. Very natural looking with great lighting.

Not a fan of the second one...I think the pose is a bit awkward.

[Gel]

I was expecting to see a picture of an old lady, damn my inexperience.

[tohara]

the first one is good but maybe a little more contrast will really make her pop from the blur. The second one isn't the most flattering angle. Nice first attempt though, its not easy shooting at the disposal of mother nature.

[stockej1]

I was expecting to see a picture of an old lady, damn my inexperience.

LOL!! me too hahahahahahaha


what a first post.

[mgbeach]

As was mentioned, the first is actually quite nice and well exposed. It could use some work on composition though. Her head is dead center of the frame with her looking to the right of frame.

If a subject is looking to one side or the other it's almost always best to have them positioned so that they have room in the frame to look into. In this case that would mean to have her head in the left side of the frame. If you have room in the original to recrop that might be helpful. If you don't, even a square crop removing the left side of the frame is a little more interesting.

Another thing is that the images have been left in Adobe 1998 color space. Most web browsers are not color-aware so if images are not converted to sRGB the colors look washed out compared to how they do in your image editing program.

There will always be a great deal of debate, and without really going into it all I'll say that I shoot in RAW, and from my initial conversion all the way through to print I keep my shots in sRGB.

I think a lot of newcomers hear somewhere that Adobe 1998 is "better" and use it and actually end up doing themselves a disservice. Unless you can explain a specific reason you need to use Adobe 1998 you're probably better off shooting in sRGB.

[mgbeach]

the OP doesn't have image editing OK enabled. The edit looks like its a little overboard though into the magenta

[Flo]

the OP doesn't have image editing OK enabled. The edit looks like its a little overboard though into the magenta

I mentioned that;) Taking it down.

[tysrsx1]

WOW thanks again for the helpful info! I will take the advice on sRGB I am using PS-Elements and am about as inexperienced with it as I am with photography LOL, but loving the opportunity to learn something new. This forum rocks, alot of helpful, positive and understanding people, thanks for all the input!

[mgbeach]

WOW thanks again for the helpful info! I will take the advice on sRGB I am using PS-Elements and am about as inexperienced with it as I am with photography LOL, but loving the opportunity to learn something new. This forum rocks, alot of helpful, positive and understanding people, thanks for all the input!

If you're shooting RAW you have the option in the RAW converter to select color space. You can also select in the camera which it's going to default to. And again, the gains seen from using Adobe 1998 or ProPhoto don't begin to outweigh the hassles and potential pitfalls for the casual or even many pro shooters. Don't let the people (and there are plenty of them out there) who tell you that "pros use Adobe 1998" get into your head. Keep on shootin!

[vpnd]

I would start with a little more space. The crops are a little uncomfortable because they make you feel like your in her personal space. I would tone down the exposure a little as well.