First Time...

New Hope Studios

So, I am new to this whole message board type thing and I looked around for what to do and not do, but I always seem to miss a rule or two somewhere! My apologies in advance if I'm posting in the wrong spot or anything else! I'm a little too ADD sometimes to "get" every word my eyes pass over!

I had a session Saturday with a young woman and would like some feedback on the composition and edits. For a little insight into the set up, all shots were done in my living room, in front of a grey/white marbled backdrop or black back drop (depending on the photo). I used an external flash on a tripod in the left corner pointed directly at the ceiling and used my daughter's light stand with three constant 60watt bulbs pointing directly at her about 9 feet away or better in the same corner as the external flash (both lights were just slightly behind me.

I really like the look of these... kind of has the feel of a painting for me, but I wanted to get some feedback from others. I want to make sure that if there is somethin I'm missing that I need to fix, that I catch it before printing.

On my MAC, the brightness looks great, but on my work computer, the broghtness is WAY too bright...









Not sure if I am posting the pictures correctly... if not, here are the links:

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Portraits/Annie/20653210_HfTMLX#1637552912_nxsFhLx-A-LB

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Portraits/Annie/20653210_HfTMLX#1637553875_Z5WwF3C-A-LB

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Portraits/Annie/20653210_HfTMLX#1637551849_bdXqxQZ-A-LB

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Portraits/Annie/20653210_HfTMLX#1637551723_KS7G7KT-A-LB

Gretchen

I'm sure the professionals will weigh in but on my lap top they look very good. Not too bright.

Hackbone

You have a lovely model and some nice ideas. My biggest problem is that my eye does not know where to look first with all the bright areeas, ie. Face,neck,shoulder arms legs. Remember bright areas come forward and dark receedes. The viewers eye should have a place to settle on. Turn some upside down and see if it ismore clear. Please post more you've got a good eye and work well with the equip you have.

Quincy T

These look great.

Just a forum tip, you can use "IMG" tags to add your images directly into the post. Do it like this.

1. Right click your image and click "Copy Image Location" on your Mac
2. Come back to your post, type **. Don't use asterisks, I just used those so you can see what to type without it becoming HTML.

Preview your post to make sure you have it right.

New Hope Studios

Thanks for the feedback. I know that sometimes I can settle into a particular idea about a photograph and completely miss a detail or flaw that needs corrected, so I REALLY appreciate the comments. I only recently began using flash and am finding it both enjoyable and challenging. I definitely lean more toward the dramatic... and really don't want to get stuck in the cookie cutter kind of shots. I like suprising my clients with that WOW photo of themselves. With this particular girl, she had amazing features, but just had no idea how to use her face or her body. We actually had to stop for a little bit and practice some poses focusing on her eyes... there was just no life in them! I took a few shots and showed her and she thought the same thing. So after a bit of practice smiling with her eyes or giving some eye attitude, she finally started getting it. She was great about allowing me to move her hair and position her limbs just so.

Her WOW moment was this shot (I'm gonna try the "IMG" thing here!):



(using the *[IMG]* tag doesn't appear to be working for me oh well)[/img]http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Portraits/Annie/20653210_HfTMLX#1637552100_Kw7XJqS-A-LB

I am working with a local metal band for their promo shots and CD cover. The problem I am having there is that the band LOVES my least favorite image. I think the shadows are all wrong. They wanted a group photo with strong shadowing, but there is something just not right for me and I don't know how to fix it.



http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Band-Promo/Warneck/20485580_5bmWC2#1640092631_gQ2cbBg-A-LB



http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Band-Promo/Warneck/20485580_5bmWC2#1640119717_CtWnxzq-A-LB

Thoughts?

New Hope Studios

I'm thinking the contrast is wrong maybe.

Hackbone

Try [img][/img] put your link between the ][

Cowboydoug

New Hope Studios wrote: »

So, I am new to this whole message board type thing and I looked around for what to do and not do, but I always seem to miss a rule or two somewhere! My apologies in advance if I'm posting in the wrong spot or anything else! I'm a little too ADD sometimes to "get" every word my eyes pass over!

I had a session Saturday with a young woman and would like some feedback on the composition and edits. For a little insight into the set up, all shots were done in my living room, in front of a grey/white marbled backdrop or black back drop (depending on the photo). I used an external flash on a tripod in the left corner pointed directly at the ceiling and used my daughter's light stand with three constant 60watt bulbs pointing directly at her about 9 feet away or better in the same corner as the external flash (both lights were just slightly behind me.

I really like the look of these... kind of has the feel of a painting for me, but I wanted to get some feedback from others. I want to make sure that if there is somethin I'm missing that I need to fix, that I catch it before printing.

On my MAC, the brightness looks great, but on my work computer, the broghtness is WAY too bright...









Not sure if I am posting the pictures correctly... if not, here are the links:

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Portraits/Annie/20653210_HfTMLX#1637552912_nxsFhLx-A-LB

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Portraits/Annie/20653210_HfTMLX#1637553875_Z5WwF3C-A-LB

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Portraits/Annie/20653210_HfTMLX#1637551849_bdXqxQZ-A-LB

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Portraits/Annie/20653210_HfTMLX#1637551723_KS7G7KT-A-LB

Howdy and welcome... thanks for posting your STUFF... Very nicely done... It is nice to see good use of lighting and love your comments about using your daughters light stand.... haha:)<br> The only ones I don't care for are the ones like the 1st in your lineup here... Her neck and back are so tense, straight...something... Makes me want to snap a match stick:) <br> Will you show us more from other shoots?

zoomer

Pretty girl, you did a nice job with the technical aspects.
For me portraits are more about capturing the persons personality and energy.
Would like to see more energy in the poses.

Try less posing, more interacting, shoot when your subject looks good. Set up situations where they have no idea when you are going to shoot.....then they won't have that waiting for the camera to go off look on their faces.

These are nice portraits overall.

ARKreations

Welcome!

The 2 things that jumped out at me are:
1. Iron your backdrop - too many wrinkles
2. She's got to have the longest neck I've ever seen. Shooting her from the side and below eye-level emphasizes this in a not-so-flattering way (IMO). Comparing the last couple from your first post to your "Wow" image (which definitely deserves the "Wow!") really illustrates the difference.

At first I wasn't overly thrilled with the processing style, but after looking through the gallery, it started to grow on me and came to help define the personality in your subject. Overall a very nice set!

New Hope Studios

Hackbone wrote: »

Try [img][/img] put your link between the ][

Wellm I did that, except mine were in all caps. That shouldn't matter though... should it?

Here's a test:

Well the brackets didn't work, and upper or lower case had no effect. Hmm... oh well. CLicking al ink isn't preferable, but I suppose it'll have to do.

novicesnapper

New Hope Studios wrote: »

So, I am new to this whole message board type thing and I looked around for what to do and not do, but I always seem to miss a rule or two somewhere! My apologies in advance if I'm posting in the wrong spot or anything else! I'm a little too ADD sometimes to "get" every word my eyes pass over!

I had a session Saturday with a young woman and would like some feedback on the composition and edits. For a little insight into the set up, all shots were done in my living room, in front of a grey/white marbled backdrop or black back drop (depending on the photo). I used an external flash on a tripod in the left corner pointed directly at the ceiling and used my daughter's light stand with three constant 60watt bulbs pointing directly at her about 9 feet away or better in the same corner as the external flash (both lights were just slightly behind me.

I really like the look of these... kind of has the feel of a painting for me, but I wanted to get some feedback from others. I want to make sure that if there is somethin I'm missing that I need to fix, that I catch it before printing.

On my MAC, the brightness looks great, but on my work computer, the broghtness is WAY too bright...









Not sure if I am posting the pictures correctly... if not, here are the links:

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Portraits/Annie/20653210_HfTMLX#1637552912_nxsFhLx-A-LB

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Portraits/Annie/20653210_HfTMLX#1637553875_Z5WwF3C-A-LB

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Portraits/Annie/20653210_HfTMLX#1637551849_bdXqxQZ-A-LB

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Portraits/Annie/20653210_HfTMLX#1637551723_KS7G7KT-A-LB

You'll get the hang of it. Let me help.
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New Hope Studios

Cowboydoug wrote: »

Howdy and welcome... thanks for posting your STUFF... Very nicely done... It is nice to see good use of lighting and love your comments about using your daughters light stand.... haha:)
The only ones I don't care for are the ones like the 1st in your lineup here... Her neck and back are so tense, straight...something... Makes me want to snap a match stick:)
Will you show us more from other shoots?

I see what you mean about the neck and back, but there was something about it for me that I really liked. It reminded me of a painting I've seen before, but just cannot place it. However, I definitely understand your comment... I wouldn't want to see that pose constantly.

Please keep in mind, I have only been shooting real life people for 6 months or so. I will pick my favorites from some of my sessions.

This is the very first photo I ever took with my first and current DSLR camera:

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Children/Kids/18970984_4fQxHX#1472986208_4HVNP2R-A-LB

From my one and only maternity session:

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Maternity/Mistys-Maternity/19465908_8KnnKw#1523224291_gPJgrkk-A-LB

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Maternity/Mistys-Maternity/19465908_8KnnKw#1523229457_jWVR7dT-A-LB

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Maternity/Mistys-Maternity/19465908_8KnnKw#1523232078_TjSSpDZ-A-LB

From my first and only newborn session (note: she was only 7 days old and was too big for any of my props! She was a big-o-baby!):

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Newborn/Baby-Natalie/20379662_kknrBz#1612490283_SRdJ8WJ-A-LB

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Newborn/Baby-Natalie/20379662_kknrBz#1612490597_8t7xgmN-A-LB

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Newborn/Baby-Natalie/20379662_kknrBz#1612491317_hSVkg3Z-A-LB

Her mommy was a first time mommy and did NOT like hearing baby Natalie cry at all, so the first time that happened, mom was finished. So I actually only shot for 30 minutes.

These are from the first time I ever shot a wedding. I was a second shooter.

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Weddings/Thompson-Wedding/19359725_f6v56v#1513507530_xNms7vD-A-LB

Here, the brides mom insisted that we get a photo in front of the house, even though the sun was beating down on the west side of the house just before sunset. I snapped only one shot to satisfy the mother and because the bride's smile started to fade QUICKLY.

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Weddings/Thompson-Wedding/19359725_f6v56v#1513507301_sH4T7vG-A-LB

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Weddings/Thompson-Wedding/19359725_f6v56v#1513506388_7rf6cC8-A-LB

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Weddings/Thompson-Wedding/19359725_f6v56v#1513506226_SQv3JQd-A-LB

I have done three Senior sessions. Here are my favorite from each of them:

Here's Chaisey:

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Seniors/Chaisey-Marie-Senior-2012/20272847_BJbZFx#1602782604_XfCMfZZ-A-LB

Colin has a flare for the dramatic. He is an openly gay aspiring actor:

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Seniors/Colin/20272999_Z7tdPM#1602800764_mZC38dt-A-LB

And finally, here's Angela:

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Seniors/Angela-Senior-2012/20273044_crgH4q#1602805118_Nr6v4fj-A-LB

This is the singer of the heavy metal band Warneck during practice. I was playing around with my shutter speed a little. I thought this gave him kind of an interesting look. You can see an image of his face very lightly next to his actual face:

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Band-Promo/Warneck/20485580_5bmWC2#1622200262_GtkwXgN-A-LB

From a 9th birthday and mommy session:

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Family/Sena-Kira/20061105_z7nXDk#1581849430_nZqgb4v-A-LB

My first family session:

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Family/Weathers-Family/19706912_3vMdDj#1546664391_74BnDsc-A-LB

My second family session:

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Family/Mackey-Family/20060941_gVPzJh#1581820631_TBbGGFG-A-LB

http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Family/Mackey-Family/20060941_gVPzJh#1581820520_dMXcM9Z-A-LB

Qarik

lovely lovely stuff..really, no comments

New Hope Studios

zoomer wrote: »

Pretty girl, you did a nice job with the technical aspects.
For me portraits are more about capturing the persons personality and energy.
Would like to see more energy in the poses.

Try less posing, more interacting, shoot when your subject looks good. Set up situations where they have no idea when you are going to shoot.....then they won't have that waiting for the camera to go off look on their faces.

These are nice portraits overall.

Thanks! I am a SUPER introvert, so I am slowly learning how to relax a lot more with people. This particular session she said she wanted to try to capture something more dramatic and said she felt like she was transitioning from being a kid to a woman. Thus the poses... lol. This was my best idea on an extremely cold day.

I am definitely still struggling with on the spot creativity... sometimes I get it and other times I find myself drawing a complete blank. Of course, in a perfect world, I would already have things lined out. But on days like a couple weekends ago where it started sleeting in the middle of our session, I am occassionally very slow to come up with quick saves.

I was just about to ask you how to "set up" situations and then an idea occurred to me... for a family session for exanple, maybe they could build a sundae or bananna split, or... yep, there's that BLANK again.

threecubed

The reason the image tags aren't working for you is that you are linking to the lightbox URL (ends in -LB, like http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Portraits/Annie/20653210_HfTMLX#1637552912_nxsFhLx-A-LB) and not the image URL (ends in .jpg, like http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Portraits/Annie/i-nxsFhLx/0/L/Annie-Stephenson-786-L.jpg). You need to right-click on the image and click "Copy Image Location" (or something similar, depending on your browser) to get the URL directly to the image, then paste that between the IMG tags.

New Hope Studios

ARKreations wrote: »

Welcome!

The 2 things that jumped out at me are:
1. Iron your backdrop - too many wrinkles
2. She's got to have the longest neck I've ever seen. Shooting her from the side and below eye-level emphasizes this in a not-so-flattering way (IMO). Comparing the last couple from your first post to your "Wow" image (which definitely deserves the "Wow!") really illustrates the difference.

At first I wasn't overly thrilled with the processing style, but after looking through the gallery, it started to grow on me and came to help define the personality in your subject. Overall a very nice set!

I agree about the backdrop needing the wrinkles out... it is a HUGE backdrop. It could literally cover my entire living room, which is why I keep it folded and in a bag... BUT, I asked for a steamer for Christmas. So, fingers crossed. If not, I will just go by one after Christmas.

As for the neck... I see the difference you mean in the two shots. I defitely prefer the WOW shot. I guess I am a sucker for a girl with a long neck. lol In fact, now that I think about it, it's usually the first feature I notice on a woman. I will keep your feedback in mind on the next one though.

Thanks!

New Hope Studios

Qarik wrote: »

lovely lovely stuff..really, no comments

Thank you very much!

New Hope Studios

threecubed wrote: »

The reason the image tags aren't working for you is that you are linking to the lightbox URL (ends in -LB, like http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Portraits/Annie/20653210_HfTMLX#1637552912_nxsFhLx-A-LB) and not the image URL (ends in .jpg, like http://newhopestudios.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Portraits/Annie/i-nxsFhLx/0/L/Annie-Stephenson-786-L.jpg). You need to right-click on the image and click "Copy Image Location" (or something similar, depending on your browser) to get the URL directly to the image, then paste that between the IMG tags.

I'm not sure why, but even when I right click, I am not ever getting a .jpg url. Never seen it like that before. I emailed the smugmug heros.

New Hope Studios

Gretchen wrote: »

I'm sure the professionals will weigh in but on my lap top they look very good. Not too bright.

Thank you Gretchen! Are you using a Mac? Just curious. My Mac makes everything look 100 times better than any other monitor... I'm sure it's a calibration issue. Which makes me think about how other folks may see thier images when they look at it online through the website.