My First Senior Shoot in a quite a While!

rosselliot

I took some senior portraits the other day of my best friend, Hannah! what do you think? do you have any tips on how I might improve on future shoots?













Hannah is CRAZY and so much fun:








okay, well, that's all I'll put up - if you want to see the whole album, it's here:

http://www.rossfrazier.com/gallery/2626614

okay, well, thanks for looking! I look forward to y'all's comments! feel free to brutally honest!!!!!

- RE

saurora

Hi Ross...I took a look at your entire gallery as well. Several things come to mind as I look at these. I would assume you were using your Canon 24-105mm f/4L USM IS. I think the first thing you should do the very next time you use that wonderful hunk of L glass you own, is to stop shooting in normal mode and use aperture priority. All of your session was done at 1600 ISO, I'm not sure why and most shots were at f/16. That change alone will be a big improvement and allow you to shoot smaller f stops, giving you some nice blurred backgrounds for some of your shots. As they are, your images appear over-exposed. The images are not very sharp for an L lens with IS, probably due to being over-exposed coupled with flat, uninteresting light creating no contrast. (Take it from someone who has over-exposed a lot of images!) The large majority of the shots were taken straight on, which is not the most flattering nor very interesting. Change your view more often, or her position, so that you are higher, it will also help to open up her beautiful eyes. What time of day were you shooting? The light was not too great and she was frowning a lot. Don't shoot in the middle of the day, shoot late afternoons to get some more interesting light and shadows for more contrast in your images. Her choice of wardrobe could have been better, next time ask her bring more changes. Since she is your friend, you might know of something she wears that is more flattering in the way of color. Watch your compositions...you were so intent on framing the wrought iron door you were chopping off limbs. Have fun on your next shoot and try the aperture priority!

rosselliot

saurora wrote:

Hi Ross...I took a look at your entire gallery as well. Several things come to mind as I look at these. I would assume you were using your Canon 24-105mm f/4L USM IS. I think the first thing you should do the very next time you use that wonderful hunk of L glass you own, is to stop shooting in normal mode and use aperture priority. All of your session was done at 1600 ISO, I'm not sure why and most shots were at f/16. That change alone will be a big improvement and allow you to shoot smaller f stops, giving you some nice blurred backgrounds for some of your shots. As they are, your images appear over-exposed. The images are not very sharp for an L lens with IS, probably due to being over-exposed coupled with flat, uninteresting light creating no contrast. (Take it from someone who has over-exposed a lot of images!) The large majority of the shots were taken straight on, which is not the most flattering nor very interesting. Change your view more often, or her position, so that you are higher, it will also help to open up her beautiful eyes. What time of day were you shooting? The light was not too great and she was frowning a lot. Don't shoot in the middle of the day, shoot late afternoons to get some more interesting light and shadows for more contrast in your images. Her choice of wardrobe could have been better, next time ask her bring more changes. Since she is your friend, you might know of something she wears that is more flattering in the way of color. Watch your compositions...you were so intent on framing the wrought iron door you were chopping off limbs. Have fun on your next shoot and try the aperture priority!

thank you so much! I appreciate your words for improvement.

when I got home I saw the grain, I thought I was going to cry! We had just been to my cousins house and I was taking pictures indoors, so I hicked up the ISO...and I FORGOT TO CHANGE IT! I was SO mad at myself when I got home! I guess now, I have to call it "picture character!" haha. I have GOT to get in the habit of changing that back....ugh!!!!!

when you shoot in aperture mode, do you change it a lot? or always leave at the lowest setting? do you usually shoot in aperture mode, like..when you're on vacation and stuff..or just for portraits?

Do you think that changing the ISO and therefore letting the camera automatically adjust the aperture would change the overexposed-ness?

I was shooting around 3:00-4:00...but of course, in Louisiana and during the Summer, that might as well be mid-day...I'll need to do better planning next time!!!

thanks again! I eagerly await your responses!

- RE

Swartzy

Ross....
The suggestions Saurora gave are excellent to keep in the front of your mind as you shoot. Learning things like composition, focus, exposure can be learned but once those things are understood, then your "vision" will take control. At this juncture I suggest (humbly, I might add) you work on the basic principles of what makes a pleasing photo and what doesn't. First and foremost, determine what your subject is. Secondly, focus on your subject, keeping things out of the frame that distract from your subject. Thirdly, simplify (again, it's all about your subject and the look you're attempting to achieve).

Let's take one example:



Yes, overexposed (as due to the ISO 1600 you've described). Ok, let's overlook the technicals and focus on the layout (comp). It's a straight on shot with lots of distractions. We have weeds, we have a hideous yellow door with a rusty iron door. The door is much bigger than your subject (your friend) and rules the shot. It's almost like the door is the subject and your friend is in the way. The color of the door distracts and takes away from her smile. Clearly, a different background is needed for her skin tone. The plain brick wall would work much better.

Developing an eye takes some time and lots of practice. One of the best ways I've found (in real life) is to look at portraits....really good ones...analyze them...why do they look so good? What's different about them? Where's the light coming from? What angle is the subject or what angle from the camera? High, low, straight ahead, from the side? It'll come....little by little it seems but with diligence, you'll have developed the basics to where you no longer think of them but instead focus on your own style. Too often, we try to develop our own style and forget the most important essentials...the basics. The "basics" step must not be bypassed otherwise our style will be no style at all.

Ok, done now....I hope maybe a sentence or two will be of help!

SitterS

Great advice from above. One valuable thing I learned is to understand the histogram and watch it when taking photos. I use to 'chimp' (I think that is what they call it) and look at the screen all the time. Believe me it doesn't work! Would get home and have many under or overexposed photos. When I learned what the histogram told me and started trusting it my photos improved greatly. Of course you have to understand ISO, aperture, etc. as well.

Shane

rosselliot

SitterS wrote:

Great advice from above. One valuable thing I learned is to understand the histogram and watch it when taking photos. I use to 'chimp' (I think that is what they call it) and look at the screen all the time. Believe me it doesn't work! Would get home and have many under or overexposed photos. When I learned what the histogram told me and started trusting it my photos improved greatly. Of course you have to understand ISO, aperture, etc. as well.

Shane

when you use the histogram, you can only see it after you've taken the photo, right? on the 30D there's no way to see a live histogram is there?

- RE

LiquidAir

rosselliot wrote:

when you use the histogram, you can only see it after you've taken the photo, right? on the 30D there's no way to see a live histogram is there?

- RE

Nope. In any new lighting situation, I make my best guess as to the right camera settings and then fire off test shots until I dial it in. As I shoot, I keep chimping to make sure my setup is still working.

photogmomma

rosselliot wrote:

when you use the histogram, you can only see it after you've taken the photo, right? on the 30D there's no way to see a live histogram is there?

- RE

Nope, it's not live. But it's so easy to look and think about it that it should be a biggie. When I do a photoshoot, I always use manual. I know a lot of people use aperature priority (like Saurora and my mother) and shutter priority, my results are always off compared to using manual. (I'm sure it's just me, though! ! You find what works for you....)

To set my settings, here's what I do. (Who know if it's right, though! !)

• Decide what's important. In portraits, it's generally a shallow DOF, but not TOO shallow (a problem I have sometimes!). I set my aperature - generally 2.8-4.5 depending on the lens and situation.
• Then I look through my lens, look at my meter and I meter on someones face and set the shutter speed accordingly. Note: On my 10D, I had to over expose by 1/2 stop. My 5D is much better. You'd have to check out your camera.
• If my shutter speed is under 125, I will adjust my ISO up. I know some people can take shots with a slower shutter speed, but I take shots of kids a lot and they move FAST! !
• Then I take a quick shot - not posed, just to look at my histogram. Is it over exposed? Under exposed? I use my judgement to make sure it's right on. I adjust the shutter speed accordingly.
• When I move to a new location, I start the process over. Trust me, once you do it a ton of times, you'll get really quick at it and you won't have to think hard!

When I get home and download my photos and look at them. Are they exposed correctly? If not, you may want to adjust mentally up or down 1/2 stop to see if that helps when you're taking photos.

Another important thing is white balance. I think a lot of your color photos look off. Both my 10D and my 5D are mediocre in the shade and the white balance is almost always off. If you get a grey card (like the WhiBal - I love the small one - I just take a quick shot in the same lighting with it and then I can correct the white balance really quickly), you can fix that. Holler if you have questions, but I think you'd get a lot of info here: http://www.whibalhost.com/_Tutorials/WhiBal/01/index.html Even if you don't use a WhiBal, it's still VERY informative and will help you understand white balance better....

Anyway, when your white balance is off, that can actually affect the way the photos look. While I think you have some nice shots in here, I think some small tweaks woudl make them much better! She's a pretty girl and tweaking them a bit would help bring her beauty out even more.

You have some really fun shots here... Definitely keep trying and doing different things. And I agree - look at other photographers and see what makes the photos GREAT and try to "copy" and then adjust to create your own style.

SitterS

Quote: To set my settings, here's what I do. (Who know if it's right, though! !)

• Decide what's important. In portraits, it's generally a shallow DOF, but not TOO shallow (a problem I have sometimes!). I set my aperature - generally 2.8-4.5 depending on the lens and situation.
• Then I look through my lens, look at my meter and I meter on someones face and set the shutter speed accordingly. Note: On my 10D, I had to over expose by 1/2 stop. My 5D is much better. You'd have to check out your camera.
• If my shutter speed is under 125, I will adjust my ISO up. I know some people can take shots with a slower shutter speed, but I take shots of kids a lot and they move FAST! !
• Then I take a quick shot - not posed, just to look at my histogram. Is it over exposed? Under exposed? I use my judgement to make sure it's right on. I adjust the shutter speed accordingly.
• When I move to a new location, I start the process over. Trust me, once you do it a ton of times, you'll get really quick at it and you won't have to think hard!

This is what I have started doing as well. The exact steps. I shoot manual more inside but when outside with moving kids I find it harder to shoot in manual. Is it just me or is there a trick? Also I did a shoot (haven't done many for others than those of my kids) and used my grey card. It really helped and lots less adjusting the white balance after the fact. Need to use that grey card more. The best 5 bucks you can spend.

I too cannot do a handheld shot and let my shutter speed drop below 125. It just doesn't work for me and the pics are always blurry.

Shane

Halliday

Also, you might want to check your website restrictions. I found a photo, under the Professional area, that I could download and I'm not sure you'd want that...

rosselliot

Halliday wrote:

Also, you might want to check your website restrictions. I found a photo, under the Professional area, that I could download and I'm not sure you'd want that...

like you could right click on it?!

- RE

Halliday

rosselliot wrote:

like you could right click on it?!

- RE

No, it gave me the smugmug drop-down save option. I can't find it now. Guess you fixed it