Looking for C&C to help me improve

Looking to do some professional photography in the near future, but know I have a lot to learn before I'm ready to do that. As of now I don't have my own equipment, but plan to be buying my own gear next month. In the mean time I am able to use my gf's 5D and her equipment. She does professional shoots, and is working on a website that she needs pictures of herself for (the bio/about her sections). She asked me to take pictures of her for that, and would like some C&C to help me improve my skills so we can go do more shoots of her to get pictures I like more

So, how can I improve (at this point looking more for the actual shoots themselves and not post-processing in PS, but am open to suggestions with either).

Edit: also these are all very minimally processed (just some basic filters, but no real retouching), and basically right from the camera.

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Here are two more. I realize the first one is very dark, the lenses she has are F4=< so the only thing that I know to offset that would be bump up the ISO. What else can I do (besides ISO and lighting options like flashes) to improve the image when I'm actually shooting it? I know I can do post processing on it, but what can be done so I don't need to do that in the future.

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Upon first glance, some fill flash for the first, second, and third shot would have definitely brightened up your subject. If you're using a 5D, you're going to need a flashgun to achieve this, but with other Canon cameras you can just use the pop-up flash. Of course, you're also going to want to play with the flash exposure compensation settings on your camera to achieve a balance between the sunlight and your flash's light.

I like the way the shots are composed, but I agree with the last post, some fill light to properly expose the subject, but not lose those great tones from the sunlight, for example (well, maybe not a SUPER example, this is an older shot that has other issues, but it's a visual anyway):

This was shot with sunlight behind her to the right of the camera, the flash was on camera, on a bracket and diffused.

If you are going to take photography seriously, you must become attuned to the direction and quality of light. And you have to set your camera for the conditions. The quality of this light is pretty good. It looks like late afternoon, which is a good time to shoot. However, you positioned your model so that she is back lit. This put her face in shadow. In order to lighten it, you would have to use fill flash, as somebody else explained, or turn her around. Then, of course, she might be squinting into the light.

The white balance looks wonky to me?

joedlh wrote in post #8218418
If you are going to take photography seriously, you must become attuned to the direction and quality of light. And you have to set your camera for the conditions. The quality of this light is pretty good. It looks like late afternoon, which is a good time to shoot. However, you positioned your model so that she is back lit. This put her face in shadow. In order to lighten it, you would have to use fill flash, as somebody else explained, or turn her around. Then, of course, she might be squinting into the light.

That was the issue with different directions. I tried it, but the sun was very bright that day and no cloud cover which prevented from using the sun for natural lighting of her face.

The light for the area I thought was great in the open. I thought the lighting in the trees was good, except I didn't set the camera correctly or properly light her. I didn't ever think about using the flash (480 EX II) to light her during the shoot. Luckily the location isn't too far, and since she is my gf I can easily go shoot again there :P.

I appriciate all the feedback everybody. Outside of the issue with not having her properly lit, are there any other observations/comments/​suggestions? I'm especially curious about the 3rd picture (shaded one), and what I could do to make that a better picture.

DisgruntledVirus wrote in post #8218576
are there any other observations/comments/​suggestions? I'm especially curious about the 3rd picture (shaded one), and what I could do to make that a better picture.

It's dark. I take it you were not shooting on any of the auto-exposure modes. Be that as it may, the setting is dappled light. I personally don't think any good shot will come from that as the light range exceeds the dynamic range of the camera. Something is going to be blown out, the shadows will be featureless, and/or the midrange will do what it thinks is right considering the balance between too light and too dark. Find a spot that has no sunlight hitting it. And make sure you adjust the exposure. Honestly, that's one reason I don't shoot manual mode. My feeble mind can't remember to adjust the settings when the light changes.

DisgruntledVirus wrote in post #8218576
....are there any other observations/comments/​suggestions? I'm especially curious about the 3rd picture (shaded one), and what I could do to make that a better picture.

Shooting in the shade is the best option when the sun is out bright and hot. When the sun gets lower on the horizon it can be used as a hair light and background light.

Most people think that if they are going to shoot in the shade get WAAAAAYYYYYY back under the canopy where it is nice and shady. Wrong. Stay out as close to the edge of the forest as possible. For the shot below Josh was about six feet back under the canopy of a large forest. I shot in manual, I shot a gray card first and I shot in Raw.

Benji

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I think you may need to re calibrate your expectations from professional in the near future to a slightly longer time frame.

From these images and from what you say I really recommend that you learn the basic principles and inter relationship between light aperture and exposure. More research and some targeted reading will be a good start.

Benji wrote in post #8218996
Shooting in the shade is the best option when the sun is out bright and hot. When the sun gets lower on the horizon it can be used as a hair light and background light.

Most people think that if they are going to shoot in the shade get WAAAAAYYYYYY back under the canopy where it is nice and shady. Wrong. Stay out as close to the edge of the forest as possible. For the shot below Josh was about six feet back under the canopy of a large forest. I shot in manual, I shot a gray card first and I shot in Raw.

Benji

Where that shot was taken there unfortunately wasn't any real way to be able to do that unfortunately (from what I remember). It's possible though, and will definitely keep that in mind for next time.

Neil, thank you for your input. I know I am just starting out, and have a lot of learning to do before I start doing "professional" work. Soon is not meaning next month. I didn't specify a time frame other than "soon", because I won't charge people money for pictures until I feel confident that the pictures are worth charging for. That's one reason why I'm here, to help get me to that point and gain insights from people who have done it for years and have the knowledge I do not. I'd appreciate any suggestions and help you care to offer to help me "learn the basic principles and inter relationship between light aperture and exposure." I've read about all of that many times over, and from many different sources. Unfortunately I'm a kinesthetic learner for the most part, and while I understand the concepts and the technical aspects of photography, translating that into photographic results that are "professional" won't happen until I learn how changing a setting affect the end result. I would love to listen to any and all criticisms you have, but saying "you don't know x go read y" won't help as much as "well, x is bad for whatever reason. Try doing z next time to resolve that."

I also realize that there are many newbies to photography that just use this as a brain dump, but I want to become part of this community and help others once I gain the knowledge and skills. I don't have interest in this being a "flavor of the month" then leaving, and want ways that I can improve to actually be able to take pictures that as high quality as a lot of the ones I've seen here (been lurking for a few months). If you would like to help me to get to that point, I welcome the help. If you don't want to, that's fine as well. All I ask is that you don't just basically say "you suck go back to a HS photography 101 class."