Exploring portraiture...

Tim Kamppinen

I have mainly been into landscapes the whole time I've been a photographer, as far as serious efforts go, but I've always enjoyed taking photos of people as well. Normally these were just candids, or concert photos which I do a fair amount of as well. Just lately, however, I've been looking to get more seriously into portraits, just for fun, although I wouldn't be opposed to doing it for profit if I became good at it. Anyway, here are two of my recent efforts, with which I am rather pleased. This is my friend and his daughter. Lighting consisted of a large window facing the sun with some sort of paper-like accordian blind lowered in front of it that served more or less as a large softbox. I shot these with an old manual focus Nikon 50mm 1.4 that I picked up on Ebay for $70. It can be a pain to focus when shooting people, but the depth of field options and sharpness are well worth the extra effort IMO. (I have a D40 so the 50mm 1.8 AF wasn't an option, or at least not a better one.) C&C welcome, tell me what you think!

System

I think your lighting and DOF work great but you seem to hate their right ears because you have cropped most of them off in both frames! I would say crop a little wider and you'd have some great portraits.

ivar

Hi Tim,


I really like the lighting in the first shot :smo (I also think it is a great candidate for a black and white conversion.)

Stuggi

Nice shots, you wouldn't happen to be Finnish by any chance? ^^

Tim Kamppinen

Thanks for the comments... I hadn't thought about the ears, but looking back I think it might have made the whole composition a little too squarish for my tastes... but I'll keep it in mind for next time.

Stuggi, I'm Finnish on my dad's side of the family, but I'm from the US. My great grand parents were the last of our family to actually be born in Finland, in the 1800's sometime. I live in what's called the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where there are a lot of people of Finnish ancestry and lots of Finnish culture (at least compared to the rest of the US).

Agnieszka

#1 is VERY cool, love the light & expression

Stuggi

Tim Kamppinen wrote:

Thanks for the comments... I hadn't thought about the ears, but looking back I think it might have made the whole composition a little too squarish for my tastes... but I'll keep it in mind for next time.

Stuggi, I'm Finnish on my dad's side of the family, but I'm from the US. My great grand parents were the last of our family to actually be born in Finland, in the 1800's sometime. I live in what's called the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where there are a lot of people of Finnish ancestry and lots of Finnish culture (at least compared to the rest of the US).

Cool, didn't really know much about US-immigrants from Finland, I'll have to pop by if I ever find myself in Michigan (or the US for that matter, I've never been there but I'm defiantly going to someday ^^)

lightdrunk

Like the first one: intense face, well lit. The smile seems a little vapid in the second.

Vysionous

These are damn amazing if you ask me. Great shots.