Greg & Nora

Wiren

During the Fall Mini, a couple who asked me to photograph their wedding next year stopped by for a "studio portrait". We will use one of these images for their "save the date" postcard.

I was admittedly having issues with glass glare, so took their images sans eyewear :dunno as a solution

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5.

reyvee61

My only criticism is the angle that these were shot at.
I would have shot from my tippy toes for these.

Foques

this might be my screen, but 1, 3 and 4 appear to be quite hot to me.

Mitchell

Do you want critique?

Wiren

Mitchell wrote: »

Do you want critique?

I will take it... fire away. On a side note, the clients have seen them and love them. They are asking for the one with the blue bg to be done up with the gray-ish backdrop and plan to order that one from me in a metal print.

Regardless of that, I will gladly take your critique as I wasn't the most thrilled with my work and will take the critique to hopefully do better next time.....

kdog

I agree with Foques that several of these shots look quite hot, specifically on Greg's face. Since the client selected one of the other ones, that may tell you something (although the pose on that shot was very good as well). I always meter studio lights and if anything err on the side of underexposing skin.

They're a charming couple and it appears you captured their personalities quite well. They seem comfortable and relaxed which is a huge part of good portrait photography. So kudos for that.

Mitchell

I'm no pro, but I do a fair bit of portraiture. Please take the critique as constructive. I can't tell what focal length you used here, but these all suffer from wide angle distortion which bothers me when viewing. This is least obvious in #5 where they are both on the same focal plane, but in all the others, he appears much larger in the foreground and she disproportionately smaller in the background. This is very noticeable in #1. I try to shoot studio portraits at 50mm or higher if the room will allow.

1. Good expressions, but your light is a bit hot. Also, watch the crop through his fingers. He's also a bit too square to the camera. A little turn of his upper body would help a lot.

2. Don't care for her expression here. I also don't like the up the nose perspective for him (and I'm a nose doctor).

3. She's poorly placed behind his head. A small step to her left would have really helped here.

4. A very unnatural and unflattering hand position for her. Her hand now becomes the focal point of this portrait. Tosser.

5. My favorite of the set. Nice shot, but I don't like your choice for BG at all. The color just clashes. The prior BG color scheme is much better.

Any shots with her seated on the posing stool and him behind her? 1-4 feature him in front, and I think these sessions just work better if you feature the woman in front.

Wiren

Thanks guys, love the comments and critique... most of the C&C are saying the same things....

My original thought was to place her behind him because like some women, she has expressed a vain streak about her size.... When I had done some portraits in the past and had the woman in front, I had suggestions to hide the woman's figure behind her man..... and that is what I tried to accomplish here..... you know the saying, "you can't please all the people all the time"

Hearing you about FL, these were shot at 25mm which is your observation about WA distortion.

I'm working to get better as time marches on.... this seems to be the only decent way to make some revenue even though portraiture is my least favorite type of photography......

Thanks again, I will have a few more from that day that I took of my son and his fiancée.....

Lee

Hackbone

Love your colors and ideas. It is always tough to light dark and light skin together. The trouble is more apparent when Greg is nearest the main light. At higher power the light does not fall off as quickly. I would use a lower power and move a lighter skin person further away than a darker skin. Then the proper exposure is set for the dark skin and the fall off of light is less power on the light skin so it isn't blown out as much. Remember people tend to have oilly skin and that tends to reflcet more light and plays somewhat with exposure.

I agree on getting the camera angle up higher, a lower angle tends to distort our view as we are used to seeing from our normal viewing height. Also you need to coach a couple on what to wear. That tie is just screaming for attention. What looks good at a party is not always proper for photography. Turn image #2 upside down and what jumps out at you,,,,,,the tie.

The hands pawing out front are quite distracting and watch out for the ladies, that is where age is shown when showing the back of a ladies hand.

However as long as they are happy that is the goal....but I'll bet they would be happier with a few corrections. In all a nice job.