first time at portraits

[allenlennon]

Hi all, the other weekened i did a photo shoot of a friend for her aacting portfolio, she is really happy with the outcomes, and the following are a few photos of the shoot.


_MG_2865 copy by AllenLennon, on Flickr


_MG_2859 copy by AllenLennon, on Flickr


_MG_2876 copy by AllenLennon, on Flickr
this one is my favourite.

Cheers

[rpcrowe]

Nice image of a very pretty young lady. However, IMO, bare shoulder dresses on heavy-set females are not a good combination. This especially true when the shoulder/arm is brightly lit...

[allenlennon]

Thank you Richard for your kind comments

[terrib]

Hard to believe this is the first time for portraits. I think they are lovely images and can certainly see why she is happy. I, too, really love the last one.

[allenlennon]

Thank you terrie. I was surprised myself with it, now I got a few more girls that want me to do the same. Perhaps I should charge. Haha

[Andrew76]

Hi Allen. I'm just starting to work on some portraiture myself, so I'm not going to offer any artistic advice. I will offer you some constructive technical criticism if you don't mind??

I think you've run into some WB issues with these shots. I can't say for sure which is right, but there are definitely some huge variances in skin tones between the 3 shots. The first and second is where it's the most noticeable. I think it's been caused by adjusting Hue/Saturation in PP, as the dress is very different in the shots also.

[Loose Canon]

Hey Allen,

Great set of a lovely young actress. I can see why she is pleased.

I’ll toss you a couple of ideas for your consideration if you like. If you don’t, just toss them right on out the window as they pass!

I agree with Andrew as to the WB thought. I think I may be detecting a yellow cast. Unless, of course, that is intentional. For a studio setting, a gray card is indispensable. Then you can balance all of the shots consistently.

For the first shot, if you and she are pleased with the pose, might I suggest a little off the top removing a bit of the head space?

With the second shot, I like this pose too. But what would you think if I suggested maybe if you brought your camera angle just a tad lower? And possibly with your subject a little tighter in the frame top & bottom. Nice that your background and foreground are consistent and seamless. Looks nice as is though, just a Theory!

The third shot is my pick as well. What I really like about this one is that there is some hair light. Without knowing your lighting setup or what you did with this one, I can say that some hair lighting really makes her pop out of the background. Lots of times a good thing to consider with a dark haired lady on a dark BG. Not to mention it helps accentuate the highlighting she has in her hair.

With all of them, would you consider the possibility of losing some of the stray hairs shaping up her hair outline a bit? And here is something I always forget! Watch how her hair falls. As an example, she has a stray strand in the second shot running down her arm.

Now as I say all this, I also know how hard it can be to consider everything all the time during a shoot. Especially while you are trying to deal with the technical aspects of your setup. I just keep trying to head in that general direction and then I start seeing more and more of these things as I am shooting. Or, well, at least I hope I do!

Good set out of the block, Allen. And get those other ladies in front of your camera!

[ggt]

I'm no expert so only two observations. 1) It looks as though she has beautifully colored bright eyes and I'd like to see more of them. and 2) I think she either has too much product or the wrong product in her hair because it looks like the top (where her part is) is either wet or dirty. The lighting doesn't help this. It might be nice if she curled the ends of her hair --the straight ends make long hair look what I call "hag hair". Which, on myself, I hate and won't be photographed that way. She has wonderful full hair and it the highlights would show-up much better if she had it all curled and then let it relax.

So, not much to say about he quality of your shots --sorry.

[allenlennon]

Thank you everyone for your far too kind wards. Terry, such a fan of your work and a great honor to have you commenting. I am getting a grey card soon.

[Loose Canon]

Allen, that is one hell of a thing for you to say to me.

Thank you for your far too kind words.

I remember your first few posts. You struck me as just the kind of person I would love to meet and hang out with right off! You made an impression on me, man!

And your photography is bringing it!

And I hope you keep bringing it here!