Senior Portraits

#1 has the best foundation, something solid with a pleasant backdrop of flowers at the bottom. It has probably the most natural and comfortable pose and expression. It also has good contrast, the better of the two smiles, and an appealing upward angle. The best overall image, to me.

I very much like the dark background of #2, but it doesn't contrast as well against her hair and shirt as the others (though #1 blends midtones at the crown). I think her hands would've been better off together or in a different place entirely, and possibly hidden. Add a smile (into the camera), and I think it would have been the best of the bunch...IMO.

#3 has a good pose and good backdrop, but no smile, and perhaps too much of an upward angle for my eyes.

I don't care for the angle of #4, and her hair may be occluded a little much. She also doesn't quite look like she's visibly "leaning" against the tree. My least favorite of the group.


I have no personal experience in taking candids or portrait shots; these are just my feelings.

That was a great critique! And eventhough you have no personal experience in taking theys types of photos, I bet if you tried you would be really good

Thanks!

Ah, the best thing to do for undereye circles is to take the clone tool with a large soft brush at about 20-25% opacity and sample an area nearby (that's similar in color to what the color should be under the eyes) and paint over those circles. I do this touchup to pretty much all my portraits that go to print...even babies sometimes need this help (I'm hoping to master a little glamour lighting underneath that would minimize this problem without needing the PP).

ghaleon109 wrote:
That was a great critique! And eventhough you have no personal experience in taking theys types of photos, I bet if you tried you would be really good

Thanks!

Hah, thanks. I wish. I'm just a very, VERY amateur who really doesn't understand any of the fundamentals of what's called "composition." I go by feel mostly.

I thought you did very well for just starting out. Overall they appeared to direct attention to the subject, not the background etc. You choose a good "portrait" lens to allow a good perspective.

It's always better to have the subject a little lighter than the background because our eyes are first drawn to the lightest objects. And a sparkle in the eyes is a good way to add "life" to them, but I totally agree with previous comments that you should avoid on-camera flash in almost all cases.

Overall, nice job!

posing is nice- backgrouns is uncluttered- focus is good-

but the laqst one is theonly one where you can see any light in her eyes - so i like it best I really feel teh reflections in eyes adds a LOT to a portrait. maybe next time use a reflector to pop a reflection up??