Two Actors and a Director ...

Buono Estente,

I've recently found myself doing a project photographing rehearsals for a new theatre show at a major theatre here ... the photos have been a lot more portraiture based than I've ever done before, even if it has been mostly reportage/candids, and this has led to me taking a few more proper portraits.

Here's one of the director of the show - Albert Boadella - on set, during the press launch and quickly set up to send to a national newspaper who published it today ...

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/owainshaw/86567​82975/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/owainshaw/86567​82095/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/owainshaw/86578​88086/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/owainshaw/86567​82905/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/owainshaw/86578​87570/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/owainshaw/86567​82639/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/owainshaw/86578​87280/

They're generally fine portraits. My only comment is that three of the photos of the lovely young lady have bright sunshine on her nose, thus over-emphasizing that aspect of her anatomy. You need to either control her pose or position in relation to the available light to avoid that 'look'.

first two photos are my favs. really dig the black and white sharp contrast look and the facial expression of the director.

Pjay wrote in post #15839262
They're generally fine portraits. My only comment is that three of the photos of the lovely young lady have bright sunshine on her nose, thus over-emphasizing that aspect of her anatomy. You need to either control her pose or position in relation to the available light to avoid that 'look'.

Thanks. And thanks for the feedback, very good point ... whilst I definitely feel she has a lovely nose, that doesn't mean it needs emphasising quite so much ... something to consider for next time. The sun was very bright on that day, shooting in the shade was the only option ...

blu3ness wrote in post #15840046
first two photos are my favs. really dig the black and white sharp contrast look and the facial expression of the director.

Cheers. Glad the B/W one doesn't come across too bad ... I've later made my portrait processing much less aggressive, but the setting for this one probably makes it work, along with the blazer ...

Love the first two; both are great environmental portraits

The images of your girlfriend show that you were struggling with sun and shade; the second one, for example, would have been much better if you'd moved her slightly forward (or back) so her whole face was in shade. Instead, hard shadows cast by direct sun (most obviously the nose shadow) ruin the rest of the shot.

One tip that might help: light for the shadows. When working with direct sun, that means positioning your subjects so their nose and chin shadows don't distract. If that's impossible, find open shade, or create open shade by, say, shooting into the sun. And definitely aim for even light across the whole subject (unless you're going for a particularly high contrast look).

Have to agree with ofdphoto above. The harsh sun isn't helping the photos of your girlfriend IMO, but the first two are top drawer.

ofdphoto wrote in post #15844026
Love the first two; both are great environmental portraits

The images of your girlfriend show that you were struggling with sun and shade; the second one, for example, would have been much better if you'd moved her slightly forward (or back) so her whole face was in shade. Instead, hard shadows cast by direct sun (most obviously the nose shadow) ruin the rest of the shot.

One tip that might help: light for the shadows. When working with direct sun, that means positioning your subjects so their nose and chin shadows don't distract. If that's impossible, find open shade, or create open shade by, say, shooting into the sun. And definitely aim for even light across the whole subject (unless you're going for a particularly high contrast look).

gazmorton2000 wrote in post #15844435
Have to agree with ofdphoto above. The harsh sun isn't helping the photos of your girlfriend IMO, but the first two are top drawer.

Yeah, I was playing with the fringes of the shade and that's why ... I was working under the impression that full shade would be a bad thing and so I had to keep some sunlight, but in reality, full shade would have been better for even lighting. As one of the first times I've taken portraits, this is the kind of thing you have to learn ... I know to bear in mind next time.

(Sorry for delayed comment, not an intentional bump, I was away on the weekend.)

Thanks for the positive comments on the first two ...

I actually kinda like the the last one. I think that it would have been flawless if that one little shadow wasn't falling over her right eye and the harsh shadow defined on her neck was way softer. I agree with the "top drawer" coment above regarding the first two. Wish my first time and some of my current portraits were as good as a couple of these. Nice work.

I'm really pleased with them for a first set of proper portraits ... much better than I ever expected to take in terms of the expressions and things, but I need to learn about positioning and lighting, and attention to detail which seems to be the absolute factor in portraiture - the tiniest detail here and there can make or break the shot.