Went out with my girlfriend for a photo shoot friday

lmyamen

We went out for a little bit of shooting fun friday night. I wanted to test out my new 55-200 nikkor. I am using a D200 body. These were just a fun set of pics to shoot we had a great time with them and did not take it to seriously. C&C is more than welcome, i cant learn if i dont know what i need to work on!

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me and her

Caspian

Thanks for posting and welcome to the group.

What was the purpose of the shoot? If it was to do model work, I have a couple initial comments to kick things off. Generally, I'd like to see the portraits cropped much tighter and the exposure bumped up by 1/3 or 2/3 stops. If you want to include a lot of the back ground in the shot, I'd like to see the bg far enough behind her that it is more out of focus.

David

lmyamen

Caspian wrote:

Thanks for posting and welcome to the group.

What was the purpose of the shoot? If it was to do model work, I have a couple initial comments to kick things off. Generally, I'd like to see the portraits cropped much tighter and the exposure bumped up by 1/3 or 2/3 stops. If you want to include a lot of the back ground in the shot, I'd like to see the bg far enough behind her that it is more out of focus.

David

Thanks for the comments, there really was no purpose behind these they were just something fun for us to go out and do on a friday evening. I have alot of tighter framed pics but she hates close up pics of herself and did not want me posting those ones for critique haha

kidzmom

Imho these are wonderful! #2 rocks and 4 is awesome!! I love the urban city feel. You did a great job with the lighting but I agree with Caspian that a few could be bumped up just a touch. Overall really fun! Thanks for sharing.

lmyamen

kidzmom wrote:

Imho these are wonderful! #2 rocks and 4 is awesome!! I love the urban city feel. You did a great job with the lighting but I agree with Caspian that a few could be bumped up just a touch. Overall really fun! Thanks for sharing.

Thank you! I think part of the bumping up you guys are talking about may be my editing style, i like fading the colors a bit on some photos. But maybe i should stear away from doing that if it looks like it needs adjusted

Caspian

Not the color, but the exposure. Are you shooting in RAW and what program are you using for post processing? There are different ways to do it depending on the camera and software you are using. I agree with Kelly that #2 and #4 are my favorites. I like the idea for #1, but I would like to see her cropped so that her eyes are in the top left third of the picture. Something like this:

toddb

I like the set
Nice set. To each his own, but I like the process on it...maybe a touch brighter. I like the deep, rich colors? Downtown DSM?

lmyamen

toddb wrote:

Nice set. To each his own, but I like the process on it...maybe a touch brighter. I like the deep, rich colors? Downtown DSM?

yeah it was downtown Des Moines are you local?

toddb

i am
dead giveaway at the sculpture park -- nice shots.

Like those steps on that doorway -- also downtown somewhere?

lmyamen

Yeah the steps are at a building called the Crane building its at 1440 Walnut, its vacant right now but they are converting it into lofts.

Kinkajou

I think you're really on to something with these - you're definitely showing us a style all your own and I think it works.

In terms of the light/exposure that people are talking about, I agree to an extent. It seems that a little more light on her face or a little more contrast would help a bit. You can do this in post, or just having a friend with a $30 reflector kicking light into the shadowed side of her face would be a dramatic improvement to the light/exposure situation. Also, I learned in my first workshop with models that you should overexpose by a step or a half step just to make sure that the skin gets that bright, glowing look. Don't go so far that you blow out the highlights, but overexposing by just a touch makes a big difference.

That said, I think you have a lot of potential and you should run with this!

Patti

#2 has a great urban feel and not your typical pose. It would be interesting to see in B&W.

lmyamen

Thank you guys so much, i really appreciate the comments. I am really trying to work on developing myself as a photographer this year. I was just hired on as an intern with a high end wedding photographer so i am really excited about this opportunity.


Here is the shot in black and white for you!

Patti

I'm liking the B&W version even more. Thanks for posting it.