Senior Portrait Session

I did my first Senior Portrait session tonight. Here are a few of those I liked the best. I'd appreciate any feedback you might have.

#1

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You did well.

T.D. wrote in post #6389591
I did my first Senior Portrait session tonight. Here are a few of those I liked the best. I'd appreciate any feedback you might have.

Images are fine but you did not direct him well w/r the pose.
all poses are the same, with loose, straight shoulders: no energy, no perspective, no movement. There is no communication between him and you. He is just waiting passively that you take the picture.

You chose some great locations for this shoot, but I have to agree with OL9245 about the actual poses.

roentarre wrote in post #6389809
You did well.

Thanks.

OL9245 wrote in post #6390230
Images are fine but you did not direct him well w/r the pose.
all poses are the same, with loss, straght shoulders: no energy, no perspective, no movement. There is no comunication between him and you. He is just waiting passively that you take the picture.

Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it. This is definitely an area I struggle with. Any suggestions?

James P wrote in post #6390368
You chose some great locations for this shoot, but I have to agree with OL9245 about the actual poses.

Thanks.

T.D. wrote in post #6390988
Thanks.

Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it. This is definitely an area I struggle with. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

The best advice I ever received is to plan the shoots and poses in advance. You can make a search of senior shots on the forum. there are hundreds. Then select a bunch of them that you like, print them, and keep with you when you shoot with your client.

It is goiing to change a lot of things when your model have the feeling that you know where you go. You can make him involved in the poses. Oppositely, if the model feels you are in doublt, he will be uncomfortable and the images will be lacking energy.

I'm no posing expert, but have purchased this PDF and have been trying to learn from it.

I'm sure there's gobs of books available too

The concept seems a bit strange- why would he have his bass in the woods?

tbisaacs wrote in post #6391516
The concept seems a bit strange- why would he have his bass in the woods?

First and foremost: that's what he wanted.

And I liked the contrast.

His bass guitar is his passion and this land is near his home.

Try playing with the curves adjustment, especially on the black and white photo....they're nice and sharp but just kind of lacking "pop" or a wow factor. I agree on the posing, but don't have much to offer as I know what I like to see, but am only learning how to get there.

T.D. wrote in post #6390988
Thanks.


Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it. This is definitely an area I struggle with. Any suggestions?


Thanks.

I am very rusty now myself. There are such great portrait photographers on this site that I could easily be intimidated, but instead I use their great work to give me something to strive for. Every time you see a picture (pose) in a magazine you like cut it out of the magazine (or save them if on the web). I used to paste pictures cut from magazines in a scrap book and study them. Take it with you on photo shoots and actually try to duplicate the poses you like. After you do a few it will become second nature and you can continually pick up more poses. You can look at these poses but actually trying them will speed up the learning process. Hire someone to model for you and try out the different poses you have learned. Many people are flattered to be ask and will work (pose) for a small amount of money or in exchange for pictures. This approach has worked for me. Read and study posing all you can but actually doing will teach you more. Good luck and as said take any criticism on this site as constructive. These great guys and gals are only critical to help you improve you skills. I guess one good thing about learning on a film camera (like I did on a Canon a2 and Mamiya 645 I think) is that you are much more careful to get the shot right, there is no delete, and I had to wait to see what the results would be. It made me slow down and make sure everything was right before taking the shot. No photo shop so I had to be slow and meticulous with every shot. Keep stydying and practice, you'll be fine.

I don't know, I really like them all. Little shallower DOF might work. Does the kid like them? The red bass looks great against the background colors. I say good job.

tacoma200 wrote in post #6392503
I am very rusty now myself. There are such great portrait photographers on this site that I could easily be intimidated, but instead I use their great work to give me something to strive for. Every time you see a picture (pose) in a magazine you like cut it out of the magazine (or save them if on the web). I used to paste pictures cut from magazines in a scrap book and study them. Take it with you on photo shoots and actually try to duplicate the poses you like. After you do a few it will become second nature and you can continually pick up more poses. You can look at these poses but actually trying them will speed up the learning process. Hire someone to model for you and try out the different poses you have learned. Many people are flattered to be ask and will work (pose) for a small amount of money or in exchange for pictures. This approach has worked for me. Read and study posing all you can but actually doing will teach you more. Good luck and as said take any criticism on this site as constructive. These great guys and gals are only critical to help you improve you skills. I guess one good thing about learning on a film camera (like I did on a Canon a2 and Mamiya 645 I think) is that you are much more careful to get the shot right, there is no delete, and I had to wait to see what the results would be. It made me slow down and make sure everything was right before taking the shot. No photo shop so I had to be slow and meticulous with every shot. Keep stydying and practice, you'll be fine.

Thanks for your advices. They are very clever. I already linked to your post in another forum I used to post.

There are some good books out there as well as tons and tons on the net. A little research on posing is all you need.

I think they are great for a first go, I bet he and his parents will love them. On my recent senior shoot I had a list that I got from searching this forum on portraits and directed her accordingly. But my kid seemed comfortable, this guy looks way shy.