First Photo

[Brell]

This is my first photo here on this site. Please give me some comment so I can improve myself.

[rpcrowe]

Gorgeous lady! I would try to do away with some of the stray hairs and I would also like to see a bit more definition for her lips...

[Donald]

Hello and welcome, from me, to the forum.

So that you don't continue to get people asking you what your proper name is, because most us use that on here, you can go to Edit Profile (under 'Forum Actions' on the Menu Bar), or you can just press on 'Settings' on the menu bar right up at the top right of the window. Once there you can enter the name by which you wish to be addressed under 'Real Name'. Then it will appear underneath your Username in all your posts.

Your picture - Can you tell us how this was lit? That might help people give you constructive feedback. Did you use artificial light, or is it natural daylight? If the latter, what time of day was it shot at?

[Brell]

The photo is taken in the morning, with natural daylight. It was windy that day so I had no influence about the hair.
I used the 50 mm stm at f1.8.

[ionian]

Great portrait and a beautiful black and white conversion. I agree with Richard - you could deal with those stray hairs with some post processing and it would be worth the effort.

For natural light you've got a good light profile and stunning eyes. One to be proud of.

Welcome to CiC!

[Shadowman]

Nice effort, normally I like an odd crop but with this one it looks too forced.

[thetraveler]

I think that the light is too harsh in this conversion and the portrait ends up looking too contrasty to me.
Note how the right side of her face is essentially atonal with little or no detail because the light has blasted out all the microtexture in her skin.
This might be correctable in the color original but not after conversion.
There's no need to shoot at 1.8; the DOF is so narrow at 1.8 that too little of her face is in focus and that's not the sweet spot of the lens.

Sorry,
Nice face, lots of potential.
Backup a bit, shoot at 5.6, maybe with a diffuser to cut down on the harshness and you're good.

Lew

[IzzieK]

Welcome to CiC -- I am not a portrait photographer but like others, I dabble in it every now and then given the chance. Nice try for a first, just needs a bit of tidying up...what software do you use for editing? Just curious...

[Donald]

My views are similar to those of Lew.

You have a very beautiful model on whom to practice your portraiture skills. I think this image provides a number of opportunities to think about how you can improve further.

I do think it is, overall, too bright. The lady's face is very bright. The background is very bright. Also, the light is going straight onto the lady's face. There is no shadow, or modelling, to give definition and shape and more of a 3D effect to her face. It is very flat.

Perhaps more thought needed to be given to the location of the shoot, the background and the direction of the light.

You said that you had no control over her hair because of the wind. Well, the element of control you had was not to take the photograph when you did and instead wait for better conditions. When we have the opportunity to take a photograph it is difficult for us to resist doing so. But as we get more experience and knowledge, we learn that one of the skills re3quired in making great images, is knowing when NOT to press the shutter. Sometimes we have just have to say, 'This is not going to be good' and walk away from the opportunity. Training ourselves to do that can be quite difficult.

So, I think this is a very good first picture to post onto the forum. You have requested comment and critique and that is good, because this is one of the most important and effective ways in which we will learn. Always, of course, the final decisions are yours. But if you can request comments and then are able to assess them and consider which ones will be useful to your learning, then your photography will improve.

I look forward to seeing more portraits of this woman.

[thetraveler]

You said that you had no control over her hair because of the wind. Well, the element of control you had was not to take the photograph when you did and instead wait for better conditions. When we have the opportunity to take a photograph it is difficult for us to resist doing so.

But as we get more experience and knowledge, we learn that one of the skills re3quired in making great images, is knowing when NOT to press the shutter. Sometimes we have just have to say, 'This is not going to be good' and walk away from the opportunity. Training ourselves to do that can be quite difficult.

But if you can request comments and then are able to assess them and consider which ones will be useful to your learning, then your photography will improve.

Holy Smokes, yes to what Donald said.

All this learning of 'stuff' serves to put you in control of the entire process from picking the time through final edit.
Eventually you will be able to see through the 'now' of a situation, understand how or if you can manage it and then know it will or won't work.
Novices get all wrapped up in having enough of the right equipment, thinking equipment is the key.
The real keys to creation are knowledge and experience and skills.

You have a decent to good start and a good attitude and all the honest critique here can only help.

Lew

[Brell]

Thank you all for the comments. I'm still learning to master the light, I toke a greycard but still it is hard to se what is the best. And still learnig the settings of my camera. I keep trying. Thanks!!

[thetraveler]

Don't worry.
Everything will come with time and work.

L

[Donald]

Thank you all for the comments. I'm still learning to master the light, I toke a greycard but still it is hard to se what is the best. And still learnig the settings of my camera. I keep trying. Thanks!!

And this is the correct attitude to have in order to learn.

I think (and continue to think) that learning is the most exciting part of anything. You are demonstrating that you are willing to experiment and to learn from what works and also from does not work. The other great strength you8 have is that you ask for and can absorb constructive criticism. So many people who ask for criticism do not really want it. They just want to be told that their picture is good. They will never learn and improve.

So, well done, Arnold. Keep pushing at the boundaries of you knowledge and skill. You will start to see imporvements.

[Manfred M]

A grey card is more important when shooting in colour as it is a great help in getting the white balance set properly, but has much less importance in B&W work,as there really is no white balance to worry about.

What is important in portraiture is the use of shadows to define facial features, so flat lighting, like what you were shooting in tend to give rather uninteresting portraits. This is of course why many of the most iconic portraits are done in the studio or use studio lighting for outdoor shots. The photographer uses the shadows to sculpt the subject's face.

[Shanghai Steve]

Hi there. I think there is little doubt that most non-specialists would be very happy with this shot. One forum member pointed out very subtle overexposure, something most camera metering systems would struggle with. It might be a little early to ask you to check your histogram with every shot and I'm not sure I would have noticed either. Whether this is more important than a natural smile is debatable, but it is a fact that the ideal exposure would have been 1/3 e.v. lower. Personally, I'd prefer more depth of field (f/4 or more) and a looser composition. As Donald has said, a photographer controls the things he can, works around those he can't and simply stops shooting if necessary. There is nothing wrong with asking your subject to move position or background. If this wind was a problem, you could have asked your subject to use a hairband or use her hands as a hairband to frame her face, although then she'd have been better to turn her head to avoid elbows.
But most importantly, this is a fundamentally good shot you can be happy with. I've seen far worse output from people with full frame cameras and fancy lenses, speedlights, umbrella shades and hired models who've spent hours coming up with stilted, artificial photographs.

[Brell]

Welcome to CiC -- I am not a portrait photographer but like others, I dabble in it every now and then given the chance. Nice try for a first, just needs a bit of tidying up...what software do you use for editing? Just curious...

Lightroom.

[Brell]

I don't not much about the histogram, I will look in to it. Also I will post a color Photo of this model so again you can give advies where to take care of. Sorry for my Englisch but I se at the repley that you all understand me

[Donald]

I don't not much about the histogram, I will look in to it. Also I will post a color Photo of this model so again you can give advies where to take care of. Sorry for my Englisch but I se at the repley that you all understand me

You're written English is very good.

[Brell]

Tanks Donald