Senior px - first attempt

cmkultradome · October 22, 2012

Portraits are not really my thing but I was very unhappy with my son's senior portraits. At his school we don't have a choice of which photographer to use and the school uses one of the large companies. We picked out one photo for the yearbook because we had to but I wasn't about to buy a package of something that I really did not like. Hence these were my first attempts, taken over two different days. He has promised me one more day before the leaves all come down and then he wants a day in the winter with snow on the ground and a frozen pond in the background. Overall I was happy, I have been searching this forum for tips and tried to incorporate a bunch of them but I know they are still not technically correct. Comments are welcome, hopefully I can apply them to my next attempt.

Stephanie

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7 I know the knob is coming out of his head but my son really like this one

#8

VayCayMom · October 22, 2012

2,3 and 5 are my favs! I really love 2 due to the use of the red background. And 5 is just a great shot, nice light reflecting off something lights his face nicely, love the colors, just good stuff here.
That nob can be cloned away, maybe even clone the entire column away. You KNOW you are good when your teenager wants you to do this and will dedicate several days to you. Congrats!

PhilD41 · October 22, 2012

Hi cmkultradome,

I won't be able to help much, as I am new to this thing too. I like #1, #5, #6, #8 the best. I think it is because he looks more relaxed and natural in those. The only area of critique I can give is where I have issues as well. The contrast could be improved. Especially in #8. It is a great photograph, but my eyes get distracted with the surroundings since the over all contrast is a little flat. With this and #6, it would have been nice to have something lighting his face to help him stand out.

That being said, I would be very happy with photos like these. Most of mine done turn out near this well! Well done!!

Hackbone · October 22, 2012

These are nice casual captures of a good looking young man. Not to be mean but not what I would call quality portraits.

Some of the angles are odd and the lighting tends to be flat.

Study or find some articles on lighting ( you don't need massive amts of equip) male posing and clothing selection. The second part would be working in a quality photo editing program. You can find some exellent articles on YouTube and by doing a Google.

Bryce Wilson · October 22, 2012

In addition to what Hackbone mentioned, I'll add another two cents...

In seven and eight, the structure that he is posing in front of is indeed very cool. I can see why he likes it. But, as taken, the structure competes with the subject too much and draws my eye to it, especially in seven. Here is how you might correct that..

Have the subject come/move forward about five feet or so and take the image so the background will be slightly out of focus so it's there but not competing. Another option would be to light the subject about a stop and a half brighter than the background, again to throw the focus on the subject rather than the two being equal.

cmkultradome · October 23, 2012

Thanks for the comments. Bryce - thanks for the suggestion with the background, I'll try it on my next trip out.

Stephanie