"School of Portraiture" - Lesson 08 - Taking it to the next level ("The Reunion")

[wilgk]

Hi Kay,

Before I say anything, what do YOU think of the shot in terms of strengths and weaknesses?

Long time no reply due to end of term work & then we took a holiday...all of us together at the same time a miracle.
Anyway back to the business..
I don't like the necklace, I don't like the tiny bit of background top right corner... Fiddling with both of those didn't improve so I left them.
This was an excuse to use the pw's which I have been told to use every day until it becomes second nature as I had a few unexplained 'she no work' early on. Have had no probes with them since reading a tweet from pw on turning them on in a certain order and waiting between turning on each part of the equipment Inc cam and flash so hopefully have turned the corner there.
I like the lighting, flash to her left, window to her right maybe could lengthen exposure time to fill in the right side a bit more.
The background being some of the chair and some not is another distraction, interestingly every portrait now that I do it often seems the background is an issue which was lesson 1 hmmmm
Now the DOF I know I wanted it that shallow but does the viewer? The image has to tell then story without me here, so I guess it is like when using a tilt, you have to go the whole hog, or it could look like a mistake. here I knew both eyes weren't sharp, but will the viewer.
Having found all these faults I still wouldn't throw it in the bin, but that's being a Mum
Thanks again Colin for all these lessons and feedback over many months.

[speedneeder]

Dear Kay,
That photo of your daughter is AWESOME!

[Donald]

Long time no reply due to end of term work & then we took a holiday...all of us together at the same time a miracle.

As you know, this thread is way out of my comfort zone. But I'm jumping in just to say that it's great to see you posting again. Hope everything is going okay.

(signed) Your favourite Scotsman

[Mark von Kanel]

Hi all, ive just joined cic and have just read through this entire thread..... Excellent stuff thanks Colin, the time youve spent on this is phenomenal! Im currently an engineer on a mega yacht but i leave for home 13 of november and wondered if i might "take the class" once im home and settled.....I think the local camera club will be interested in participating too, im sure we will be assessing each other but would like the input from you old hats!! would you be up for it?

mark

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Hi all,

Just recently joined and new to photography as well but I'm interested in the people side of things - at least the candid shots. I haven't read the portrait lessons yet but it's definitely on my to do list. Thought I'd be brave and post a few shots to get some feedback on things I need to work on.

First one's of my wife and daughter I took at a fancy dress party.


The next one is of my daughter just before her dance recital - the only chance I got to take photos of her were at the school and finding a place without any harsh light was a challenge.


And the last one is of my (not so little) little brother.


Looking forward to getting some feedback.... or not!

[Ricco]

Malcolm, I am no expert by any stretch however will try to help out. The comment that I would make is to have a good look at your backgrounds - they are just as important as the fore ground in many cases. In the first and second images, could you have found something a bit different for your subjects to stand in front of? Even a plain background might have served your purpose. Also with the first image, you have used on camera flash resulting in some hot spots on the cheeks - do you have a separate flash that you could get off camera to create a bit more interesting light? The on camera flash will result in a flat image.

Hope this helps - have fun, I am learning from these posts as well.

[speedneeder]

Hi Malcolm, thank you for posting these photos.
After reading yours and Peter's posts, I am left with an interesting question which I have never tried to answer before.
What is the difference between a candid and a portrait photo?
As candids, I think your second and third photo are pretty decent. The first one looks like a straight on flash photo to me - was this taken with a built in flash or a flash mounted on you camera? This one, although the subjects are terrific, falls more into the snap shot category. Using a bounce type flash indoors can greatly improve your photography.
As far as portraits go, that's really not what you asked about. I will be interested to hear what others think.

[Dave Humphries]

What is the difference between a candid and a portrait photo?

I would suggest candid means unposed, although like you Brian, I can't remember giving it much thought before.

Therefore, by my criteria (which may be wrong), these are all portraits.

What do others think?

[Dave Humphries]

Looking forward to getting some feedback..

Hi Malcolm,

I agree with Peter, the backgrounds are the common problem with these.

You could easily deal with most of the background issues in #1 and #3 by carefully cloning over a few things to give a better result.

#2, with the post, flare and blown sky, is more of a challenge, unless you completely cut out your daughter and replace the background entirely, but that would lose context for you.

Cheers,

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Thanks for the feedback Peter - the background looks like a common theme. To be honest, these were spur of the moment shots. In the first shot it was the only part of the house where there wasn't someone walking around. The second shot was taken while my daughter was running around the school - difficult to keep them still when running around with her friends. The third one was an opportunity shot as well, I just saw the shot and took it.

With the first shot - I generally try and avoid using the flash because I don't have a separate one. I only got my camera two weeks ago and am saving up for a few things - a prime lens, a tripod and flash - although it looks like I might need to invest in a flash sooner rather than later.

Thanks for the feedback!

[Goldcoastgolfer]

The first one was posed, the second and third were on the fly - opportunity shots so I'd class them as more candid.

[Goldcoastgolfer]

Being a newbie I'm afraid I don't know that I have the software to clone over things... unless Lightroom does a reasonable job of that - I'll have to check.

Out of curiosity, is the background in the picture below any better (flaring in the bottom left aside)?

[Ricco]

Malcolm, I have kids also and can fully empathize with the bit about getting them to stand still. It is worse with boys.

I think the general rule is that the subject should be brighter than the background. Having said that the last shot for me is much better to work with. A couple of options for you in Lightroom - at the bottom of the develop pane there is the ability to use a vignette which will tone down some areas. As a second option, use a brush around your subject with a lower exposure - I find up to about 1 stop less works well and will not be overly obvious.

Good luck....

[allenlennon]

wow, i just finished reading all of the lessons. And i must say you did a great job, you managed to give us great lessons with out making it seem difficult for a bloke with my intellect to understand. (although i had to re read and concentrate to understand a few bits). Im not a professional photographer, but mainly a photography hobbiest. I mainly take my camera with me everywhere and take photos of what pleases me. And i still consider myself a novice. I wasnt really interested in taking portraiture photos, but after reading all of the lessons its making me want to try, but not for a career. I need to get a phew things, and a mate of mine, who is a self employed photographer showed me her equipment. She had started with DIY reflectors, softboxes, ect(the only thing that she had bought was an umbrella), than when she got the money she purchased proper ones from a camera store. And to tell the truth there is very little in difference with the quality of images between the DIY ones VS proper ones. it shows her craftsmanship. So after seeing that i am going to build my own equipment. good thing is if there is a fault in the item, i know where i can find the bastered who built it. The softboxes is easy and cheap to make, the most expansive part is the light. My friend used basicly work/floodlights for most of her studio & out door lighting(for out doors i had a good jumpstarter she could borrow that would power them for 2-3 days straight with out charghing but she had the solor charger to) and she made a softbox to go around the lights. And she had a stand with height and angle adjustments for them to.

So to recap im gonna try all this with diy equipment, as i seen that it has very little diffrence in the proper equipmeant. i apologise for this being long, when i start i cant stop. So ill stop it here.

Cheers

[Colin Southern]

Hi Allen,

Thanks for the kind words, and glad you found the series helpful.

Best thing I can suggest is just "jump in with both feet", and give it a go

[allenlennon]

Colin, i cant wait. I just got to make my softboxes and umbrellas and reflectors than im set to go, but unfortiantly i got alot of house work today, such as sanding walls and repainting a whole room, of the joys of being your own tradie.

[Colin Southern]

Colin, i cant wait. I just got to make my softboxes and umbrellas and reflectors than im set to go, but unfortiantly i got alot of house work today, such as sanding walls and repainting a whole room, of the joys of being your own tradie.

Hi Allen,

Plain old shoot-through umbrellas are a pretty painless place to start (assuming you have flash or 2 you can fire into them). That's pretty much all I'm using for my outdoor portraiture (well not quite, but in principle it's much the same).

[allenlennon]

Yeah I'll be making a couple of umbrellas to. But I also want softboxes to. Cause I would like to do indoor shoots to. I have a few friends who are interested in baby photos as well as themselves.

[Colin Southern]

Yeah I'll be making a couple of umbrellas to. But I also want softboxes to. Cause I would like to do indoor shoots to. I have a few friends who are interested in baby photos as well as themselves.

Hi Allen,

Just buy them ... they'll probably cost you less than an popcorn + drink combo at the movies!

[allenlennon]

Collin, i know they are pretty cheap to buy umbrellas, for like $15. But i love creating/building things that i personaly want/need/will use. And its evan cheaper since i got umbrellas laying around everywhere, and diffrent sizes too. But i see your point in buying the umbrellas where its not expansive.