Opening myself up for the first time to C&C

Hey guys, I have been shooting photos for about 15 years of whatever happened to catch my attention, but I have recently begun taking a lot more portraits than usual. I have found that I really enjoy it, and I feel like the results have been favorable. As of now, these are just photos for friends and family members, but and I am wondering from the community at large here if I have the talent to step up to the next level?

Please C&C, and I still have the originals if anyone would want to teach me some stuff on how to post-process better (that is certainly where I struggle the most, IMO)

Anyway, here are a few, let me know what you guys think.

Edit:
Here is a link to my blog where some other photos are (this blog is just personal, I will re-do it before trying to attract clients with it).
https://turnmybassup.w​ordpress.com/schwitzel​/

On the first one I'd bump my exposure up maybe half a stop or so and have shot it from a lower angle. You seem to be looking down on your subject.

Second one has a nice feel to it, maybe seems a bit flat and needs a bit more sharpening. Probably would have shot it more 'front on' personally.

Nothing to add on the seated one. As for the other, I'm not a fan of vignetting in general. But here the vignette is actually over part of your subject. It seems like you composed this to the rule of thirds. My question is why. It's a pretty symmetrical subject and they're not looking to the side. There's nothing wrong with a center composition in such cases. What you do have is an expanse of uninteresting meadow on the left side. Regarding vignettes, try a white one instead of black. Black comes across as bleak in some shots. This looks like an engagement shot; you don't want to go for bleak. it looks like the shot could use a little bit more contrast.

#1 Looks a bit cold to me (on the blue side). I'd warm up the WB a little.

I like #2 but would probably make a tighter crop to remove some of the right side and a lesser amount off the bottom edge.

#1 might benefit from losing the vignette (or correcting for the natural vignette of the lens if that was the case), slightly increasing overall exposure, adding some contrast, and slightly boosting the saturation of the purple and greens. It looks like it was taken on an overcast day, which would partially explain the lack of "pop" in the image...sometimes light can be too soft/even.

Not bad posing just needs little tweaks. I agree it needs a bump in exposure (just a quick edit)

Two kind of tweaks, if I may add. First one would be using extra light source [on the first for sure] and, the second - work with that info in post. In the second img the pose is awkward considering where the light comes from.

Thank you guys for the tips, I really appreciate it! The first was indeed an engagement session, and the reason for the rule of thirds was because they wanted to have some shots for a save-the-date, so I composed a couple with an opening that they could photoshop in an announcement bulletin or something along those lines. Ironically, they ended up choosing a centered photo instead haha.

As for the vignette on #1, it was indeed from the lens. I had borrowed my father-in-laws Sony for the shoot since he was in town and I wanted to try it out, and the lens had a lot of natural vignette to it. How do I correct that when it comes from the lens that way? I tend to enjoy some vignette, but agree that this one had a bit too much.

Also, duly noted on the color/WB/contrast suggestions. I may rework it and see what I can come up with.

Another question, did anyone notice where I cloned out a big pile of trees in the background of #1? In the top left near the tree line, I'm assuming not since no one mentioned it, but I was curious if it was noticeable to anyone that didn't know about it originally.

Thanks again for the time and effort to help!

turnmybassup wrote in post #17630395
Another question, did anyone notice where I cloned out a big pile of trees in the background of #1? In the top left near the tree line, I'm assuming not since no one mentioned it, but I was curious if it was noticeable to anyone that didn't know about it originally.

Nope. Didn't notice it. Good job.