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Takara, Sabrina, Tasha fall senior photos..

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Thanks Peano, I see what you mean.
I did a rework and recrop from the info several posters provided.
What do you think of this version?

I did some levels work cloned out the bar and darkened the back ground.

 
zoomn said:
Thanks Peano, I see what you mean.
I did a rework and recrop from the info several posters provided.
What do you think of this version?
Click to expand...
Given the darkness of her hair, I wouldn't darken the background so much as reduce contrast (and therefore saturation). I prefer the original crop, or maybe cropped to 8x10 as below. Cropping off the side of her head doesn't catch me quite right on this one.



--
~ Peano
http://www.radiantpics.com
 
No prob...you really do have potential, and you're on the right path.
zoomn said:
I really like the idea of the white board.
Do you think that would work better than a reflector? I have seen
people using the reflectors but the light looks so strong off them
and the subjects seem to be suffering under it.
Click to expand...
well, a white board (like a foamcore board) is a reflector, just a white one. Put a peice of aluminum foil on it, and it's a silver reflector. If you use a silver reflector off direct sunlight, it can be overpowering, producing squinting, but you can 1) move it farther back, or 2) change to white or whatever. But that's reflecting the ambient light, like the sun. If you're just shooting a flash into it to get the light coming in at a different angle, then it's just behaving like a white wall next to the subject. The whole idea is to get the light coming from a different direction than the camera.
zoomn said:
Yes I was very bummed the blond girl could not shoot later in the day.
She is very pretty and the midday light did not do her justice.
Click to expand...
Although I do try to shoot all my subjects late in the day, I don't think it would matter at all in the shots you've provided, because you weren't using the sunlight for anything other than the background, and that can be easily brightened or dimmed using the shutter speed / aperature. If the subject is in open shade, not being hit by the sun, it doesn't matter what time of day it is...it's all just varying intensity of background illumination. If you want it brighter, slow down your shutter and / or increase aperature size. If you want it darker back there, do the opposite. The light from the flash (using TTL) will be the same, because the flash knows what aperature you're using, and will put out the appropriate amount of light. The picture you took was lacking only because your main light was coming from the camera, nothing more; the background was properly exposed (good job on that, by the way). If you'd shot the light into a reflector instead of directly at her, it would look something like image #1, and would be very pleasing to the eye. You could then use a 2nd reflector as fill to bounce light back into the shadows, creating a low light ratio look.

Dave

--



'Now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb' - Dark Helmet

David Sammonds
LentoLux Photography
http://www.lentoluxphotography.com
Baton Rouge, LA
http://www.myspace.com/lentoluxphotography
 
Peano, good PP work...made an already good shot even better.

Zoomn, I don't too much like chopping off that beautiful hair either, but I'd crop it tighter than Peano did, just to get rid of those upper arms...make it a solid headshot. Here's my nitpicky very slightly different crop (4x6):



IMHO, this shot seriously rocks. I'm wishing I took it... It would easily make the website.

Dave
Peano said:
zoomn said:
Thanks Peano, I see what you mean.
I did a rework and recrop from the info several posters provided.
What do you think of this version?
Click to expand...
Given the darkness of her hair, I wouldn't darken the background so
much as reduce contrast (and therefore saturation). I prefer the
original crop, or maybe cropped to 8x10 as below. Cropping off the
side of her head doesn't catch me quite right on this one.



--
~ Peano
http://www.radiantpics.com
Click to expand...
--



'Now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb' - Dark Helmet

David Sammonds
LentoLux Photography
http://www.lentoluxphotography.com
Baton Rouge, LA
http://www.myspace.com/lentoluxphotography
 
1, 2, and 4 are fantastic; the others do have too much flash. But great job overall.
--
I got to get out and shoot more.
 
DaveTheGreat said:
Peano, good PP work...made an already good shot even better.

Zoomn, I don't too much like chopping off that beautiful hair either,
but I'd crop it tighter than Peano did, just to get rid of those
upper arms...make it a solid headshot. Here's my nitpicky very
slightly different crop (4x6):
Click to expand...
DaveTheGreat said:
IMHO, this shot seriously rocks. I'm wishing I took it... It would
easily make the website.
Click to expand...
Comparing the two crops from Dave and Peano, I have to lean on Dave's crop (I like tight crops) but I think it's more to do with Peano having darkened the arms too much? But it does draw you into her eyes effectively.

Thanks to both gents for sharing their vision and insights how to make a nice photo even better, and to the photographer for offering us an amazing photo to admire.
 
I agree in the final analysis the tight crop is my favorite.

As you said all you really need is her face. Takara is such a pretty girl and she is very sweet as well.
Thanks so much for all your input, especially Dave and Peano,
this has been a valuable learning experience for me.
 
I love those first two shots. I'd be grateful if you could answer some questions for me. What lens did you use? How did you get the lighting on the right side of their faces with on camera flash - was it the sunlight from the side or a reflector you used? And finally what distance did you shoot from?
Much appreciate your reply
Steve
 
70-200 f2.8 vr Nikon lens

I was about 15 feet away.

Sunlight was coming from the right which provided the main light and used a light fill flash to fill in the shadow side of her face.

She was sitting in full shade.

Thanks for taking a look.
 
Thanks for your reply. Like you I'm still trying to nail this tequnique. With the 70-200mm lens - I also use flash on camera as the fill and try to use sunlight as the main but often they don't look quite as good as I expect when I see them on the computer. Sometimes I go in closer with the 24-70mm and use the flash off camera as the main and ambient as the fill.

I prefer the look of the first method when it comes off but it's often a harder technique to get right.
 
You need to refine your posing. Straight "up and down vertical body" shots won't do it.

everyone else is giving you lighting critiques
 
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