The Bad: That black strip on the left of #1 distracts me, and #2 she looks a little forced with the pose
The Good: Your lighting/exposure, #1 has the best expression, #3 and 4 look fairly natural as well
If you wanna be a perfectionist, (if you have photoshop) you could use shadows/highlights to lessen the impact of her shirt just a little bit. It pulls your eyes from hers since her face is a bit darker than her shirt. If you have something else theres plenty of applications that use Curves as well. All quick fixes though.
I'd say #1 and #4 are the best ones... without that black stripe of course
You did very nicely. I've seen some bombs for first tries, and even some senior portrait photographers that do it regularly don't really do that great of a job, lol. If you want, try bringing a reflector next time in case the face is darker than the rest of the outfit, although in this situation it'd take just as long in post to dodge as it would to fumble with the reflector. Other situations could work out more effectively though.
with a grain of salt....
I am just starting this myself and admit to not being perfect....
They all seem dark to me... I am assuming that you did not use any flash.....?
#1 has some blur to her hand movement (like she was clapping her knee)
Not sure what your settings were, but if your subject is moving, you should be getting at least 1/160 ss. If you need to increase the shutter speed and keep the exposure good, bump up the ISO's.
I'd be curious to know how you were shooting.... Manual, Aperture, Shutter priority? What f stop and ISO settings were they. Shot #1 must be about 1/60 if I had to guess.
At least she was looking at you, that's a plus. Wonder what these would look like if you bumped the EV by 1 or 1.5.....?
The Bad: That black strip on the left of #1 distracts me, and #2 she looks a little forced with the pose
The Good: Your lighting/exposure, #1 has the best expression, #3 and 4 look fairly natural as well
If you wanna be a perfectionist, (if you have photoshop) you could use shadows/highlights to lessen the impact of her shirt just a little bit. It pulls your eyes from hers since her face is a bit darker than her shirt. If you have something else theres plenty of applications that use Curves as well. All quick fixes though.
I'd say #1 and #4 are the best ones... without that black stripe of course
You did very nicely. I've seen some bombs for first tries, and even some senior portrait photographers that do it regularly don't really do that great of a job, lol. If you want, try bringing a reflector next time in case the face is darker than the rest of the outfit, although in this situation it'd take just as long in post to dodge as it would to fumble with the reflector. Other situations could work out more effectively though.
Thanks for your input.
I thought about removing the black strip or just adjusting the crop as well on #1
On #2, I was a bit intrigued by her look as it was also a first meeting and I kept asking questions and offering small talk to break the ice during the shoot. Interestingly enough, I can go back and look at the images and I can see how her body language and expressions loosened up as she became more comfortable with me.
Great suggestions on the shirt as well, there are some cool tools in CNX2 that can fix that without much fussin'.
On the reflector, I'm definitely looking into one that I can mount on a stand since I typically don't use an assistant.
I am just starting this myself and admit to not being perfect....
They all seem dark to me... I am assuming that you did not use any flash.....?
#1 has some blur to her hand movement (like she was clapping her knee)
Not sure what your settings were, but if your subject is moving, you should be getting at least 1/160 ss. If you need to increase the shutter speed and keep the exposure good, bump up the ISO's.
I'd be curious to know how you were shooting.... Manual, Aperture, Shutter priority? What f stop and ISO settings were they. Shot #1 must be about 1/60 if I had to guess.
At least she was looking at you, that's a plus. Wonder what these would look like if you bumped the EV by 1 or 1.5.....?
Cheers
Lee
Hi Lee
I often wonder if my portraits appear dark as I always shoot in manual mode without the use of a light meter. I use a calibrated display to process RAW into jpegs or tiffs for print and typically they appear lighter on most laptop displays as well as some desktop displays.
In print they look fine on my home printer.
On #1 I was a bit concerned with her hand motion as this was a "between the shoot shot" but I like her expression enough to use this, perhaps in cropping the black area on camera left I should also consider an entirely different crop overall.
The first two were shot at ISO200, f/5.6, 1/100 with my 85MM 1.4 and D700
The last two at ISO200, f/5, 1/160
Thanks for your input
Unless she revels in her pale skin, I think most would want a little color. I think even if she is pale, she's not a pale as this seems. Shooting a grey card will definitely help in getting the color right since you have fixed starting point. You can adjust to taste to warm or cool, but at least you know the color of your light. Have her hold it over her face before you shoot.
Unless she revels in her pale skin, I think most would want a little color. I think even if she is pale, she's not a pale as this seems. Shooting a grey card will definitely help in getting the color right since you have fixed starting point. You can adjust to taste to warm or cool, but at least you know the color of your light. Have her hold it over her face before you shoot.
I do agree with you on that point :-)
I will definitely try that on my next shoot this weekend, thanks
Lightroom or Photoshop Raw make these things fixable in 2 seconds... you should try out lightroom
Ya know, I tried the trial version (Lightroom) and simply could not adapt to the workflow compared to CNX2.
Maybe I'll give it another go but I was not really impressed with the presets.
I did purchase CS5 (for my daughter) and like CS4 I'm not liking how it handles .nef files compared to Nikon's software.
Hope you don't mind but I gave it a try. I wormed it up by by removing cyan adding green and adding yellow and then a little contrast what do you think?
Hope you don't mind but I gave it a try. I wormed it up by by removing cyan adding green and adding yellow and then a little contrast what do you think?
Much better again I agree... careful with the highlight balance bumping up contrast
Thanks so much
So far I've learned about proper crops and composition.
I've also fortified my thoughts on skin tones as well.
I do appreciate the feedback much
Comments
The Good: Your lighting/exposure, #1 has the best expression, #3 and 4 look fairly natural as well
If you wanna be a perfectionist, (if you have photoshop) you could use shadows/highlights to lessen the impact of her shirt just a little bit. It pulls your eyes from hers since her face is a bit darker than her shirt. If you have something else theres plenty of applications that use Curves as well. All quick fixes though.
I'd say #1 and #4 are the best ones... without that black stripe of course
You did very nicely. I've seen some bombs for first tries, and even some senior portrait photographers that do it regularly don't really do that great of a job, lol. If you want, try bringing a reflector next time in case the face is darker than the rest of the outfit, although in this situation it'd take just as long in post to dodge as it would to fumble with the reflector. Other situations could work out more effectively though.
I am just starting this myself and admit to not being perfect....
They all seem dark to me... I am assuming that you did not use any flash.....?
#1 has some blur to her hand movement (like she was clapping her knee)
Not sure what your settings were, but if your subject is moving, you should be getting at least 1/160 ss. If you need to increase the shutter speed and keep the exposure good, bump up the ISO's.
I'd be curious to know how you were shooting.... Manual, Aperture, Shutter priority? What f stop and ISO settings were they. Shot #1 must be about 1/60 if I had to guess.
At least she was looking at you, that's a plus. Wonder what these would look like if you bumped the EV by 1 or 1.5.....?
Cheers
Lee
Thanks for your input.
I thought about removing the black strip or just adjusting the crop as well on #1
On #2, I was a bit intrigued by her look as it was also a first meeting and I kept asking questions and offering small talk to break the ice during the shoot. Interestingly enough, I can go back and look at the images and I can see how her body language and expressions loosened up as she became more comfortable with me.
Great suggestions on the shirt as well, there are some cool tools in CNX2 that can fix that without much fussin'.
On the reflector, I'm definitely looking into one that I can mount on a stand since I typically don't use an assistant.
Thanks again
Ha yeah, before this shoot on practice runs I've used white poster board with foam center but not a good idea in windy situations.
Hi Lee
I often wonder if my portraits appear dark as I always shoot in manual mode without the use of a light meter. I use a calibrated display to process RAW into jpegs or tiffs for print and typically they appear lighter on most laptop displays as well as some desktop displays.
In print they look fine on my home printer.
On #1 I was a bit concerned with her hand motion as this was a "between the shoot shot" but I like her expression enough to use this, perhaps in cropping the black area on camera left I should also consider an entirely different crop overall.
The first two were shot at ISO200, f/5.6, 1/100 with my 85MM 1.4 and D700
The last two at ISO200, f/5, 1/160
Thanks for your input
And with that I'm refining a few of what I feel are the better from the shoot
Love #2
Given the nice color in the latter part of the series, I think your color balance is too blue in these first couple.
Who is wise? He who learns from everyone.
My SmugMug Site
I am so struggling with that as this young lady had very little sun exposure.
Should I record what "is" or should I give her a little skin color?
Truthfully, I find the skin tones appealing on the last two compared to the first two.
Thanks for reinforcing that thought
Who is wise? He who learns from everyone.
My SmugMug Site
I will definitely try that on my next shoot this weekend, thanks
Ya know, I tried the trial version (Lightroom) and simply could not adapt to the workflow compared to CNX2.
Maybe I'll give it another go but I was not really impressed with the presets.
I did purchase CS5 (for my daughter) and like CS4 I'm not liking how it handles .nef files compared to Nikon's software.
Of course I have much to learn.:D
what do you think?
EF 2.0x II extender BG-E6
I think it's absolutely beautiful, I must learn!
Thanks so much
So far I've learned about proper crops and composition.
I've also fortified my thoughts on skin tones as well.
I do appreciate the feedback much