New to Canon - Some first shots

Hello. I'm new to Canon and my first Canon DSLR is a 5D MKII. I got it last Thursday and the next day I got the opportunity take it out for a fun session. This is 4 from my first outing with the 5D. My 15 year old model I've know since the day of her birth. I'm an amateur/enthusiast that's dabbled in photography since I was a child. I've done a few weddings and High School portraits but not real regular.

I've been looking around the forum and see there are quite a number of pros here. I'm always open for good constructive criticism and hope I can learn more from others here by getting my shots critiqued. Any C&C is welcome. Thank you for viewing.

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Number 1 feels flat to me. I think a tighter crop and brighter photo would make it much better

Number 2, her skin feels a little magenta and the photo just doesnt do anything for me.

Number 3, same advice as number 1

Number for is my fav pose but the focus seems to have fallen on the writing in the bottom left corner of the train?

Your image editing isnt turned on so I hope you dont mind

Cropped
curves adjustment
removed some magenta from the skin
applied vignette

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No, I don't mind. And it does look better as a close up portrait. But you loose the hair this way which I miss not being in the shot. I Need to come up with a pose to get the best of both worlds. Much thanks for your input and version. It's helpful.

I assume you can try again with her.

Go out in the early morning or late evening sun. Try to use all natural light but if not use a bounced flash for full lighting to avoid harsh shadows. Make sure you are letting enough light in so that your photos aren't so dark. Shoot in RAW.

I would try a pose where she is wearing something light colored, an off white dress since her hair is dark. I would have her sort of facing away from me looking to her side so that you get the profile of her face but the full length of her hair. Have the sun to her front, on the opposite side of her from you, use a full flash and do a full body shot. I can see it in my head but don't know if I explained it well

Hey Lorey, in most of the pictures your friend's face is underexposed (gray looking) and in some a little magenta too. It's more important to get faces exposed correctly and the correct color than anything else in the image. Why - because we all see faces everyday, and no ethnicity has faces that are gray with a blue tinge. If you start to shoot in RAW these are easily fixed. But that may be down the road for you.
Congrats on your new camera. Enjoy.

I do prefer the crop of the first one that was posted. I understand that you were trying to capture her hair as well - my issue with it was the bright sun on part of it (as well as the sunny side of the brick), which I found distracting.

I did think her face may had been SLIGHTLY underexposed - I think that could be fixed in PP for these, but it's certainly best to get it right in the camera. I didn't really see the skin coloration right away, but then again my monitor isn't calibrated either.

obnoxiousmom wrote in post #13654522
I assume you can try again with her.

Go out in the early morning or late evening sun. Try to use all natural light but if not use a bounced flash for full lighting to avoid harsh shadows. Make sure you are letting enough light in so that your photos aren't so dark. Shoot in RAW.

I would try a pose where she is wearing something light colored, an off white dress since her hair is dark. I would have her sort of facing away from me looking to her side so that you get the profile of her face but the full length of her hair. Have the sun to her front, on the opposite side of her from you, use a full flash and do a full body shot. I can see it in my head but don't know if I explained it well

Thanks for all the tips. I'm sure we'll go out for another shoot and I'll be considering all these things to get a better shot. Thanks again!

Frugal wrote in post #13654615
Hey Lorey, in most of the pictures your friend's face is underexposed (gray looking) and in some a little magenta too. It's more important to get faces exposed correctly and the correct color than anything else in the image. Why - because we all see faces everyday, and no ethnicity has faces that are gray with a blue tinge. If you start to shoot in RAW these are easily fixed. But that may be down the road for you.
Congrats on your new camera. Enjoy.

Thank you for your time to view and input. I'm not seeing the gray and blue as you do. I'll look into better calibrating my monitor to see if there's a problem there.

drvnbysound wrote in post #13655046
I do prefer the crop of the first one that was posted. I understand that you were trying to capture her hair as well - my issue with it was the bright sun on part of it (as well as the sunny side of the brick), which I found distracting.

I did think her face may had been SLIGHTLY underexposed - I think that could be fixed in PP for these, but it's certainly best to get it right in the camera. I didn't really see the skin coloration right away, but then again my monitor isn't calibrated either.

I appreciate your time to view and comment. I also don't notice the discoloration as you. Since it was pointed out I now see a, as you put it, SLIGHT, underexposure.