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11/12/2005 01:41:36 PM · #1 |
Today I got my first taste of taking senior pics. A freebie for my education, portfolio and amusement.
I shot some 175 pics in about 2 hours...here are the first few:
   
I now hate sunny days! Even with a good flash trying to get fill flash to balance the pics was, well, nigh on impossible. I'll post some later that show, well, things never go as planned!
Fortunately I only need 20 or so good ones from all I took I thnk that can be done, but man, my PS skills will be severely tested! I need, i mean need a good reflector if i'm gonns do this again! and even more flash practice.
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11/12/2005 05:11:17 PM · #2 |
I've never done any senior pictures but I'd like to suggest that you use a more shallow dof. Just enough to get her face well focused. I like the one in the tree the best. Maybe select the background and blur it to give a better sense of depth to the picture and clone out the small branch over her bangs. Lighten her teeth a little.
Something like this.
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11/12/2005 05:21:17 PM · #3 |
The pants seem to blend into the trees. Having a willing model should offer you many different composition choices.
Overcast days are easier to shoot portraits because lighting is much softer. A reflector would definitely even out the lighting.
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11/12/2005 05:28:33 PM · #4 |
Nice job, I left some comments hopefully they are helpful.
Chelsea |
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11/12/2005 05:53:46 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by faidoi:
Having a willing model should offer you many different composition choices. |
You can practice on me, Chris, but I'm not taking my clothes off.
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11/12/2005 11:18:57 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by pcody:
I've never done any senior pictures but I'd like to suggest that you use a more shallow dof. Just enough to get her face well focused. I like the one in the tree the best. Maybe select the background and blur it to give a better sense of depth to the picture and clone out the small branch over her bangs. Lighten her teeth a little.
Something like this.
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Nice work. I already removed part of the branch as it was in front of her face. This was more of a grab shot. From the distance i was at there was no shallow DOF work work with.
You know...pick a lens, any lens..well, ok pick a lens you have.
The second shot was with teh canon 50 1.8, the others a Tamron 24-135 3.5-5.6.
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11/12/2005 11:25:22 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by loseme:
Nice job, I left some comments hopefully they are helpful.
Chelsea |
I agree with your comments. Some shots, well, some of my shots always seem OOF. Since my equipment passes any 'test', it is me...poor me. I have 3 or 4 of the b&w pose, this is not the sharpest but has the best expression. I got only 1 shot of her away from the railing - a great shot but got camera shake ... sucks because it was really nice otherwise.
The early shots (none posted here) had VERY strong sun sidelighting or backlighting. Indoors i can make my flash sing any tune i wish..for fill flash today it liked it's own drummer. Next I will try a reflector, but then you almost need an assistant...perhaps I should stick to strictly overcast days!
This is the lighting effect i was after, but never even got close:
Yeah, that was outdoors on a rainy day, under a tree.
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11/12/2005 11:26:11 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by deapee:
Originally posted by faidoi:
Having a willing model should offer you many different composition choices. |
You can practice on me, Chris, but I'm not taking my clothes off. |
Lets do it - next sunny day. We can meet 1/2 way someplace. YOu can practice on me, me on you.
We both stay clothed, ok?
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11/12/2005 11:31:49 PM · #9 |
hrmm...I'd make you look gooooooooooooooooooood ;-)
I think we should find a model and practice on her...clothing optional :-D
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11/12/2005 11:41:42 PM · #10 |
Originally posted by deapee:
hrmm...I'd make you look gooooooooooooooooooood ;-)
I think we should find a model and practice on her...clothing optional :-D |
1/2 the problem is i am not used to directing/interacting with the person i am shooting. also, 98% of the time i know them (my kids, friends, etc). this model i met and was shooting in 5 minutes. Mom was there as was her little sister (15ish, lots of personality and a wanna be director). SOOO, the models attention was split, and hell, i was not in my element.
If my past experiences are any indicator, my next shoot will be 200% better. Gotta get the damn flash in the daylight thing figured out.
The options:
e-TTL mode: In all but M mode the cam uses evaluative mode for metering, so backlit will cause issues with the camera's EV assumption. P mode assumes the flash is hte only light. T and A assume the flash is fill...none of this worked as i know it should...so i tried M. In the past this works well - i set the exposure 1.5-2 stops under and the flash acts as fill. This worked sometimes.
A mode on the flash. This is great for weddings and eliminated eTTL's tendency to underexpose. This didn't work at all...either too little flash or WAY too much. Also, flash in no way can fix strong sidelighting. I need a reflector for that one.
See, next time wil be better - i won't repeat any of these mistakes!
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11/15/2005 03:36:10 AM · #11 |
I finally got thru editing the pics...only 3:30 am now....I should be in bead, but NOOOO, gotta show you all what keeps me up at night!
Any thoughts...I have another shoot scheduled for Wednesday, weather permitting with Sarah...a coworker that has been postponing for 2 months now! She's a tough customer, so i need 'edgy' ideas.
Here is Loren:
  
  
  
Yeah, i know her face in the last one is not great, too much squinting. Can that be fixed in PS? I am only 1/2 joking...i like the graphic nature of it.
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11/15/2005 06:51:40 AM · #12 |
Overall you have a good shoot here. I do feel some are a little flat looking due to your lighting but using curves you could boost the brightness and shadows some. I grabbed a couple and did a quick curves adjustment. On the color one is this as shot or did you crop it? If you cropped it you might not crop it so tight. Her arms are cropped off a little much or should be cropped all the way to only a head shot.
That's great you already have another shoot to do. You've learned a lot from this one and as you said the next one will be even better.
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11/15/2005 11:00:42 AM · #13 |
I'll see what I did, crop wise. I tried not to crop some in case she wanted 8x10s. I'll be putting the proofs in a mypublisher book so most were worked to a 1200x1800 size. I did curves on some to lighten, i may have missed the ones you did - the lighter versions do look better - thanks!
Yeah the lighting was a problem. I had high hopes...I hope tomorrow is exaclty like now! These wedding pics were shot on a rainy/cloudy day at 2 in the afternoon and in print look wonderful.
As much as i hate rain, and I do, I guess rainy days do serve a purpose. Thankfully (year right) Pittsbugh is not a very sunny place! LOL
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