Senior Pics

[Texas Dave]

xxxxx

[Geoff F]

For me, David, the highlights are a bit over the top in #2 and the background doesn't work. A good composition though.

#3 looks good although possibly a slight crop from the top; but that is probably an arguable case.

And the same with #4. The background is a bit bright but I don't really find it to be a problem.

[Texas Dave]

I was thinking the background in #3 was the least attractive, but mainly because of the darkness of the added vignetting.

I so want the background to work in #2. Is it the feet or just the overall darkness?

[deetheturk]

Hi Dave, I'm not a human portrait guy but these look good to me mate, well done!

[wilgk]

Hi Dave
Firstly great work, if I can offer a couple of suggestions.. in the first, I'm not sure the ring on the golf ball works too well, I thought it was a bug at first.
Some purists might say the bright area on her face is a problem, but for me sometimes, a bit of harder light can help to sculpt the face, maybe it would suit a boy rather than a girl.
The softer even light on her face on the second is great & you have done a terrific job of getting light under the cap.
I would maybe look at removing the sky from the background, as we want the brightest thing or the sharpest thing or both, to be our subject.
So ideally we want her face to be brighter than the background.
The third has lovely lighting of her face and a beautiful relaxed, natural smile, she looks terrific.
Again I would consider cropping some from the top, as we don't need all that room above her head. The tree is also jostling for position as the subject, this pose for me would look better if our subject was sharp & the tree was out of focus.
I hope these suggestions are helpful, as you have done a great job & these are all just different ideas to share.

[IzzieK]

I have nothing good to say about the backgrounds either. I am not an expert in portraiture either. I tried to look at just the faces and the poses in each. In #2 I didn't like that shoes in her head even if it is not located in her head. My favourite is #3. She really looks good in that pose. If you put her either on the left or right of the frame, then you can really say it is meant to be a Golf Digest cover...the space will be for whatever text you want to put in it...And the last one, I never like those things in the teeth in images. Compared to the quiet smiles on the other two, showing her teeth doesn't really work for me. It matches her clothes though...She is a beautiful lady...and you are lucky to have a beer or two for your work there as gratis...money is better though ...

[Shadowman]

Good control of the shadows. Skin tones look a bit on the cold side considering the lighting conditions.

[bnnrcn]

The feet looks a bit distracting in #2 but those are very nice images David I would crop the leaves at the top in #4 .

[Texas Dave]

I so very appreciate the input folks. I've never thought about the subject being the brightest thing in the frame. Mental note taken.

Kay, as far as #3, I'm not 100% sure yet what I'm going to do yet but it sounds like the client, (friend), is going to want a Golf Digest mock cover. I have allot more canvas in that frame and will wait and see what I need first. The lighting was from a diffused flash gun to the right of the frame and a snooted flash gun pointed at her senior ring. I'll subdue the sky depending on the color of the headline for the mocked magazine title.

I'll look at the crops again, for some reason I really struggle with crops but I do see what you guys are talking about now in #4.

I honestly lost focus on her feet as I was watching the shadows under her chin and face. This frame was the least conspicuous of the feet.

Let me work on that ring too.

Thank you all and this really helps!

[Loose Canon]

Dave you might give a thought to end-use prints and/or school publications (yearbook, etc.) when considering your crops. A lot of times the schools have certain criteria they like followed and I would be surprised if the Client didn't want prints.

[DEAN01]

David,
All are nicely done. For number two shooting from slightly from the right or left of center to keep the feet from being directly inline with her head would make a better composition IMO. I like number three even if the shadows are a little dark, gives a nice sculpting to her face. Number four is very nice. From the old days when we shot black and white film for publication, the background was supposed to be 1/2 stop less exposure than the subject and gave a very nice separation between background and subject. Requires manual settings or fooling the smart flashes we use today.

[klpurkett]

Nice job, David. I'm only just beginning to learn about portraits myself, so the advice you've received has been helpful to me, too. Thanks for sharing.

[Manfred M]

Dave - a few thoughts on your work. You are definitely getting into the small flash stuff in a big way. I'm going to get into some really detailed stuff here.

1. First of all, to continue the thought that Dean started with; generally with these types of outdoor shots the rule of thumb is along what Dean has suggested and that is to underexpose the background between 1/2 to two stops. Less than 1/2, then you get too much competition from the background and after 2 stops, the background starts to get too dark. Meter for the background for proper exposure and then dial in the appropriate exposure compensation. Then use your fill flash to exposre the model correctly. I'd either shoot on manual or set the flash to TTL B mode. TTL B is "balanced mode" where the flash is primarily used as a fill light.

The darker the background, the moodier the shot.

2. If you want to do these kinds of photos in a serious way, I suggest that you look at a much larger light modifier; an umbrella or perhaps even a softbox for Speedlights (Lastolite makes some; I'm having a hard look at the 24" x 24" one), plus the light stand with assistant. The softbox is better for outdoor use (umbrellas and wind are often not a great combination). I use radio triggers, so am not sure how well optical slaves will work for you. I tend to start these shots with the 45 / 45 "rule"; light at 45 degrees to the subject and pointing down at a 45 degree angle.

That Rogue modifier you show is quite small and I find the large one that I have is really marginal for outdoor work. Your light source is still too small.

3. In general, I find your flash is too "hot" in all three images. Based on the catchlights, I suspect you might be a bit too low on light position. You definitely need a low fill light on #3, because of the baseball cap.

4. I'm not quite sure if you need the extra light. Pretty well the only time I use a hair light or rim light / kicker is in studio work to separate the subject from the background. If these are examples where you are thinking of using it, I don't think you need it. The separation of subject and background looks fine. Most of my umbrella shots are single light with a reflector.

5. Background - as was mentioned before; get a good background before you shoot and then place the subject in that background. None of these work for me. The bright spots in the background pull the viewef's eyes away from the subject.

6. Camera angle - I like where you are shooting from. Good definition of the chin line.

Comments on the shots: I can't see any metadata on these shots, so I am making some educated guesses here.

Shot 2 - I don't like the hot spot on the camera left side of the face. Lighting is flat.

Shot 3 - Light too hot and arm position means that these are closer to your light and are overexposed (that's the inverse square law at work for you). A bigger light source further back or arms positioned differently would. The tree is not your friend here; the camera left arm has a green colour cast, courtesy of the light reflecting off the green leaves. Crop does not work for me either. Here is one view that does a bit of a crop, cloning out the light parts of the background and burning in a bit more detail into the face and arms. Vingette reduces the brightness of the background a bit too.






Shot 4 - You are starting to get some interesting shadows in the face. The background is much too light for my taste and I'd crop more of the tree and top of the image.