E-Shoot Number 1: Critique Me!

I tried my very best and even got myself a trail of lightroom. Please help me to improve with what you've seen!

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the first is my fav.
you can see the emotion between the two.
the second.... i'm trying to figure out what the guy has on his mind.

The guy was rather grumpy for some reason that day. I was rather unsure of how to work with it as it was my first time doing photos in this way.

you did good... do you have more pics you can share from the session

I think the photos and the processing really fit the age and style of the couple!

very well done! I particularly enjoy the flare!

Cheers,

Both pics are extremely blown out in the sky.

I'm thinking that was the look you were going for though? It's not a bad picture, but it's not possible to crop that out, and editing won't make much difference on the sky.

Did you use a flash? You may be able to use higher aperature to avoid blowing the sky out, while still getting enough light on the couple so they are not too underexposed.

Looks like you were shooting at a tough time of day!

Here are a couple more. In the second one, we were losing a lot of light so it's really grainy. I'll just call it my "artistic preference".

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With the equipment you have, I believe you are getting very good results. I would invest in a reflector and a flash. With the talent you have both will open up a whole new world to you. Will be glad to post here or send a few pics and some info on how I use off camera flash. Keep pluggin away and posting. Best way to learn.

As far as the look I'm going for, there is a lot of experimenting right now. The sky is awfully blown out, and I definitely had some issues on the first picture because the sun was very bright behind them, but I wanted them to look like they were sort of glowing. I'm not really sure how I could've improved that.

I did not use a flash. I was shooting about an hour before sun down, but things were much brighter than I expected. I'll experiment with adjusting the aperture next time. Thanks for the help so far!

tonyr0584 wrote in post #6265959
With the equipment you have, I believe you are getting very good results. I would invest in a reflector and a flash. With the talent you have both will open up a whole new world to you. Will be glad to post here or send a few pics and some info on how I use off camera flash. Keep pluggin away and posting. Best way to learn.

I'll will definitely look into a reflector and a flash. Funds are low as I'm trying to pay for college, but I'm thinking about making a "For My Camera" jar. I'm more than willing to accept any advice you may have for me with using a flash. That would be completely foreign to me. Thanks so much for your input!

sketchinist wrote in post #6266061
I'll will definitely look into a reflector and a flash. Funds are low as I'm trying to pay for college, but I'm thinking about making a "For My Camera" jar. I'm more than willing to accept any advice you may have for me with using a flash. That would be completely foreign to me. Thanks so much for your input!

To keep from highjacking your thread, take a look at the following thread. If you like this style of shooting. I will be glad to provide you any tips that I can. You may not like this style. Everyone has their on style.

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=565599

I don't mind the blown out sky in the slightest. There is nothing wrong with blowing out skies. You didn't blow out your subjects. Don't see what the big deal is.

Your clarity setting looks a little high on pic 2. Nice pictures. Talented.

For Whatever it's worth, here is what I see:

1. is the best of all, it has a good feeling about it. However, since you include part of the rail in it, I would choose to use it and be a part of the image, instead of a distraction. It also seems kind of soft to me.

2. The flare is too harsh, and he looks kind of spacey.

3. If you have the ability I would work on his skin tone, and skin itself and again he just doesn't look like he's there.

4. Better, and if you were looking for a grainy look, you got it.

if you are a friend of this couple it is fine to experiment. As detached as the guy is in the images, I kind of tend to believe you do not know them well, so experimenting on images someone paid you to do is something I would never do. My family hates when I get a new camera, lens, or whatever, because I am after them shooting away and asking them to be my subject, as I learn it. You may also want to work on some people skills to try and bring out troubling subjects from their shell.

All of that being said, you are on here opening yourself up to more experienced shooters, wanting to learn, so to me you are way ahead of the game. Keep shooting!