First Paid Shoot, Couple's Portraits

Also the first time I've ever shot with fast primes and an off camera flash.

My entire photography experience pretty much came from shooting in Afghanistan, and I've shared quite a few of those shots here. I always shot with lighter lenses and no flash, f4 and over, since I was carrying so much anyways.

I rented a 35L and 135L to do this shoot, because I know people prefer the shallow DOF look for things like this. Also rented a 430EXII to go wireless with me 580EXII.

Both of which were awesome ideas, and it really hurts to return the equipment. I can't decide which I'm going to buy first though, 35L or 135L. I definitely found these fast quality primes a huge step up in 'fun to shoot' from my f4 lenses.

Also it was a a departure from my usual editing. I guess when I shot in Afghanistan it was more about documentation, enhancing the feel or emotion of the moment. However I know in portraiture, especially couples/weddings/baby etc., people like to see more stylized photographs, and aside form weddings, the whole event is based around staging an emotional event to record an overall moment/stage in their history. Not many people galavant around town posing with each other on an average sunday afternoon. So naturally the post processing has to be a touch different to do that.

So I was fairly happy with my first go at this whole commercial photography deal, hopefully I can do it some more in the future and continue to improve.

Here are some of my favorites:

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Redirected to error image by FLICKR

Shot #4 is the money shot for me. the colors are perfect, the browns tone to her hair and really make it pop, and the connection between the two of them is amazing. nice set!

Very nice, great work. Really like 3 and 6.

#4 is the winner for me. The DOF is great. What lens did you use?

#4 is my favorite as well, DOF works perfectly.

#4 is on a different level than the rest

jmorales wrote in post #12585473
#4 is the winner for me. The DOF is great. What lens did you use?

Lens was a 35L! I loved that lens, wish I could keep the rental haha.

The green summer foliage and moss was matched to her hair using Nik Color Efx, also used aperture, dfine, viveza, and sharpener pro. Nik is a great suite of plug ins to have.

Agree with other posters...#4 is the best of the series. With fast primes, comes DOF issues...present in some of the other shots. They look a bit soft. Nice work and creativity.

Teeth in shot #1 look a bit brighter than in #4 & 6, it might not hurt to look at the curves and make some adjustments to whiten the teeth.
Since they are a paying customer it does not hurt to clean up a bit, just don’t get crazy.

Well done, especially for a 1st time with primes.

#4 Rocks.

And thanks for sharing some of your PP with us. I really appreciate when folks do that. Helps me out a lot.