Shot on a nikon d80 with 18-135 f3.5 lens, threw up a white sheet in our main room and did my first proper modeling shoot, or as close to as a newbie can get. I'm really no whiz with a camera, or photoshop, i just love taking photos. I begin first year photography at uni next month, at the moment i just go with what i feel when i have the camera in my hand, and then touch it up in photoshop with a limited knowledge of levels/colour balance i have from a film degree. So c&c welcome, but go easy, this is my first attempt at these sorts of photos. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10
Nice photos... but CC, not harsh in anyway ok! 2. - Looks like she's taking a dump, composition is not the best. 3. - Use some fill flash to light up her face, if you want the background not blown out. I really like 6
I like number 7 - The shape between their faces reminds me on one of those old optical illusions with the candlestick in the middle, and the two faces on either side.. I like the balance. and number 9 definately has potential You could look at doing a Lighting or Portraiture course, if you wanted to improve your skills a bit quicker
if you use a white sheet for the background blow it out so you dont see the creases, use fill flash when the subject is in shadows, if you are taking shots of a subject with clothing on make sure its ironed, in #4 did you focus on the hand? the eyes are not sharp, try shooting at around f8-11 when you are that close, you dont really need shallow dof when doing stuff like this, scrap the white sheet altogether, find a nice brick wall or a lounge to sit your subject, to start with get your exposure correct and not worry to much about posing, just ask the subject to keep relaxed, maybe look away then just as you take the shot get them to turn their head or look down then look up
thanks guys, a really good lesson you've taught me is using a fill flash to light a subject which has a bright background, i'll definitely put that to use next time
Good first effort mate, and a pleasant model as well.. Some work to be done with the lighting, but thats the fun of portrait photography.. probably the hardest kind there is ...
I actually think your composition is fine Lighting and processing need a lot of work, though. It looks as though you're just using natural/available light...? A lot of the time you can make good use of natural light without any need for artificial light, but I'm not sure how I'd 'teach' that to you. For example, #3 would've looked great if you swapped positions with the model (ie. you shoot her with your back to the window and her facing the window, so you get some nice, soft, front-on light).
#8 and #9 are the best! I think images are a little underexposed. And background needs to be blown out with a couple of flashes. Otherwise very good first try there! And i'm sorry for doing this and not having the skills to do it right, but it is all in the background
Im no photographer, but I know what I like.. Ilike 8 and 9. and I like your model.. AMG!! she is so beautiful.
thanks guys, and thanks from olga too, you made her blush, here's what i've got written down so far: 1. Use a flash on subject which is backlit to fix for bright background? 2. Overexpose to remove white sheet (how do i do this without blowing out the flash that'll b on her?) 3. Iron clothes before shoot (we saw it but weren't too fussed) 4. Better more specific focus on portraits (especially eyes) I didn't understand what somebody said about using f8 to f11, how does less light equal better/worse dof? In regards to natural light, i was shooting with flash, but saw how the golden light was coming in from the right windows really nicely, so threw the flash off and took a few snaps without it, i actually prefer naturally lit portraits. All photo's were levelled (this is something i've come to know about photography, you will have your own taste in regards to levels/saturation/colours....the possibilities are endless, some people might have liked me to pump more or less black, or white etc, some would like it more colourful, i find that i would rather cop criticism pp'ing my OWN photos to what I think is good rather than catering to a crowd, unless i was doing it for a client/job) i kinda like the desatured underexposed look, but will play around some more after the advice, thanks again everyone, i LOVE photography, and pretty women
You need to light background and subject separately. Have two flashes on the BG and one or more flashes for the model. If you only have one flash, then you need to get creative! For example, as stated before, move the model further away from the bg, set to max flash sync speed and go f8 or f11. This will kill the ambient light and give you black bg. set you flash close to the model and just enough power to expose her correctly. Another thing you can do is have two flashes pointing at the bg and have a reflector( anything in your household that would reflect light well) light the model from the bounced bg light. This way you will get a dreamy, soft kind of look and blown out bg. there was a tutorial linked from strobist site that explains what is possible with 3 flashes. and then there is the best thread of them all: lighting setups enjoy!
oh wow, thank you, this forum is UNREAL. edit: also i'm a bit lonely on model mayhem, can people friend me www.modelmayhem.com/timothywilliam
Good effort for a first time. Definitely need fill flash, and if you are worried about it being a bit stark then bounce the flash off the ceiling, umbrella or a large piece of matt-white card. Keep at it, you get better with practice.
I think #3 could use some work. I wouldnt shoot into the sun unless the subject was silhouetting it. By shooting into the sun, if you expose to the subject, the background and sun will become over exposed.
