My try at senior portraits

Jnichols

I asked these two girls if they would mind posing for me at a State Park here in Alabama. They agreed and here's the result. Please comment and critique. Thank you for your time!

jrglass

Beautiful ladies - good subjects to work with. The background in the 1st photo does not do anything for me. My first instinct was, let me see more/closer image of the main subject. There are also several hotspots in the background. The rich colors you achieved with the model is not matched by the background. I really like the colors/skin tone for the model.

binghott

#1 would be my favorite if she was in the picture.
#2 and 3 are good, but i think #4 is superb.

Tmosley

im liking these photos, the first two you cut off her back, unsure if thats what you were going for or not, but there good shoot for your first try at it

Jnichols

jrglass wrote:

Beautiful ladies - good subjects to work with. The background in the 1st photo does not do anything for me. My first instinct was, let me see more/closer image of the main subject. There are also several hotspots in the background. The rich colors you achieved with the model is not matched by the background. I really like the colors/skin tone for the model.

Thank you - I used a gold reflector for her and the background doesn't really match does it? The funny thing is that this is her favorite photo - hmmm sometimes I don't understand what makes a picture their favorite. I have many others that do include her whole body in it but I just wanted to see the reaction to this one. I did have problems with hot spots in the background - I guess I'm learning! Thanks again!

Jnichols

binghott wrote:

#1 would be my favorite if she was in the picture.
#2 and 3 are good, but i think #4 is superb.

Thanks! The girl in pics #3-4 had some acne. It took some work to get her skin evened out. There were some other pictures in the series that had #1's whole body in it but I was curious to see others reactions to #1 since she said it was her favorite - I was simply experimenting - thanks so much for your input. I love your work!

Jnichols

Tmosley wrote:

im liking these photos, the first two you cut off her back, unsure if thats what you were going for or not, but there good shoot for your first try at it

Thank you for your input! We're planning our next shoot soon...

Dee

I like the first one
but I sure don't know why... I was wondering about the light (maybe that's why I liked it) and after reading about the gold reflector -- you taught me something -- that perhaps the reflected light wouldn't match the background... a very good thing to consider!

All the photos are really nice but for some reason I find the first one most striking.

sthig

hey nice work!

Which state bark were you taking your pictures? (I graduated from Samford so I know your area pretty well)

Jnichols

Dee wrote:

but I sure don't know why... I was wondering about the light (maybe that's why I liked it) and after reading about the gold reflector -- you taught me something -- that perhaps the reflected light wouldn't match the background... a very good thing to consider!

All the photos are really nice but for some reason I find the first one most striking.

Thank you Dee! Staci (#1) loves that picture as well. I've learned a lesson as well - next time I'll go ahead and use natural light with a background like that.

JimM

I think you cropped too tight on the left on the first two. You need to show her shoulder.

I also think the crop on the forehead on the last one is too tight also.

Lighting looks pretty good on the lot.

Jnichols

sthig wrote:

hey nice work!

Which state bark were you taking your pictures? (I graduated from Samford so I know your area pretty well)

I also went to Samford! I took these at Tannehill - just wandered around the park taking pics. It was fun - we went on a Sunday afternoon so there weren't many people there.

Jnichols

JimM wrote:

I think you cropped too tight on the left on the first two. You need to show her shoulder.

I also think the crop on the forehead on the last one is too tight also.

Lighting looks pretty good on the lot.

I tend to naturally take tight crops - I think I just focus in on the face and go from there. So, yes - I'll work on that. Thanks for your input!

CookieS

I also like the first one, It has a feel to it, the others are nice, ive only done a few People portraits, but Ive had some tell me , they are Not big fans of the super close ups. ( like 4) although that is a very nice image. just using it as example. maybe a very light sunlight filter on a new layer, would give your background on #1 a hint of gold to match the gold reflector???

jrollins

I like them all - nice work! Thanks for sharing.

Nimai

Very nice~ thanks for sharing, because we can all learn (ok, I can learn) from the critiques too.

I had a question about the gold reflector- did you have an assistant, stand, or place to prop it up? I know this is a totally noob question (which is appropriate for me) but how did you use it?

galaxycowpoke

The girls look very relaxed. That's important. I bet they like those pictures.

The first photo is striking in its sharpness. No judgement either way, but that's what initially grabbed my attention above everything else.

You have the courage to experiment and try new things. That's good.

Jnichols

Nimai wrote:

Very nice~ thanks for sharing, because we can all learn (ok, I can learn) from the critiques too.

I had a question about the gold reflector- did you have an assistant, stand, or place to prop it up? I know this is a totally noob question (which is appropriate for me) but how did you use it?

I had an assistant which is VERY handy:D I usually prop it up if my assistant can't come with me or use my foot... just whatever I can do to get it into position. I don't use it very often but wow does it add a little something in the right conditions...