My first portrait session

Hey guys, I'm new to portrait photography so I asked my friend if I could take some pictures of her to practice. I got a bit that I liked, but I wanted to get some constructive criticism on them so I can get better. So here are a few of my favorites. I used minimal editing, just used basic adjustments in Lightroom.

Thanks in advance for replies! Let me know what you think or would have done different.

Try centering the subject to avoid the bad framing you got in #2.

Also, try getting your subjects farther away from the background, especially if your lens isn't capable of very wide apertures.

Welcome and great start to this wonderful journey. I like the lighting in the first one, the 2nd one seems a hair bit dark to me.

I would get a used 50mm 1.8 for portaits and start shooting.

Good luck.

I second the 50mm.. You can order them for around $125, get the STM version.. If your town is large enough the local Best Buy might have one in stock..
https://www.bhphotovid​eo.com …02_ef_50mm_f_1_​8_stm.html

http://www.bestbuy.com …k/7963106.p?sku​Id=7963106

A new lens won't help with composition or exposure issues. Keep using the 25-135mm until you figure out which focal length you naturally gravitate towards and start to develop your own style. Some people tend towards 35mm, others 50mm, others 85mm and others 135mm. Find which one (or two) you enjoy shooting at most, and work from there with lens selections.

Watch out for cropped off fingers and awkwardly cropped limbs as seen in #2.

As Alveric said, to make your subject stand out, you need to isolate them from the background. This is typically done by adding distance between the subject and whatever is behind them. Try some shots along a footpath, or across an open park, while I'm sure the lake behind her in #2 looked nice in person, in a photograph it's a busy distraction.

I'm with 98kellrs: gear is not the answer here. Besides, there's no such a thing as a 'portrait lens': all lenses are portrait lenses.

Whilst the zoom lens might not be the best for 'creamy bokeh' it does give the flexibility to try several variants and different views of the same subject, without the hassle of swapping lenses. One can always (for the most part) place the subject several fathoms away from the background to obtain a pleasant out-of-focus blur.

Good start. Now, back up, shoot at 135mm and study the difference.

The 50mm would be great if you have some extra cash burning a hole... Your current lens is just fine though (as tex mentioned, try it at 135mm).

The first one is slightly green (maybe the second one as well) and both are a bit underexposed. Fix that in Lightroom and they're pretty good!

I agree w/ most of the comments above.

I'd say work on them in post processing to lighten the subject as she's under-exposed in comparison to the background.
Framing does need work on these. I'd crop the second into a landscape.

Okay cool, cropping and positions for the subject are something that I need to learn. I just let her pose herself during the shoot since I wasn't sure of any good poses.

I do own a 50mm f/1.8 that I didn't even think about using that could go lower than what was shot, but when I use this lens I will try that. Should I get her far away from the foreground as well?

Thanks for your input! I appreciated it.

Thank you, I usually shoot cars or landscapes so it will be nice to shoot some people and see where that goes. I did like the lighting on the first as well, and after I posted I realized that the second was darker. I found that I struggled with consistency on exposures and white balance throughout the set I picked out, so I'll work on that.

I do own one, but totally spaced using it because I was more focused on composition of the shots. I will try that next time and try out some of the other lenses so I can see how they perform.

Thank you, I appreciate your input!

I do have one, but I'm not sure if I have the STM version. It's at home, so I won't be able to check if I do. What is the difference if it doesn't?

I do agree the gear won't help, but it doesn't help that I want to buy more and more. I will look through the shots and see what's the most common. I don't think I shot any at 135mm though, I did tend to gravitate towards the smaller distances thinking back.

I didn't even think about those, I will check those out.

Okay, that makes sense. The goal is to create depth, correct? It did look nice, but I see now that it is a distraction a bit.

Thank you for your advice!

I do enjoy the zoom lens since most the time when I'm shooting people it is my nephew and he is constantly moving. I will try the larger distances to see how they turn out, I did have one that I liked that was distant. I haven't really tried bokeh but I am intrigued!

Thanks for your advice! This was the one that I liked that was a larger distance away.

I will definitely try that. I do have a 100mm-300mm that I will throw on one day that will make me focus on those larger distances.

Thanks!