Portraits

Miss_Pfeifer

I'm not very good at portraits yet, but I've been trying to practise. What do you think of these?

joshhuntnm

In the first one the shadows are a litltle harsh. I would bounce the light to soften it. Also, the background is a little bland. I'd get something nicer, of try to get it to disappear--back it up and get it out of focus or somthing.

Miss_Pfeifer

joshhuntnm wrote:

In the first one the shadows are a litltle harsh. I would bounce the light to soften it. Also, the background is a little bland. I'd get something nicer, of try to get it to disappear--back it up and get it out of focus or somthing.

The shadows are suposed to be some what harsh. I agree that the backdrop is bland, but I think it give more focus to the guy ^_^

What do you think of the second photo?

Scott_Quier

1: Put some separation between the model and the background. This will through the background a OOF. As it stands, the background is enough in focus that we can see the draping and the texture of the background. Throwing the background OOF will move the viewer's focus to the model where it belongs. While I understand about wanting strong shadows, a little fill would help us to see is shadowed eye. This fill would also give us a catchlight in his eye. The rim of his glasses cuts through the eye - usually not a desired effect. Not sure about having his elbow cut off.

2: It seems muddy, maybe lacking in contrast a little. Again, with the background too close to the model. If it were a little more OOF, I think it would be much more effective. I can see her eyelashes on her right eye. Turn her head a little more to remove that from camera view or turn her toward the camera a bit so we can see a little more of her eye. If you do this, try not to let her nose break the line of her right cheek.

Throwing the background OOF is accomplished by a combination of techniques:

• Use a larger aperture
• Increase the distance between the model and the background. Ideally, place the model closer to the camera than the model is to the background.

Edit: made correction pointed out by Richard (thanks)

Richard

Scott_Quier wrote:

Throwing the background OOF is accomplished by a combination of techniques:

• Use a smaller aperture

Just to clarify, I think Scott meant to say a larger aperture, which means a smaller number. f/4 is larger than f/8 in that the iris of the lens opens wider and lets more light in. As the aperture gets bigger, the depth of field gets smaller, which is what you would want in order to blur the background.

Cheers,

Miss_Pfeifer

Thanks