My first Senior portraits . . .

I am not in business, still learning with my meager equipment (see my siggy), but I decided to take Senior pictures for my daughter and her friend asked if I could take a few of her, too. Of course, there were a lot more than a few and I was more than willing to do this as a graduation gift for her.

This is new territory for me and there may be a chance that I do these as paying jobs in the future, so I'd love feedback. They mostly look pretty good to me (I used my 50 1.8 and new 85 1.8 ), but I expect there is room for improvement, too. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Desat

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/yankeemom/51203​15653/

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IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/yankeemom/51121​67131/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/yankeemom/51224​63342/

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IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/yankeemom/51209​68516/

In general, they are good...a couple slightly over exposed faces and most of them seem to have some generally washed out color or just a lack of contrast but nothing that couldnt be fixed with a little more processing.

4 is the nicest of the bunch IMO.

For a first attempt, you did great!

I agree with the previous post concerning exposure.
Onother issue with these is your logo being over parts of the girls' heads. I would resize the logo to where they are off the girls. Might even consider moving them a the lower corner.

Very nice,top quality professional looking captures. I'd certainly pay for your expertise.

Thanks everyone! Just to clarify, I did desat #1 & #6 (the girls liked that look.) The origianals are quite colorful and they still have the options to get them. I also did a "heartland"-like treatment on #3 and that makes it look more faded, too.

I had a little problem with contrast on #5 because she is SO pale. I'm not sure how to fix that, but I'd love tips for shooting very pale skin. I really discouraged her from wearing black, but she insisted for some of them. I could brighten up the face on #2 and I do agree about the logo (which I could easily change.)

Thanks for the feedback and tips! They will be printed up soon and I can make those changes (but they will not be printed with my watermark, of course.)

I am not even close to being ready to do this as a business yet, but hopefully someday! This is great practice for me in the meantime.

I agree completely with Corkney; a cracking set of shots. #5 is my least favourite, but I think that's just personal taste. Difficult to pick a favourite though as I like all the others... 4 or 5 I think.

I think these look great! Your daughter and her friend should be very happy with the results!

JimMcrae wrote in post #11175524
I agree completely with Corkney; a cracking set of shots. #5 is my least favourite, but I think that's just personal taste. Difficult to pick a favourite though as I like all the others... 4 or 5 I think.

I take it that's a good thing. Thanks.

kyle_4375 wrote in post #11176027
I think these look great! Your daughter and her friend should be very happy with the results!

Thank you -- they are quite pleased. Esp. our friend who cannot afford the local pros.

YankeeMom wrote in post #11177038
I take it that's a good thing. Thanks.

Please forgive my unfortunate choice of words but I often forget when I'm communicating with natives from the old colonies... I should've said, emmm... your photographs kick bottom!!

Seriously, they're great!

LOL, no problem. It's fun to read different reviews from all over (and you were pretty close with kick bottom. ) Thanks, again.

I fixed the watermarks -- thanks for pointing it out!

Kristin, a very nice series! 4, 5 & 6 are my favs. My only critique would be for number #1, I don't think the desat really works so I would maybe bring some color back into that one. And crop out the bottom of the frame at her elbow.

Nice work!

Very, very nice work in my opinion!

azbojo22 wrote in post #11179263
Kristin, a very nice series! 4, 5 & 6 are my favs. My only critique would be for number #1, I don't think the desat really works so I would maybe bring some color back into that one. And crop out the bottom of the frame at her elbow.

Nice work!

Thanks! I did keep the original, color one. My daughter liked the desat, but I will have her reconsider when printing.

mikona wrote in post #11179295
Very, very nice work in my opinion!

Thanks!

I think they will be happy with them ; and thats what really matters most of all. Most all images
can/could be improved. I like these very much.In a perfect world ....you might turn out perfect images. This is a less than perfect world however. So you just do the best you can . ...... and try to improve as you grow. Just my opinion however. I might add that you had lovely subjects to work with.

Alonzo