Trying my hand at portraiture

[lentil]

I have been attempting portraiture.. How am i going do you think?
I only have 1 halogen light and a large side window. I have ordered a flash, hopefully it will be here shortly.

[Alpha_7]

Hi Lentil,

Umina is a lovely place (I have relatives in the caravan park), so I'm sure will see some great landscapes/seascape from you (if that's your thing). But on the topic at hand, I'll be honest so please take the comments in that light.

#1 Doesn't work for me, the backdrop is ok, but the lighting doesn't do much for me and the hair and lack of eye contact in this shot I find very distracting.. it also looks a little soft to me.. which can be good at times such as 'glamour shots' which is I think what you were aiming at here

#2 I really like this one, the black backdrop provides a good seperation of subject from background, the lighting also helps alot here, as black on black can sometimes give the disembodied head effect (which you've avoided well). I like the pose and the eye contact in this shot, and the lighting is good, if a tad too hot on the the gentlemans left (right when vieiwing the shot).

#3 I like this one, but I think theres room to work on this idea and improve it. The hat looks a little hot in places, and the crop could be a little looser.

I look forward to seeing more of your work, for me #2 is the standout here, but the other two show plenty of potential.

[avkomp]

I quite like the effect that you were going for in 1 however I dont think
you have achieved it in this case.
I think you have the subject too close to the background and therefore have shadows.
the hair over the eyes spoils it too. I think eye contact would have been preferable.

this diffused soft effect is often used in those glamour portraits.

Steve

[Mal]

lentil, I think that you have made a great start. I agree with the others about picture number 1. Number 2 works well and I am still not sure about number 3.
I would also suggest that if you are going to keep doing portraiture photos that you invest in some refelectors. You can just use cheap ones (car windscreen sunsheilds) or buy a set. I recently got some small one from ebay for $40. Very handy.
If you want to find out more just do a search, there was some discussion on this topic just before Christmas

[sirhc55]

Lentil - #1 is a standout pic - the softness adds to the allure and the showing of one eye with clarity is excellent. My only critique would be the shadow - in future have the model further away or do some cloning.

#2 - this is a nice portrait but the lack of precise exposure has left two areas on each side of the face lacking definition.

#3 would be a hard shot to expose. The large white area of the hat coupled with the face in shadow. This is where a reflector would really come in useful.

[lentil]

thank you everyone for your input.

On the first one, i agree with everyone totally. She is too close to the wall. I kinda like the look she is giving. I was fooling around with gaussian blur to see if i like it or not. Maybe i did a little too much.

On the second one, this was my first paid shoot. I told him about the equipment i had and he still wanted to go ahead. The hot spot on his head bothers me too. I wasnt sure how to get rid of it in PS. Over all he was very happy with the photos.. phew!

On the third on I was going for an artsy pose. She is my 3 yr old niece and very hard to keep still. I just took a photo of her one day and this is how it ended up, there was no planning in this one.

Thanks again everyone