Nellie. CC welcome

Izzy Garavito

These are a few of the shots from a recent shoot with my good friend Nellie.
I've just recently started photographing people and this was my second ever shoot. the first one was in a studio (one of the images i posed for LPS) and this one was in a warehouse. Any comments and criticism from the people experts would be greatly appreciated!

I've been thinking of taking senior pics and charging some money as a way to practice my photography.

Let me know what you all think!
#1



#2


#3





Izzy

Richard

Hi Izzy,

I don't see the pics. Is the gallery set to allow external links?

Regards,

Izzy Garavito

weird, I see them in my computer. let me see if i can fix it

Izzy Garavito

Hey Richard, thanks for letting me know. can you see them now?

Richard

Izzy Garavito wrote:

Hey Richard, thanks for letting me know. can you see them now?

Yep, that fixed it. Nice shooting.

Cheers,

jeffreaux2

These are very nice, and deserve a detailed critique. If nothing else, chrging for Sr photos would be a good excuse to endulge yourself in your hobby, and also earn $$ for that ever growing equipment list we all have tucked away in our brains!!!

It appears to me you will have no problem getting clients for these types of shoots.

On to that critique!!!

#1- This one pose doesn't really work for me. I think her arm looks awkward across the frame. The lighting isn't playing very nice with the brim of her hat. I am definately not allergic to tilted photos, but the tilt her doesn't work either. Either tilt it so that it looks purposefull or keep it straight.

#2- The lighting is much better here, and her eyes are captured well. Two adjustments to stregthen it would be......to NOT cut off her right hand (camera left) and if possible, crop the right side of the image so the machine doesn't end before the edge of the photo.

#3- THis is a very good photograph. I like the lighting and the pose looks very relaxed and feminine. Nice.....but...her foot is amputated. Also, one imporatant thing to consider in any portrait is finished print size. For example an 8x10 crop is a pretty deep cut on a 2:3 aspect frame. and you always should plan for such a crop when framing and composing. An 11x14 is nearly square. If these crops are right out of the camera you would be hard pressed to get decent crops at 5x7, which is a much kinder cut.

All in all I'd say you have done a really good job to be only your second shoot of this type. It appears that you have a good eye for composition, and it always helps with attractive subjects. Good luck with the Sr photos. I bet you do more than you think you will!!!


Thanks for sharing

Travis

I think that Jeff covered most everything. The one addition is the facial highlight in photo 1 being a little to hot. I like the "look back" pose with the exception of the right arm positioning. I would like to see this same look but with her maybe out in front of her so that she could more comfortably lean back on the right hand if that makes any sense.

Overall, though, these are great for a second time shooter. I'd be thrilled to have any of mine come out that good.

KED

jeffreaux2 wrote:

Also, one imporatant thing to consider in any portrait is finished print size. For example an 8x10 crop is a pretty deep cut on a 2:3 aspect frame. and you always should plan for such a crop when framing and composing. An 11x14 is nearly square. If these crops are right out of the camera you would be hard pressed to get decent crops at 5x7, which is a much kinder cut.

Could you elaborate on this a bit? I shoot sports, but find myself cropping like crazy and wondering how the prints will work out. The things I'm most confused about (and interested in) are (a) how one "plans for" an 8 x 10 crop (that's the aspect ratio I use most often) and (b) your last sentence -- my line of reasoning would be that if this is right out of the camera as a large MB image, downsizing to 5x7 (or 7x5) should be pretty simple???

Ed911

Cropping for Image size...
(-- my line of reasoning would be that if this is right out of the camera as a large MB image, downsizing to 5x7 (or 7x5) should be pretty simple???)

Large file size really doesn't have anything to do with cropping for aspect ratio, other than it allows you to have enough data to do it. If you don't leave enough room for cropping, you may find that in order to get the "aspect ratio correct, (ex,; 5X7) you will have to cut off part of the picture sometimes...and it ruins the shot. In most cases you will want to push in, focus, and then pull back for a little extra room around the edges, if you have time.

It's really easy to get rid of excess background with the cropping tool. Another benefit of excess background is that it allows you to move the subject within the crop, changing the perspective. Suppose you put your subject right in the middle of your shot...targeting. If you have plenty of excess background, then you can crop the shot so that the subject in one of the thirds of the photo making your shot more interesting.

jeffreaux2

KED wrote:

Could you elaborate on this a bit? I shoot sports, but find myself cropping like crazy and wondering how the prints will work out. The things I'm most confused about (and interested in) are (a) how one "plans for" an 8 x 10 crop (that's the aspect ratio I use most often) and (b) your last sentence -- my line of reasoning would be that if this is right out of the camera as a large MB image, downsizing to 5x7 (or 7x5) should be pretty simple???

Ed911(-- my line of reasoning would be that if this is right out of the camera as a large MB image, downsizing to 5x7 (or 7x5) should be pretty simple???)

Large file size really doesn't have anything to do with cropping for aspect ratio, other than it allows you to have enough data to do it. If you don't leave enough room for cropping, you may find that in order to get the "aspect ratio correct, (ex,; 5X7) you will have to cut off part of the picture sometimes...and it ruins the shot. In most cases you will want to push in, focus, and then pull back for a little extra room around the edges, if you have time.

It's really easy to get rid of excess background with the cropping tool. Another benefit of excess background is that it allows you to move the subject within the crop, changing the perspective. Suppose you put your subject right in the middle of your shot...targeting. If you have plenty of excess background, then you can crop the shot so that the subject in one of the thirds of the photo making your shot more interesting.Feb-19-2008 06:11 PMKEDQuote:

KED is right. I meant nothing about resolution or file size. I meant that if you compose a photo in that native 4x6 aspect and let your subject run to the edges then if they want to print a 5x7 your composition will get amputated. Even worse for 8x10, and 11x14....well it would be a massacre!!!

I have had to train myself to plan ahead for such crops by leaving plenty room on the long ends of my compositions. I still flub it up now and then. Best thing is to replace the focus screen to one which has a grid for such crops. (Yes, there is such a thing.)

Hope that clears it up!!

muyguapo

Great shots all around.

Izzy Garavito

Thank you all for the replies, really--Dgrinners are the best by far. Also, thank you Jeff for your in-depth critique and suggestions. learning from more experienced photographers is how I grow and I always pay attention to everything people say. Thanks for taking the time to put your thoughts into my photos!

They are a bit cropped from the camera, although not much. to tell you the truth I hadn't even thought about that since I'm not used to it. When shooting anything else (almost) I can get away with awkward or non-standard crops, yet that won't fly when prints will need to be a certain size. I suppose I'll leave enough room around the subject (even though i'll be fighting against my instinct) for print.

Thanks Richard, Ked, Travis, Ed and muyguapo also for taking the time to comment!

Izzy

photoshow

Really nice work, especially for only your second shoot. How I wish I had such a handle on lighting at that point in my career.

I do agree that the pose in image #1 is somewhat awkward and you could have definitely used more light under the brim of th hat. Using either a reflector to bounce the light under the brim or simply changing the angel of incidence of the key light would have filled in the heavy shadow very nicely.

Again though I think the work is better then good, especially given your lack of experience shooting these subjects.