NTP: Challenge VIII - Portraiture

[DAdeGroot]

My wife is heavily pregnant and i wanted to try some portraits and maternity shots as well as trying to use studio lights for the first time. So far the maternity shots haven't gone as well as hoped but this portrait was pretty good. What do you think?

Not a bad first effort. Couple of points, firstly the eyes are probably not open enough, and as such the pupils appear dark and the eyelids puffy. Possibly tilting her head down slightly, and shooting from a slightly higher angle, wide-eyed and doe-like would provide a better outcome.
Also the light on the right probably needs to be a little higher.

You may consider some post-processing techniques in the final image to reduce some of the lines and smooth the skin (not too much, just to add that extra glow that most women are more than happy to see in a photo of themselves).

Open to comments.

Ok, in this one, you have a few things you could have done differently (assuming a posed portrait rather than a candid).
Firstly, eye contact. The gent is glancing off camera to the left, but there's nothing in the photo to suggest why. In general, go for looking at the camera, unless you're doing a wider angle portrait and it's obvious what the model is looking at.
Shutter speed looks to be too low, as you have motion blur in the shot, leading to a lack of sharpness overall. If you're shooting in aperture priority mode, make sure your ISO is high enough to cater for the chosen aperture such that you maintain the 1/focal length shutter speed guideline.
You also have mixed light sources, daylight on the left, and incandescent on the right. This gives you two different colour casts on model, blueish on the left side of the face, yellowish on the right side. You could fix that in post, but it's not easy. Better to light everything with flashes or remove one of the light sources (close the curtain, or turn off the lights) and work with a reflector to bring back the light on the side you'd now be lacking in light from.
Finally, I'd consider a B&W version of this image. Old men with great facial features quite often benefit from B&W processing to really bring out the character.

[bigdazzler]

thought id throw this one in the mix .. an example of a nice posed yet relaxed natural light portrait. This ones got a bit of everything, a nice clean and simple background with just a little bit of detail in the timber, a leading line from the rail and nice contrasts between the background tones and the natural light on the models face .. I quite like this photo.

[Krzys]

How is this? I was testing out my cheap autofocus slr (Eos 3000N with 28-80mm f3.5) and came to like this picture...though her chin is chopped off as I over estimated the magnification of the viewfinder.



Sorry if the quality is a bit terrible, I don't have an amazing scanner.

[ricktas]

Good work Darren and Krzys

Darren, your subject is very central, I reckon a crop of the right side would really give it a compositional lift. Good focus on your subject, nice exposure and sharpness is good. His clothing suits the location well .

Krzys, great shot! Shows your subject off well, my only irk, is that I would have liked to see her whole chin in the shot. Nice eye contact but maybe her eyes are in shadow a bit to much and even something as simple as a piece of aluminium foil could have been used as a reflector to add some more light to her face. I like this shot a lot, well done

[Krzys]

even something as simple as a piece of aluminium foil could have been used as a reflector to add some more light to her face. I like this shot a lot, well done

This is a good Idea and thanks, however such aids are slightly unavailable when sitting in the park for lunch (I use glad-wrap thank you...)

[NikonNellie]

Ok - this is a genre I do need much more practice on. It's hard trying to find a willing subject though. The only PP I did was a slight levels adjustment, noise reduction and a unsharp mask. Oh..... and I clone out his runny nose!

[bigdazzler]

Good work Darren and Krzys

Darren, your subject is very central, I reckon a crop of the right side would really give it a compositional lift.

yea he is a little central Rick , i kinda cropped it like this to leave most of the railing in the shot ..

[Harley]

I don't do this style very often, but I really went to get into peoples work.


C&C would be fantastic.

[ricktas]

Narelle, looks like he was moving a fair bit. Children shots can be hard cause they are always on the go and often it is a matter of following them around and being prepared for the right moment. It also looks like you shot this looking down from above a little. Try and get to the same height as your subject.

Good effort and he looks like he doesnt mind the camera around him, very natural smile and expression. I reckon with some time, you could get a great shot of this young lad. I like how you have isolated him from all other things around him, making him the one thing in the photo to look at.

[ricktas]

Harley, nice mono conversion and the grain adds to this one I feel. I found my eyes being attracted to the statues/faces in the background a bit to much. I reckon a crop of the right side and the top would really force me to look at your subject without finding my eyes wandering off to look at the extra elements.

Good focus and depth of field

[GGR80]

This was the first day I had my camera a little over a week ago.

[ricktas]

interesting angle GGR80. I am not sure it works as the first thing i did was tilt my head over to view it. Be careful taking photos of your subjects when they are looking down, the effect can make them look non-interested (or non-interesting to the viewer).

I like the use of the fence to create a relatively plain background and it works, however the small amount of sky in the upper left makes us look up into that corner, away from the subject. So be careful and look around the viewfinder frame just before taking your shot and if there are things that distract or draw out attention away from the subject, recompose your shot before taking it.

This photo made me think she was playing a nintendo DS or similar (mobile phone maybe), so it worked on a level of making me think about what she was doing.

Eye contact with the lens is good. If you are not going to have eye contact, try and include what the subject is looking at, and incorporate it as part of the scene.

[NikonNellie]

Thanks Rick - yeah it was hard to capture this little one. He is a bundle of energy, more so when his Aunt and Uncle are visiting. Maybe I should try his twin brother - he's a bit more shy but even more photogenic.
I have just heard of two new pregnancies in the family so I will have a few more subjects to practice on in the near future. I think kids are much more interesting and challenging to photograph.

[GGR80]

Thanks for you comment and will certainly take all that you said into account for next time. We can only get better from all comments made.

Cheers Retta

[Krzys]

I think kids are much more interesting and challenging to photograph.

Try taking a portrait shot of a kitten!

[maccaroneski]

Here's one that I took last weekend that i really liked.

I have skipped a few challenges ahead, however had done the basics on my own over the last few weeks so won't bore you with those details



f5.6, 1/125, ISO 125 (was on auto ISO....)

[AndreaB]

I took this last week of a friends little boy. I tried editing gout all the food and dirt on him, but it just distorted the image, so i have left most of it, and it is just part of him.

[ricktas]

Hi andrea.

Looks like you caught him on the move. There is some motion blur evident in this photo, especially across his t-shirt. However, that is not a bad thing as kids are often always on the go, and the motion blur shows a true representation of that. But, here is a question, do you know what settings to do, to counter motion blur?

I also find the background here a bit distracting and I reckon if you could find a section of the yard with just shrubs or a fairly plain fence etc, and kept your subject a decent distance from that background, you would be on a winner.

I love the dirty face. Kids are supposed to have dirty faces and happy grins, so you have captured a great and natural moment here.

[AndreaB]

Thanks, Ummm to avoid the blur I would need to up the speed of my shutter I assume? It was a snapshot more then a posed picture, I was actually taking a pic of hom walking by, and he turned and smiled at me which was much better. Thanks for the input.

[ricktas]

Yep Andrea, you would need to increase the shutter speed, but just doing that alone will mean less light hitting the sensor and your photo would be quite dark, so you would need also to either use a larger aperture (smaller f number) or increase the ISO, to ensure a correct exposure.