very very new and c&c on wife

adam646

hello everyone and thank you for letting me post on here. this is my firt post, upload, portrait, erotic, you name it im new at this. i just purchased a canon eos xsi and a flash and went to home depot and bought 3 clamp lights and some sheets at walmart. i have the creatvie eye just not the know how to bring it out. so please be honest and let me know what you think.

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please disregard the yarn and twig puppy gets a hold of lol

ivar

Out of these, I think the first one is the best. I have to say though, they all need work in several areas.

I would start with getting to know your camera a bit more before you start making it difficult for yourself by using lights and shooting artistic nudes (which is generally considered a more advanced topic).

Start by mastering exposure (#2 and #3) and Shutterspeed (#1 and #4). If you got a good feel on those, I think your images will get much better, and then it is time to look at other things like backdrops, posing and lighting

adam646

Thank you. I guess this was my attempt to take pictures of something other than my trees and puppy. And since I am a fan of fetish erotics idthought id give it a try. I understand how aperture and shutter work but still trying to figure out how they work together. Any tips on how you would do these pictures...in a living room.

Scott_Quier

adam646 wrote: »

Thank you. I guess this was my attempt to take pictures of something other than my trees and puppy. And since I am a fan of fetish erotics idthought id give it a try. I understand how aperture and shutter work but still trying to figure out how they work together. Any tips on how you would do these pictures...in a living room.

Photographing people is difficult all by itself - without having to worry about the technical aspects.

I suggest you crack this problem one layer at a time and, to this end, I think Ivar offered you the best tip possible, given you current level of understanding. You really, really, need to understand the relationship between ISO, shutter speed, and aperture; not just know but really understand. Then, you progress to understanding the artistic impact of aperture choice.

Get yourself a book on posing people and another on lighting. Experiment. You don't need a lot of gear to do this successfully.

Once you've covered all the above, the answers to your "in a living room" question will become obvious to you.

adam646

thank you scott i will do that for sure. i guess i see peoples setups where they have 6, 7 lights and i got intimidated. then again those are professionls. maybe im trying to hard and instead of trying to take "the" picture i should leanr the camera more and just have fun. i will try again and i wont give up. time to go to borders and buy some books. byt he way heres another i took yesterday

adam646

another

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last one

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oops

kdog

First one of the second set shows some solid improvement I think. The hot lighting smooths out the skin tones and I think it works here. It's a much better pose as you've got the model rotated so that she's not square to the camera which is a more flattering look for most women. On the second one, you've got her facing square to the camera again and doesn't favor her as much as the first.

You should try some window light portraits as well. Use a north facing window, or one that's shaded so the direct sunlight isn't falling on her. You'll probably need to use a higher ISO and make sure your shutter speed doesn't drop too low. Try it with no flash at all, and then maybe with a hint of flash fill on the shaded side to taste. Even a reflector will work.

adam646

thanks kdog. will try all the suggested techniques this saturday. im really getting into this and am serious about it. i have a question for everyone.

can simple errors ruin a good picture? i mean i know that if you cant see a subject because of poor lighting placement or just plain ignorance then i can understand how a photograph can be crap. but what if the photo is a great photo with errors here and there? will that still make it a bad photo.

example would be the famous photo of muhamad ali in the ring. i mean some might say its a little low light or even a bit grainy but to me the photo itself would be the photo it is if it wasnt for those errors. i hope yall are understanding my question

kdog

Haha, that's a real subjective question. I will tell you from experience that if you post a shot on a photography forum like this, people will always find flaws. I've often felt nit-picked by them, but it does help you evaluate your own work more objectively. In the end, it's really up to you and your customer to decide if you like the shot, and to heck with the critics. If you're the customer, and you like it, that's all that matters.

Justiceiro

adam646 wrote: »

example would be the famous photo of muhamad ali in the ring. i mean some might say its a little low light or even a bit grainy but to me the photo itself would be the photo it is if it wasnt for those errors. i hope yall are understanding my question

Here's the thing, the better you get at taking photos, the more painful it will get for you. Once you reach a certain level, you start looking at things that normal people don't look at. When normal people look at photos of their kids, they see their kids. I see shadow, grain, edge clipping, etc. Sometimes it is important to step back and view a shot like a non-photographer.

That being said, it is also important to focus on what we can do better, because we can always do better.

Macushla

The book Understanding Exposure is a good place to start. I've found it really helpful. The eyes in all of your photos seem a bit soft, I think no matter what your subject matter the eyes need to be sharp. You're off to a good start and really lucky to have a cooperative model at your disposal.