Results of my first portrait shoot!

[Karebear98]

Ok guys and gals, I am sure some of you saw my previous post on help with my first portrait shoot and now the results are in. I took some great tips and advice and ended up buying the 50 mm f 1.8 lens a few days before the shoot and a reflector kit. I have edited the pics so far for basic color/contrast/exposure and a few blemishes and these pics are the result. I have yet to do any special effects and would LOVE honest feedback. Please let me know anything that comes to mind...strengths/weaknesses or whatever you have to tell me. I have a few more good ones to edit but these are probably the best I have.

Thank you,

Kara

[tukaniray]

Pretty good start and nice pick up on the 50mm.

1 - seems they are bored. A bit of a boring candid.
2 - I like the emotion. I think you cropped it a bit to much.
3, 4, 5 and 6 - Nice shots
7 and 8 - bit to much of a crop. Her bundle of joy is a big part of the shoot also, can't cut that off.
Rest of the shots are real nice.

Again, be careful with your cropping. If they are pointing out her belly, don't cut it out. Watch your composition. And I would work on the color and levels some more. I feel some of the shots are underexposed while others are a bit flat.

But not a bad job for your first.

-Ray-

[David Whatley]

In the first one, I wasnt sure they even knew one another, always have couples "close" unless there is a reason not to.
The background is too busy and watch for things comming out of the head. What Fstop did you shoot at? Either they needed to be farther from the BG, or you need to have opened up the Fstop more.
The colors look good and they look like a happy couple.

[Karebear98]

Great feedback so far guys, I really appreciate it. As far as the F-Stop...when I tried to open it up to 1.8 or even 2.8 sometimes, the camera refused to allow me to set the proper shutter speed...wouldn't go below 1/200th and then I wasn't able to set the shot up for the composition I wanted. Is this because of the 50 mm length of the lens? I wasn't getting as much of a background blur as I would have liked. In the first pic, I snapped it while they weren't paying attention and I was getting my shots ready, I thought it looked cool/urban/editorialized/mag shot but it probably would have worked better for a couple who I wasn't taking pregnancy pics for. You are right about the cropping while shooting...I think it's because of the 50mm focal length?? I might have done better with an 85 mm??? What do you guys think? Also, one of my friends who is a portrait photographer suggested using a lamp/umbrella set up next time due to arm shadows? Is this a good idea for next time?

[tukaniray]

Its a different light setup. Bringing in your own lighting you will be able to control the look a bit more and yes control the shadows a bit.

Were you shooting in Manual mode or Aperture Priority (Since you said you couldn't control the Shutter)?

When opening your Aperture in the sun, I recommend a fast shutter speed and a low ISO.

-Ray-

[zebulus]

Well, my major complaint is about sharpness. Their just not sharp, and they look "pixely" if that makes sense.

Which I dont understand when ive seen pictures from a D1 2mp camera that are very sharp and crisp.

If they were sharp, it would be a whole different ball game.

[e.bphoto]

Very cute photos! I love that blue on her...is it a boy?

I had some similar issues when I did a maternity shoot with my new 35mm 1.8, I wish I played with mine more before I did the shoot...
I think your photos are a great start!

[Karebear98]

I mostly used manual mode on the camera and switched between auto focus and manual focus on the lens. I was mostly shooting with flash and usually between F 2.8 and 4.0 between 1/100th and 1/200th of a sec. Almost all shots were hand held and a few taken on the tripod. I was also shooting with 100 iso setting, the lighting was beautiful and a nice overcast day. I found the tripod to be annoying with the 50mm lens because I kept having to reposition constantly. Please critique if these settings were poor or something different was needed.

Zebulus...I'm not seeing the pixelation issues on my screen and all of them look sharp to me with the exception of a couple. Maybe it is a monitor/screen difference between us? Maybe you are seeing pixelation from a few of my corrective places..I had a few shots she wanted me to cover her nipples which were showing and an old belly button ring scar above the navel I had to correct in every shot showing her belly.

E.Bphoto...she's actually having a girl, a little surprised they chose to be in blue.

[tukaniray]

Since you were shooting in Manual mode, I wonder why it wouldn't let you drag the shutter some ... hmm.

I find tripods are nice to have on Large groups, but no real need on a single person or a small group.

I also see that most of the photos look sharp on my monitor (Mac Monitor at 1680x1050) and no pixelation here either.

-Ray-

[RedAgs01]

Maybe it's the perv in me but the white top is a little too see-through. Sorry about being that guy.

[Karebear98]

No RedAgs, your right. I have been trying to fix it with the clone stamp tool. I think I got it out of most of the pics but two or three still look see through. My friend suggested combining the blur tool with the clone stamp.

[jmalbright]

You said you were using flash for most of the shots. Were you using the on board flash? If so, that would explain why you were not able to increase the shutter speed above 1/200 as the camera is not able to sync any faster than this. If you turn off the flash you should be able to use much faster shutter speeds.

[Jake]

Originally Posted by jmalbright

You said you were using flash for most of the shots. Were you using the on board flash? If so, that would explain why you were not able to increase the shutter speed above 1/200 as the camera is not able to sync any faster than this. If you turn off the flash you should be able to use much faster shutter speeds.

Yep. Using the the on board flash will keep you from going above 1/200.


Did you shoot any with just a reflector and no flash?

[Karebear98]

I was using the camera flash/onboard flash as I do not own a seperate one. I did shoot a few with just the reflector and no flash. I am making my final edits and will post the pics that I made more in-depth post processing techniques on and see what ya'll think of the final edited images. I will post those in about an hour or two. Please feel free to critique those because these will be what I give to the couple.

[arich]

I have to agree with the both zebulus and redags01. Most of the shots seem...hazy? out of focus? maybe something happened in PP. I like the idea behind them but I definitely think that getting away from your on camera flash is what will make things like this pop