Extremely disappointing portrait session - I need to learn how to be a photographer

I think you're beating yourself up too much. Most of these photos are technically good, insofar as the lighting. I think in one, you could have used more DOF, but in all honesty, you know what you're doing on the technical side.

As far as the "creativity" aspect, I'd suggest buying or looking at some magazines, same as some above posters. I've shot some of my modeling shoots trying to emulate what others want, and to add my own twist as well.

Really, it takes practice. keep on shooting, your photos are not horrible, and I honestly think you're being too hard on yourself.

As for learning when to under/overexpose, if you are given the luxury of doing so, bracket a bit. And then look at the results in lightroom or whatever image editing program you have and go from there.

I wasn't necessarily going for a "we're in vegas" look for the whole thing. Indeed if you can forget that's where the shots were taken successfully while looking at them, I will be very pleased with that.

The reason most of my shots seem long is because I used my Tamron 28-75 almost all of the time. I have been inwardly griping that I need to move to a 17-50 for a while, but I don't have the money to make the upgrade (plus, I just blew $925 on a 40D). The sigma was used only for a handful of shots at one time by the outdoor fountain, including, I believe, the #7 that was considered too busy in the BG.

Isolating subjects with wide angle: Oh for a 24mm (or wider) f/1.4 lens. But that's more expensive than the 40D I bought, and it would be a long time before I could get one.

I am limited in many ways by my equipment, and by my lack of understanding how to properly use it. But more so, I feel limited by my lack of insight into how to make the most of what I have available to me, regarding both equipment and environment.

You've got some really nice shots in there. I'd suggest learning to use DoF more creatively (i.e. less can be more). But above all, three words...

Practice, practice, practice!

form wrote in post #5883740
I want to know...HOW to improve dramatically, period.

Books - it's all there. Hit the local library.

You can take a class - from what I've seen, the workshops are usually less about photography and more about T$A.

Also - talk to the model. It's less about the equipment and more about the person. You need emotion and you need to talk the person into it... or shock if you will.

Then do the feedback loop thing.

Shoot, get some pictures. Figure out what's wrong with them. Try to change those mistakes the next time you shoot. If you take a college class, then you get a mentor which steers you in the right direction, explain what it is that's wrong with the photo and challeges you where you have to be challenged. Same with books, but you need to see.

And there's no one right answer. It's a lot of work to come up with a good/unique picture.

The problem is figuring out what's wrong and then figuring out the solution. For instance, there were ring photos from this shoot that I could feel weren't quite right, even while I was doing them, but I was unable to figure out why or how to solve it.

Ah, this is the hard part. Learning how to use the camera really is the easiest thing at least when it comes to the standard exposure triangle. Add in off camera lighting etc and it gets a lot harder.

I would say that I am in the same position as you when it comes to posing and chemistry with people and how that relates the outcome of the image. If the chemistry is good then it comes easy and the pictures turn out well. Where experience becomes really important is when the chemistry doesn't work. The experience allows you to force a positive outcome by knowing how to be in control rather than just flowing.

Get all of the books about wedding and portrait photography that you can stand to read. Study the pictures you see that move you. Spend enough time to understand why the picture works. Envision yourself as that photographer and how they may have set up the successful image.

Stay away from the casinos. Anything more than on camera flash will get you kicked out every time. Occasionally you can get away with it if you are outside but that is still rare. Plus it is has been way to hot all week. Try places like Lake Las Vegas which is my favorite. The Springs Preserve will be another great location once it cools down.

For me, it's a combination of a lot of very high contrast/too-bright, and also a very deep DOF. These look like they might have been meant as engagement photo's. I know you didn't have that much control of your surroundings, but I would try to keep other people out of the shot, and also to use a much shallower DOF to isolate the couple even more. Not bad photo's though in all.

Here are just a few random comments about some of the photos posted....

Several of the photos seem a bit tilted. Sometimes that seems deliberate and sometimes perhaps not. Either way, I find it distracting and would prefer to see them straightened, at least for the ones that are just a bit off rather than artistically off.

On occasion there is a bit of competition going on between your subject and the background. A good example is the first shot. The background is very busy, and colourful, and you have water squirting out of his shoulder. A shallower DOF and perhaps a slight adjustment to your angle of view would help. You could also just nudge down the ambient exposure a tad to make your subjects stand out more.

I think it is quite hard to find a background that is sympathetically toned to enhance your subjects when one is wearing brilliant white and one is wearing deep black. You really want a background tone that provides some contrast with your subject, so you're going to have to seek out middling tones for your background to set off their clothes.

The headshots of the woman are pretty nice, but you might want to crop out the nose (?) creeping into the edge of one of the frames.

Some of the crops are a bit snug, just cutting off edges of arms etc.. I think you want the limbs fully in the frame or a more deliberate crop to exclude them. Just shaving edges off them does not work for me.

With the shot where they are walking towards the camera it would be nice if their interest (gaze) was on each other. He looks like he is looking approximately towards her but she looks like she is staring at the floor.

In the picture of the guy on his own, in front of the large building with a wall of fountains, you have the tilt thing going on and I think he is too centred, with too much space behind his back.

To sum up, it seems to me to be mostly about the composition/framing/ba​ckground, followed by DOF control. For the most part there is not a problem with lighting and focusing.

I'm not a portrait photographer so I can't really offer any advice on posing but maybe there are some tips you could work in from this guide....

www.focusingonflorida.​com/Documents/Benji_Ru​lesOfPortraiture.pdf

I have changed a bunch of photos to links, please don't post more than 8 in a thread


Nice photos though, maybe your feeling worse than you need to, and come tomorrow you will look back and wonder what you were thinking?

quick suggestions is that if this is an engagement shoot, which i'm pretty sure it is, let them be a bit more lovey dovey... yeah i got real old school there.. also, find really great parts of vegas that are visually spectacular.. this will help you by tons.. good work, but i will look for you to take it up a notch the next go out.. have fun..

For DOF control, try adding a blur in post processing to the background areas to isolate the subjects more.

Learning exposure is a case of practise, practise and more practise. Oh and did i say practise? That is especially true when working with very busy background lights or when using off camera flash.

Couple of things which in my opinion makes good a portrait:

1. choosing and using the right background
2. people skills, getting people like the camera and you
3. planning ahead, "what if"

Those shots are not at all bad. Main thing I think is that you have to plan better, know what you want to achieve before you are there shooting.

i think that sometimes people reach plateaus artistically. these are fantastic photos, but you are probably looking at them with the inner knowledge of what types of photos you are capable of taking, and so maybe by comparision they pale.

i particularly think that the outdoor color shots are very strong.

i think you are asking all of the right questions that you should be asking in order to improve as an artist and photographer, and thats good. i see no reason to be discouraged with the photos that you have taken however.

we grade ourselves on a bell curve, so you are comparing this shoot with all of your other shoots and also that elusive "perfect" shoot that maybe we havent even shot yet.

keep up the good work, Im sure that this couple is quite happy with the results. i would be if they were of me and mine.

patrick

I agree with Tim (post #23) that the tilted camera does nothing at all to improve the shots - especially when there is something obvious in the photo that shows a vertical or horizontal reference (such as the falling water in the background).

Overall nice shots. I am sure the cleint will be happy. We hold ourselves to higher expectations than they hold us to.