my first 'portrait'....please comment

09/04/2006 08:43:57 AM · #1

This is my first attempt at a portrait. Or better yet, it is the first picture taken in front of my newly constructed backdrop stand made from these instructions

Actually made Tacy sit in front of it to 'see' what it would look like.

She is sitting about 2' from the backdrop. I have one small (desklight) pointing from the left shining between her and the backdrop. And used my new SB-600 bounced off the ceiling. Used Photo Elements to crop and Auto Contrast.

Other than obvious attention to detail (like her necklace chain, etc.) Please let me know if the backdrop is a good color. Where I should have placed lights etc. (I have no formal photography lights)

Thank you....and you can be brutally honest. I appreciate the lesson.

note: backdrop stand cost: $18.00...backdrop is 54"x4yd cloth from Joann Fabrics $9.00
Not bad, eh?

09/04/2006 09:17:47 AM · #2

thank you for the comment bood!

09/04/2006 09:42:31 AM · #3

Laurie...THANK YOU ....very helpful
As requested..here are the others. Again I stress that this was an unintentional portrait session. Only cropped (except the group shot I tried to blend the edge where I did not position them correctly and caught the edge of the cloth.

Also as noted in your comments, attention to detail was not paid attention to :-{

Message edited by author 2006-09-04 09:43:14.

10/02/2006 09:51:25 AM · #4

Ok....different kinda opinion request. This was my 'real' first shoot. I took the girls school pictures.

These are straight out of the camera..no post processing done yet. except save for web.

Question 1)
other than the very obvious things that need fixing (wrinkles showing in backdrop, need to crop out the stand, etc, and general post processing) What would you suggest I do different? I have the girls about 4.5' from the backdrop. I used continuous light with 2 white 32" umbrellas (one positioned from the front/and models left side, one from the back/side and models right side)...and bounced flash from the ceiling.

Question 2)
Based on the 'quality' of these photos.....or the potential quality....what would you charge for a photo package? In this case I am only charging what it will cost to print at MPix.

Thanks for taking the time to assist me. You can be brutal, I can take it...

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

10/02/2006 10:31:10 AM · #5

are they THAT bad????
:-(

glad2badad

Apple iPhone 16 Pro

Lensbaby Sweet 35 Optic

10/02/2006 10:39:28 AM · #6

Of the 4 you just posted I like this one the best for lighting.

The others don't seem quite bright enough. Was she positioned differently than the others?

Could be this cruddy work monitor...

Nice work overall however. I need to venture down this path eventually. Thanks for sharing.

LeeD

Canon EOS-30D

10/02/2006 10:45:57 AM · #7

Originally posted by dassilem:

are they THAT bad????
:-(

No, they are not bad at all. I'm not one to critique portraits since I am just starting to get into them myself, but here are a few nitpicks that jumped out.

Image 1 (left to right)
She seems a little tilted and the top of her head is too close to the top of the frame, but that can easily be adjusted in post processing.

Image 2
Subject is too far down and left in the frame. This is another easy correction in post processing by cropping in for a tight headshot.

Image 3
Her arms are cut off and kind of trail into nothingness. The pose is not bad, but it could be framed a little better.

Image 4
Nice pose and good group shot. You can see your background support on the right of the frame, it's going to take some careful cloning to fix that. It's best if you can avoid that by careful framing when you take the shot.

Overall it's a great group of shots, the lighting is a little flat for my taste, but you can play with levels and curves to help with that. The only thing that I absolutely do not like is the background. It works OK in your first example, but for the rest of the shots, I really really do not like it. Of course, that's just my personal taste, take it for what it's worth.

10/02/2006 10:46:49 AM · #8

thank you..
now that you mention it...I think that shot I was closer to her. most of the shots I had the camera on a tripod and I think I took it off and got closer.

maybe that is my lesson to be learned here.

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

10/02/2006 10:54:32 AM · #9

Also Thank you Palmetto,
Very helpful hints....I hadn't taken into consideration #3's arms trailing to no where... #1's crop was a quick crop to upload to DPC...so that has lots of head room... point taken on #3, although I didnt' notice it in that way.

#4 I totally messed up....but liked the pose and thought I may be able to fix.

On many of my photos I am told that the lighting is soft or flat. Can someone tell me what to do to correct that? I was using the cameras preset 'modes' as I am not totally comfortable with manual settings yet. so are the presets not good? do I need better lighting?

eschelar

Canon EOS-7D

10/02/2006 10:56:34 AM · #10

left some specific comments. might be time to invest in the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8?

Better than the Canon variant I believe and it would DEFINITELY help with sharpness and to a lesser degree possibly also DOF - depending on how big your studio is and how much room you have to move the background/subject...

I'd still keep it stopped down to around f/4, you want the whole person in focus, but what you will notice is that the 50mm prime will be insanely sharp at f/4 where the current lens seems to be struggling somewhat...

Afterwards, you can use Neat Image or a filter or something to soften, but it's hard to get sharper when you want it...

It can realy make a difference if you want to get creative and soften the face, but keep the hair nice and sharp. If the hair was never sharp...

Not too sure what your post processing is though.

LeeD

Canon EOS-30D

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

10/02/2006 10:58:10 AM · #11

Have you read

idnic's thread on portrait photography? It's got some great information in it (lighting, etc). I've been following it as I've had time. Thanks to her, I've ordered some nice shiny new AlienBees. I'll be diving head first into portrait photography as soon as they come in.

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

10/02/2006 11:03:27 AM · #12

eschelar...thanks for the detail help. good advice on the lens too.
I will play with some post processing tonight.

I truley appreciate the advice from everyone.

somehow I missed idnic's thread.....looks like I have lots of reading to do tonight!!!

Thanks everyone!!!!

eschelar

Canon EOS-7D

10/02/2006 11:19:19 AM · #13

No problem. added some more too. I wouldn't worry too much about charging whatever rates on the first few jobs to be honest, but remember that it's 'just because I'm still waiting on some of my equipment to arrive'... or something...

In my view, it's better to get good word of mouth as being a nice guy just in case they don't like the pics.

I got zero feedback from my kid castle jobs so I have no idea how they liked the pics. If they didn't, I'd like to think that they'd have me back again because I was honest and fair. That way if I need a meal ticket, I can do it. If I don't need the money, I can still pass the work on to someone else or provide updated rates... with my new 'equipment' of course. :)

A couple of material suggestions. Maybe pick up a fan and a few extra light bulbs/lamps. That one girl with the straight hair sure could have done with a bit of something to liven her up... Sometimes a great effect can be had by placing a single temperature matched light bulb directly behind the person. give it a whirl!

Might be worthwhile to create a smaller softbox too... Shouldn't be tooooo hard to make one out of a few clothes hangars and maybe a bit of extra dowelling or whatever is light and a bit of spare white fabric. Make sure it's WHITE though...

Message edited by author 2006-10-02 11:21:20.

dwterry

Canon EOS-1D Mark III

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

10/02/2006 11:23:21 AM · #14

If you zoom in on Tracy's eyes, you can see that there were 3 light sources (because there are 3 catch lights in her eyes).

I'd suggest sticking with just two. If you use a 3rd light, have it be a hair light or a background light, but don't shine it on the front of them.

Now, to position the first two lights... Have one of them at about the 10:00 or 2:00 position and at about 45 degrees from the subject. This is your main light. It creates the shadows on the subject which gives her a 3 dimensional look.

The second light should be back by the camera and should either be a lower power light, or further away from the subject than the first light. This is your fill light. It softly fills in the shadows created by the first light, without eliminating them. (so for a moodier portrait, you would turn down the fill light or possibly even eliminate it)

I'd also keep the girls a little further away from the background or, as you said, get closer to them. Getting closer will reduce the DoF and help blur the background. Getting them further away will do that too - plus, it will darken the background because more light will be on them than the background. (remember: light diminishes with the square of the distance)

10/02/2006 11:50:11 AM · #15

thanks dwterry....I did have 3 lights... 2 lights (one it sounds like it may have been properly placed...but the other was not)
and my sb600 bounce off the ceiling.

10/06/2006 10:19:37 AM · #16

Originally posted by eschelar:

Is this the 'typical' lens used for portraits? I see the 50mm mentioned frequently....As I add to my equipment slowly, I don't want to put the expense into something I would use occasionally. I want to venture into portraits (alittle bit) and I tend to try really close-ups (which I have macro filters that I use on my 28-80 right now.)

Also, what wattage of bulb is best for my continuous lights..I cannot find the marking on the bulbs that I got so I emailed the ebay seller. He informs me that they are 30W. but I don't know if that is the put-out or the energy used.....but anyways....what is the ideal bulb wattage?

Thanks

Message edited by author 2006-10-06 10:25:24.

12/15/2006 09:27:36 AM · #17

Ok....have I gotten any better? I'm happy with these, and the client (my cousin) purchased 13 different poses so I guess its safe to say she is happy..... But please share some feedback!

edit: I think resizing the closeup distorted the picture...it looks far better in print.

Message edited by author 2006-12-15 09:29:37.

12/15/2006 09:50:40 AM · #18

thank you for all the comments!

Message edited by author 2006-12-15 11:09:20.