Photos by the River

New to POTN. My sis needed some photos done, so I stepped up to take some photos of her and her fiancé. Used my new Canon 6D, mostly with my 17-40mm f/4L lens equipped with a circular polarizer. Lighting was a single speedlite reflected off a 42" umbrella. I used a 1/4 cto filter on the flash for most of the shots, as I thought their skin needed to be warmed up a bit. Portraits are new to me and this is the first time I've ever used an umbrella. All shot "raw" with minimal PP in Lightroom, I mostly lowered highlights to bring detail up in the clouds and made minor exposure and contrast adjustments. I appreciate any feedback, as this is a learning experience for me.

Nice portraits. I like the lighting and color in the first one in particular. Also very good job balancing ambient and flash. The only critique is the lens distortion is substantial. Some of that can be corrected by moving the camera ever so slightly, I think some of the distortion I see is not being completely square to the subjects. Maybe some post correction from Lightroom or something would help, if it bothers you.

I agree, you nailed the lighting but the perspective distortion is unflattering.

Thank you, I appreciate the input. I have the lens profile correction enabled in LR, but I just went back and maxed the "distortion" slider. Ever so slight difference:

You can't really fix perspective distortion in faces in post.

Like the clouds and exposure, nitpicks would be crop in #1 and hands. Crop looks unflattering on her legs and hands are awkward. Check out B&H, "Posing Everyone" by Jerry Ghionis. Love the overall look of these. Chris

Thank you for the review and the video suggestion Connor. I'll check it out.

Bob