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My first attempt at portraiture

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R. Slaughter said:
Might be my last with the UZi...til I get it fixed.
Click to expand...
The subject is certainly beautiful. However if I may make a tiny suggestion that you move the subject somewhat to the right, or crop the right side. Generally in portraiture, you want the subject more centered in the picture, and to have a natural frame around the subject. I find it a little distracting to have her hair not be completely in the picture on the left side, and the picture feels unbalanced with all of that empty space on the right.
 
Great picture. I'm getting ready to do some family portraits, and I hope they come out as nice.

I couldn't put my finger on it, but I think Michael is right. With her off center it looks like we're missing something. Also, I would like to see a shot with her looking off camera to provide more balance to the eyes, and some additional light on her right to soften (not remove) the shadow there.

Thanks for sharing, in looking at your pictures I've gotten a better idea of how I should look at the subject.

--
Randy C.
C-2100
San Antonio, TX
 
Great job. Portraits of our kids can be a challenge. My kids hate when I photograph them. Well back to the subject of portraits....

I think its fine not all of her hair is on this frame. Some of the best portraits are like that. Maybe have her eyes look softer & natural, not so turned to your direction. Another important tip is avoiding strong shadows as you see from her nose. Use the fill flash on your camera, even in the daylight. I notice a strong yellow tone on this image which can easlily be corrected in photoshop. If you want to know the steps I use let me know.

Also chin down slightly. Everyone when having their portrait done have a habit of putting their chin more upward.

This is a pic I took of my daughter. I have some much better ones, however tehy are not on pbase at this time. Yes, she has a pink tint from a little to much sun that day.



--
Barbara (pbase supporter)
C2100uzi
Canon D60
http://www.pbase.com/barbarabreits/galleries
You can rate & critique some of my photos at:
http://www.photosig.com/viewuser.php?id=19278

 
Good suggestions! I'm gonna keep at this til I get better. I'm very interested in critical comments. This particular pic is a crop, and I will re-crop and post to compare. The lighting was sunset and that proved to be somewhat difficult.

I thought that a reflector would've been good, but fill flash might have been overkill, I don't know, just trying to learn. keep up the suggestions!

Ricky

R. Slaughter
Vegetarian: Old Indian word for 'Bad Hunter'
C+54.772256^2Z

http://www.pbase.com/nufsed/galleries
 
R. Slaughter said:
Might be my last with the UZi...til I get it fixed.
Click to expand...
Richard,

I think the soft lighting and green muted background really complement her eyes and hair -- I like the sassy expression. The skin tone and definition in the hair are all really nice. I am bothered by the shadow of her nose, I think it needs to be lightened, maybe with an addition light or fill flash

Wish I could take a shot as well. Great job! -- LC

--
El-See ('cause LC and Leo were taken)
http://www.pbase.com/charette/
 
R. Slaughter said:
I thought that a reflector would've been good, but fill flash might
have been overkill, I don't know, just trying to learn. keep up the
suggestions!
Click to expand...
The UZI has a menu setting to adjust the amount of flash, so you could experiment with the fill flash if your subject will stand still that long (always a problem with daughters.)

--
Fritz (3 x C-21OO, B-3OO, FL-4O)
 
This is the shot before cropping



and this is another



I wasn't really setting these up as shots and the railing in the background creates a distraction. I had her move from there and we took some more 'purposeful' shots, but they were too 'posed' and that's my fault. I'm working on it...

I will be doing a lot more because I'm going to put together a bunch of them and she and her mother (and others), will decide if we still need to hire a pro to do her "senior pictures". I'm wanting to save a bunch of money, but not at the expense of her memories. We will do this ONLY if everyone is happy with the results. The good news is that we've got time to shoot hundreds of pics.
R. Slaughter said:
R. Slaughter
Vegetarian: Old Indian word for 'Bad Hunter'
C+54.772256^2Z

http://www.pbase.com/nufsed/galleries
Click to expand...
--
R. Slaughter
Vegetarian: Old Indian word for 'Bad Hunter'
C+54.772256^2Z

http://www.pbase.com/nufsed/galleries
 
You want expression? I'll let you imagine what's in her mind...



Ricky
El-See said:
R. Slaughter said:
Might be my last with the UZi...til I get it fixed.
Click to expand...
Richard,

I think the soft lighting and green muted background really
complement her eyes and hair -- I like the sassy expression. The
skin tone and definition in the hair are all really nice. I am
bothered by the shadow of her nose, I think it needs to be
lightened, maybe with an addition light or fill flash

Wish I could take a shot as well. Great job! -- LC

--
El-See ('cause LC and Leo were taken)
http://www.pbase.com/charette/
Click to expand...
--
R. Slaughter
Vegetarian: Old Indian word for 'Bad Hunter'
C+54.772256^2Z

http://www.pbase.com/nufsed/galleries
 
... like this a lot . She's got "the look" in her eye . The golden
cast works as well. Bummer on the UZI man ! Has your friend
had any problem with the one you got him ?

Later

3
 
He's had no trouble with his (Larry_D) but he sure is paranoid!. He's goig out of town tomorrow and he's going tomtake along his 4040 as back-up!

BTW: my Uzi fired back up this morning! More tests to follow.
3DTIM said:
... like this a lot . She's got "the look" in her eye . The golden
cast works as well. Bummer on the UZI man ! Has your friend
had any problem with the one you got him ?

Later

3
Click to expand...
--
R. Slaughter
Vegetarian: Old Indian word for 'Bad Hunter'
C+54.772256^2Z

http://www.pbase.com/nufsed/galleries
 
Here's a couple of tips that would improve this photograph:

The only major flaw here is the blatant shadow by the nose. Use either fill flash (which I think in this case would destroy the subtle angle of the original light source) , or better yet, use a reflector to bounce some light into the shadow areas.

Another tip, if you have photoshop, is to sharpen just the eyes slightly. It is importsnt that the eyes be in focus on a portrait, and this emphasizes that.

Altogether though, beautiful portrait.

Robert Mossack
R. Slaughter said:
Might be my last with the UZi...til I get it fixed.

Daughter No. 1



--
R. Slaughter
Vegetarian: Old Indian word for 'Bad Hunter'
C+54.772256^2Z

http://www.pbase.com/nufsed/galleries
Click to expand...
 
How did a ugly old goat like you get such a beautiful daughter?

UZI's don't lie - it must be so.

You're doin good, Ricky.

Don
Robert Mossack said:
The only major flaw here is the blatant shadow by the nose. Use
either fill flash (which I think in this case would destroy the
subtle angle of the original light source) , or better yet, use a
reflector to bounce some light into the shadow areas.

Another tip, if you have photoshop, is to sharpen just the eyes
slightly. It is importsnt that the eyes be in focus on a portrait,
and this emphasizes that.

Altogether though, beautiful portrait.

Robert Mossack
R. Slaughter said:
Might be my last with the UZi...til I get it fixed.

Daughter No. 1



--
R. Slaughter
Vegetarian: Old Indian word for 'Bad Hunter'
C+54.772256^2Z

http://www.pbase.com/nufsed/galleries
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
If you are doing this for her senior picture, I'd love to see her smiling. Just my opinion. I bet she has a beautiful smile.

As an example: Here's my senior picture from 1968.

(I hurried and took a snapshot of this picture with my UZI to post to this thread so it's not a great shot)



Debbie
 
Ricky,
You did a real nice job on this but look what you had to work with... ;> )

The only thing I would try to improve on is the shadow on her nose, perhaps with a reflector and/or different lighting...

She's a beautiful young lady...

Hope all goes well with your uzi...

Bob
 
ditto on what Bob said,beautiful young lady and overall a nice pic but the shadow is quite distracting
Bob S said:
Ricky,
You did a real nice job on this but look what you had to work
with... ;> )

The only thing I would try to improve on is the shadow on her nose,
perhaps with a reflector and/or different lighting...

She's a beautiful young lady...

Hope all goes well with your uzi...

Bob
Click to expand...
--
Bill C
http://www.photosig.com/myphotosig.php
c-2100,C-700
 
I totally agree about the shadow. Its funny that I didn't notice it when shooting, but it jumped out at me on the screen. One of those learning-curve issues. I took quite a few shots that day and will take many more til I get it right, I hope. Thanks for the compliments, I dare not let her see this thread! She's got the big-head already! As the pics progress, I'll be posting more. I think I need to try using daylight (and shade) rather than sunset and see how that goes. I'm gonna try some flash work as well.

Used the UZi at a wedding today (carefully staying out of the pro's way) some are OK. I became familiar, again, with the limitations of the built-in flash.

Ricky

R. Slaughter
Vegetarian: Old Indian word for 'Bad Hunter'
C+54.772256^2Z

http://www.pbase.com/nufsed/galleries
 
Damn good for a first attempt Rick - Keep it up!! . I've been trying my hand at this too - got a slave sensor which fits to the hotshoe of the Vivitar 283 and also gives it a tripod mount yesterday so I can use it more successfully as a hair light (it's got the varipower adapter on it)..

--
Olympus E10 +WCON, E100RS +B300, Nikon E950, E900, E300
 
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