First attempt

cmkultradome

Well, I tried my first attempt at portraits this weekend (I usually post in sports or landscapes). I refused to buy my boys school portraits this year because all I wanted was an 8x10 and 2 5x7s of each of them and the cheapest package I could get that included these sizes (plus a bunch of other stuff I didn't want) was $45 a piece. Don't get me wrong, I will definitely pay for good portraits, just not the single pose, plain background, school variety. I have no off camera flash and I really have yet to learn about it so I was going with natural light. Of course 11AM was the only time the boys were "available". I had a reflector, although have never used one before (the boys had more fun making animal shadows on it). Here is my attempt. I was very concerned about posing although have been researching a lot on this forum and was pretty happy with that aspect of it. I know some people don't like the crossed arm look but it really goes with my boys attitudes so I liked them. Definitely need work on dealing with the light and a reflector (question - I used the silver side but after getting home I think maybe I should have used the gold side to add more warmth to the pictures). These pictures were all taken at f2.8 because I like the out of focus background. I know that this limits my depth of field, would I have been better off shooting at f4 since I did have a lot of light? What fstop do most portrait photographers use? Also, I really did not do all that much in post other than some cropping and white balance adjustments. If anyone would like to play with any of these, please feel free - I would love to see what can be done. I was especially enjoying hackbones recent post "Before and After". #2 & #5 are my two favorites. Thanks for looking.

Stephanie

#1


#2


#3


#4


#5


#6

briandelion

Here's my opinion for what it's worth. I do a lot of natural light portraits and often use a reflector. I prefer a white foamcore or translucent for outdoors- sometimes both. I just look at what I see through the viewfinder and try to get reflected light on the shadow side of the face to give it more dimension. I agree with you that shallow depth of field is a good idea to eliminate those distractions in the bckgd that don't contribute anything.

I really like the composition of #3 & 4 but watch out for the shadows cast from trees on your subject. At least in this case they are soft and not overly distracting. The arc of the bridge and the opposite arc of the boys arm really works for me in #3. #4 is very classic and nice colors but would have benefitted, as they all would have, from being shot at a different time of day (early morning, late afternoon) when the sun is not so high in the sky. This will help you to avoid harsh shadows, especially over the eyes. Hope this helps. Looking forward to seeing more!

anonymouscuban

I think you did a fine job. Biggest nit I have are the shadows. Poses are pretty good. I like the location as well. I think you should convince your boys to let you shoot them either earlier in the morning or later in the afternoon. I think that will take what you did here from good to great. BTW, I took liberties with my favorite shot... did just a tad of PP on it:

• Brightened and sharpened the eyes
• Boosted the local contrast a bit
• Burned some of the highlights on his face adn clothes
• Lifted the shadow on the right side of his face a little
• Darkened the background a bit
• Overall curve boost just to brighten it a bit
• Finished with a bit of noise reduction

rstwohee

anonymouscuban wrote: »

... BTW, I took liberties with my favorite shot... did just a tad of PP on it:

• Brightened and sharpened the eyes
• Boosted the local contrast a bit
• Burned some of the highlights on his face adn clothes
• Lifted the shadow on the right side of his face a little
• Darkened the background a bit
• Overall curve boost just to brighten it a bit
• Finished with a bit of noise reduction

That was my favorite shot as well. It's amazing what a bit of PP will do to make a picture pop.

TenThirteen

Wow, that shot looks great!

cmkultradome

Thanks for the comments. Brian - I'm glad you liked the composition in #3 & #4. Since I knew I was going to have to fight with the light, I really tried to work on posing and composition. I'll continue to practice with the reflector.

Alex - thank you so much!! It really is amazing what you can do with what you called a little PP. It has inspired me to go back and work on all of my favorites. I'll be replacing them as I finish. Thanks again, my son really liked your version.

Stephanie