My First Experiments with Portrait Photography
Discussion
Thought i'd share some photos I took yesterday. I've only got into photogrpahy a few months ago, after purchasing a D40. I've always been bad at taking photos of people, so I wanted to try and improve.
I managed to borrow a set of dedo lights, some back cloth to form a simple clean backdrop, and my girlfriend agreed to be a very patient model!
And here are the results:
The best ones seemed to be the simplist- 1 light, with a gobo on the front to give the soft blind type shadows.
I also tryed a little bit of light painting, but i'll eperiment more with that some other time:
Feedback most welcome (but dont be too critical! i'm only a beginner)
Hope you like :-)
I'm no portrait photographer, but I've learnt that the most important thing to get right is that the eyes have to be perfectly in focus (as that's where we all look... well most of the time!). Certainly in your top photo the camera is focussed on her back / arm (which are crisp and in focus) but the eyes are not. I've never used a D40 but if you have the facility to determine which bit of the frame needs to be in focus (rather than the centre of the picture), then that's what I think you should be doing. (Plus a faster shutter speed to freeze the models movement pehaps?)
The pic below is an example (forgive the slightly differnt bird). The focus point was centre right of screen, plus the beak isn't sharp but IMHO it doesn't matter as the eyes are!
Good job though
Number 6 is by far the best for me.
The pic below is an example (forgive the slightly differnt bird). The focus point was centre right of screen, plus the beak isn't sharp but IMHO it doesn't matter as the eyes are!
Good job though
Number 6 is by far the best for me.Edited by GetCarter on Sunday 18th November 18:21
General comments though are that the subject is way toot close to the background. The main light is lighting the background a much as the subject resulting in shadows from the creases on the cloth. Remember inverse square law for fall off of light.
The light source needs diffusing some how as there are shadows across the subjects face.
Focusing is poor. Bin it if its out of focus. Must be on the eyes.
Posing unusual. Try to stick to simple poses and use these simple poses to understand the lighting and what moving the lights will do to the image.
I like the pose in number 6.
I have been messing about with portrait photography for 3 years on a part time commercial basis and still learn something on every shot. Read around the subject. Practice, practice and practice some more starting with a single light and reflector. The results you can get with just these are amazing. Use natural daylight and spend time trying to "see the light". Oh and enjoy it.
The light source needs diffusing some how as there are shadows across the subjects face.
Focusing is poor. Bin it if its out of focus. Must be on the eyes.
Posing unusual. Try to stick to simple poses and use these simple poses to understand the lighting and what moving the lights will do to the image.
I like the pose in number 6.
I have been messing about with portrait photography for 3 years on a part time commercial basis and still learn something on every shot. Read around the subject. Practice, practice and practice some more starting with a single light and reflector. The results you can get with just these are amazing. Use natural daylight and spend time trying to "see the light". Oh and enjoy it.
as others have said, the main criticism would be focus etc. Portraits and Photoshop are not something I'm exactly great at (that's not to suggest I am at any aspect of photography either! 
but hope you don't mind but I thought No.6 would look better in B&W. Issue with the eyes looking up but otherwise if I were you, I'd be quite please with that one (or, perhaps your girlfriend should be). Only problem is that, to me, she looks bored!
but hope you don't mind but I thought No.6 would look better in B&W. Issue with the eyes looking up but otherwise if I were you, I'd be quite please with that one (or, perhaps your girlfriend should be). Only problem is that, to me, she looks bored!Edited by cirks on Sunday 18th November 20:30
Gassing Station | Photography & Video | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff