Critiques Wanted.
So I had the opportunity to spend the day with my wife and our homeschooling group at a new park in Boca Raton Fl. Beautiful park, but my interest today was taking portraits of the kids. So here are a few of them and the rest are on www.imax.smugmug.com. Any advice that can be provided as to making these types of portraits even better would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for taking the time to look. Have a great night!
Forgot these
Thanks for taking the time to look. Have a great night!
Forgot these
0
Comments
The shots look good, the only thing I might have done different is to use fill flash. I think the shadows from under the hat and on the faces would have gone away, or atleast faded a bit, if you had done so.
Just my thoughts,
Great shots though,
Steven
MM Portfolio
Canon 30D | Canon 50mm f/1.8 | Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 | Canon Speedlite 580ex
I'll just make a few comments, as I'm no expert either-lol
First off, number three is my favorite. I like the intensity in his eyes and the composition. In fact the composition of most of them is really good, and that's important for protraits.
As Steven said, fill flash would have helped out on a few of these. Even the built in flash on a 10D, 20D, or 300D (or anyother camera), will give pretty decent lighting for this type of shot, and put 'catchlights' in the eyes. The effectiveness is only good for fairly close shots though.
I'm not sure what lens you are using, but the exif showed what looks to be a 70-300 range? That may be tougher to work with as opposed to using a 50mm or 85mm prime (those are what I normally use for these types of shots). The zoom can be used but you have to learn it's sweet spots for this type of shot. Also, unless you have an f/2.8 zoom it can be hard to isolate your subjects when backgrounds are a concern. It may not be a problem in a park but it will come into play at other times.
I also notice that many of the shots appear to be slightly out of focus and some appear soft (or a combination of both). Nothing wrong with a soft portrait, but an out of focus shot almost never works unless you are doing 'art for art's sake' photography. Some of the shots-number 1-for instance, the focus is not on the eyes. It's your call where you want the focus to be but it's almost a 'given' that for portraiture, focus should be on the eyes or 'eye'. In shot number one, the camera locked focus on the brim of the baseball hat, and the face is out of focus. It can be tricky to pick this up through the viewfinder, but eventually you can.
Best advice I could give you is to take some time with a willing model and do some shooting under more controlled circumstances. Shoot with your best lens and vary the shutter speeds and apertures to see where your lens gives you the effect you want. I'd even bring along a tripod. It will make it easier on you.
Overall, it looks like it was a great day, and the kids are certainly beautiful.
Good luck, and take care...
Mongrel
gubbs.smugmug.com
2 related items:
1. It looks like you have some very minor camera shake that is dropping the focus some.
2. If you use a tripod with fill flash, the camera shake can go away and you can use a higher shutter speed as well. That should help on sharpness overall.
I am an expert in my own mind. Others may differ
Children are hard to photograph. If you can get still platform, then you can do a multi burst and increase the chances of success.
Mel
=^..^=
http://mslammers.smugmug.com
A former sports shooter
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Kids can be rewarding to shoot. I agree with the comments about fill flash helping especially with hat brims, and the soft out of focus look. These would be even better if they were sharpely in focus.
I am intrigued by the fact that most of the posters seem to prefer the third shot, and the third shot is the only shot that was shot at the subjects eye level. The rest of the images were shot from slightly above to frankly above. And for me, kids portraits just need to be shot at eye level or lower to succeed. Keep shooting, you've got a great start here.
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
I just looked at it again, and it appears that a flash was used (on that shot), aren't those 'catchlights' in the eyes?
Fish, you are correct in your observation. There is a connection with the subject in that shot that is missing (or maybe not as pronounced) from the others. Good call...
Being a PI for the past 6 years had me always staying as far away from people as possible to get the shot. I am trying to bring that element of surprise if you will into play with these.
Most of what was shot yesterday was shot from a distance. When trying to get some of these the kids would bolt, and I would end up with an empty frame. That's why I shoot them from a distance and try to be out of sight. It makes the chase for them interesting, and it makes for pictures that in my opinion are natural. When shooting these I use the lens that I have had for the past two years. It's a Tamron 70-300mm 4-5.6 Tele/Macro lens.
I have a long way to go to go, and I know that there is so much to learn. Here is an example of how little I know.
Everette Jr. got washed out.
Study, Take lots Of Pictures, Study Some More!
Maybe I should stick with the sunrise!
Once again, I appreciate the information and critiques that each of you have given. Thank you for your time.
Joe
www.imax.smugmug.com