Natural light

I tried doing natural light portraits today. I am new to portraits and natural light. I also picked up a new lens this week, Canon 85 1.8. These were done while walking around today. C+C welcome, looking to improve. Shooting with a 60D.

Second one needs to be cropped, lady is too far away and lost in all of the colours.

Gutterscum wrote in post #15925407
Second one needs to be cropped, lady is too far away and lost in all of the colours.

Thanks for the suggestion. I will give that a try!

You need to watch your posing especially on larger body types. Pulling the arms away and sticking the skin out slightly along with turning the model a bit more would go a long way.

You also need to get more on the face, flash, reflector or something, it seems a bit dark. In any case dodge it up in post.

Nice job, she has a pretty smile and you captured that.

mike_311 wrote in post #15928906
You need to watch your posing especially on larger body types. Pulling the arms away and sticking the skin out slightly along with turning the model a bit more would go a long way.

You also need to get more on the face, flash, reflector or something, it seems a bit dark. In any case dodge it up in post.

Nice job, she has a pretty smile and you captured that.

Thank you for your tips on posing. I am not quite sure I know what you mean about pulling the arms away and sticking the skin out. I would appreciate any further help. I do notice the dark spots and will try dodging it later tonight. Again thanks.

Ronin1 wrote in post #15929338
Thank you for your tips on posing. I am not quite sure I know what you mean about pulling the arms away and sticking the skin out. I would appreciate any further help. I do notice the dark spots and will try dodging it later tonight. Again thanks.

don't let the model rest her arms down, it causes her arms to push up against her body which makes the arm look bigger. any pose with space between the arm and body is better than arms on her side

Ronin1 wrote in post #15929338
Thank you for your tips on posing. I am not quite sure I know what you mean about pulling the arms away and sticking the skin out. I would appreciate any further help. I do notice the dark spots and will try dodging it later tonight. Again thanks.

whoops sorry about the that typo. i meant stick the neck out, chin up, just slightly so it isn't awkward. it will help with double chins

you can see in the first image she is facing almost straight on and she is tilting her chin down into her chest and she has left arm her arm pressed tight against her body. her posture is good except for her neck being hunched in.

i'd have turned her more, put both hands on her hips to get the upper arms away to loosen up the skin. have her point her chin toward the camera to have for the same reason, to get the skin from scrunching up. this really goes for any body type but its especially important for those who aren't thin. its also a stronger stance that exudes more confidence.

one other thing to keep in mind, for portraits, the accent is on the face, the less skin you show, the more the face is is the focus, too much skin showing pulls attention away from the face and also helps in slimming as well.

fashionrider wrote in post #15930104
don't let the model rest her arms down, it causes her arms to push up against her body which makes the arm look bigger. any pose with space between the arm and body is better than arms on her side

Thanks I will remember that next time!

mike_311 wrote in post #15930343
whoops sorry about the that typo. i meant stick the neck out, chin up, just slightly so it isn't awkward. it will help with double chins

you can see in the first image she is facing almost straight on and she is tilting her chin down into her chest and she has left arm her arm pressed tight against her body. her posture is good except for her neck being hunched in.

i'd have turned her more, put both hands on her hips to get the upper arms away to loosen up the skin. have her point her chin toward the camera to have for the same reason, to get the skin from scrunching up. this really goes for any body type but its especially important for those who aren't thin. its also a stronger stance that exudes more confidence.

one other thing to keep in mind, for portraits, the accent is on the face, the less skin you show, the more the face is is the focus, too much skin showing pulls attention away from the face and also helps in slimming as well.

Thanks for the great tips. I will put those into use next time! The last tip about the accent on the face is great. So in the above pics would you have cropped more of the body so you would have more of a head and shoulders type shot?

no, the composition is fine. if anything i'd dodge up the face and warm the tones a bit, the background and dof are appealing and lead you right to the subject