My first portrait shots

A friend of mine wanted some new portrait/headshots for their website. Here is the result of my first shots. I use a Canon XS, 70-300mm tamron, and a YN-468 flash.

Comments / suggestions are welcomed.

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I think you need to add another light for the wall to give some separation and "pop" to the subject..

ok, what do you mean by that. Im kinda a noob at this.

The picture looks a little soft and lacks contrast.

There's a lot of good things about this photo. Crop is good...head tilt is good. He seems comfortable with you. Maybe a little more contrast, and not sure of your lighting, but that light is a bit too bright on his left side.

the light on his left side is sunlight coming through a window. Def needs some more contrast as was mentioned. I did some more editing on the pic. let me know if i did too much contrast.

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Good camera contact, great smile. He was relaxed. I think the image is actually underexposed a bit besides being soft. Correcting those two and adding a bit of contrast and you have a really good portrait.

I like the window light coming in on the right. I would have tried turning his shoulders a bit toward the window but leave him looking at the camera.

Agree with titus. I would also recommend using a darker background or change the suit.

MCAuburn wrote in post #10672831
Agree with titus. I would also recommend using a darker background or change the suit.

I agree with this too. Color selection for portraits can be critical. I really think most people don't know what color makes them look good but they could figure it out if given some hints.

The second correction is looking better but needs more light in general, like titus and mcauburn said some slight changes would really make this picture just pop off.

I never like the auto metering of the camera, I normally for for 1/3rd to 2/3rd light more than it likes to shoot at.

Also interesting that you have the YN-468, I had thought about getting a couple of those instead of buying old equipment that still works. But they have a newer model out that I'm waiting on other sites to carry.

What is meant by the background lighting is white backgrounds are typically blown out. In otherwords, you shoot an additional strobe behind the subject to make the white, a true white. This helps to provide contrast to the image, as well as spearation. What is happening is the subject and background are too close in color causing the image to blend. Combine this with the softness of the photo and it makes it even more blending.

I do humbly disagree with those who are saying dark clothes on light background and light clothes on dark background. Rule 29 of the 35 rules of good portraiture reads: Use The Right Key and Good Taste-Generally speaking a subject dressed in all white looks best in a medium or high key background. Conversely, a subject dressed in dark clothing looks best on a medium or dark (low key) background. Note in the above image (the gal in rule # 28) I broke this rule because she is dressed in black with a black prop but on a white background. Again this rule is frequently broken especially in high school senior portraiture.

Those are my thoughts for ya!

I hope they are helpful...

Def helpful. Thanks.