First time photographing a person.

Friend asked if I could take some shots of her daughter... Never done it before, so I told her i'd do my best.

Used a Sunpak Platinum Plus 1000 for the light, and an umbrella I picked up cheap. Never used the light like this before... Bought it for taking pictures of small toys and products we make.

I wanted to do the photo session outside someplace since I do mostly landscape photography and feel more comfortable with natural light. But they only had a small time in which they were available to do it. So we did it in their garage.

Used my 70-200L IS, got back as far as my cord would let me (and the size of the garage..). Man that lens gets heavy without a tripod...

Hardest part during the shoot was to get the girl to trust me, and not be so un-comfortable. Especially since I really had no idea what was going to happen. But told some jokes, used some funny voices, and she loosened up. Never stopped shooting either... Stopped a couple times, and she became insecure again. So just kept clicking, pausing now and then to show her the pics and explain what I wanted her to do.

Anyways, feel free to tell me what I did wrong Thats why i'm posting... Really liked taking the photos. Would like to do more... But finding people to photograph seems to be a challenge.

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OMG....I love number 1!!!!! Beautiful. The others don't look natural, but that first one is a God send!! Wow!! Nice. Sorry, I'm in no position to critique!! LOL

I agree, the 1st one does look nice, but I also like the shadows in the 2nd one.

One of the things about the first one I am not sure about... You can't see it with the picture being so small. BUT. In the larger version, you can actually see the flash, and umbrella, in her eye.

I noticed it, other people don't seem to. Some people I point it out to like it, i'm not so sure... I dunno.

And I have a bunch of different pictures, just chose 4 from the different types of PP I did. One of the main reasons I chose to do the photo sessions was to try out something new in photoshop also.

Yep, there it is....I would have never noticed if you hadn't mentioned it! LOL

A couple more...

Being converted to web colors really sucks... Oh well.

And don't worry, I caught the marks on her right before they were printed.

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Josh, nice stuff. You will never be able to fully get ride of the flash in the eyes. Take a look at most magazine covers, you can look at the subjects eyes and tell exactly how the shot was lit.

You don't WANT to get rid of the flash in the eyes. Those are called catchlights and they're a very very good thing! They give life to the eyes. Without catchlights they'd be dead and bland.

I like #1 and the last one best. Very good work!

I especially like 1 and 4. Considering this is your first time they are super!

Love the first one but they all look alittle soft or OOF. Maybe it's just my monitor.

Very nice work, working with people is a different world isn't it?? I like all of them, I'm sure they are happy too! She looks very natural & actually quite comfortable in front of the camera. My only crits would be #1 looks a little light on my screen, the background could be darker, like the rest. Most of them look just slightly soft, I think due to the resize down, personally, I would add a tiny amount of Unsharp Mask to crisp them up a little.

I love the color ones. The first black in white doesnt work for me, the second is nice

First shot is best!

I think that you may have uncovered a talent here.
These photos are great.

--Colin

Wow, you're so lying. These are amazing for your first people shots. Excellent work.

I really love the one with her and her mom(?)!! They're all great.

very good first attempt!