"School of Portraiture" - The unofficial lessons

[Ricco]

So - headed down to the park with the bright shiny new reflector to practice some of the lessons. I was looking forward to posting some photos on here to get some more tips. Came back all enthused but when I downloaded the photos - oops! So here are my unofficial lessons.

i. When faced with a choice between sporting equipment and posing for a camera, my son prefers the sporting equipment.

ii. Rushing is not a good idea as it introduces either errors or ommissions that ruin photos. For example, choosing the wrong shutter speed, not paying suffiicient attention to the focus etc. Set up the shoot so that you have time to check and double check BEFORE taking the photo, because it is too late by the time you have got home and are looking at slightly blurred images on the computer.

iii. When you point the camera into the sun, you run the risk of glare (Duh!). Refer also point ii above on bad decisions.

iv. Fix the basics first. Trying to get a nice backlit shot with the sun streaming through the daughters hair and the reflector providing some bounce light is a good idea in theory. In practice it is a bit trickier to avoid blown highlights while exposing the face correctly. Also refer points ii and iii on this subject.

On the bright side I have the reflector and will try again.

Look forward to posting the photos at some point.

[Captured]

I know exactly what you mean!!!... but I'm still learning the basics so that adds to my frustrations.
Luckily, I'm a stay at home mom and I have a lot of chances of practicing with my daughter. I have another one in the oven, EDD is early June. Next is to get ready for newborn pics! and sibling love portraits

My daughter turned 17 months old yesterday- here are my shots:
https://picasaweb.google.com/Kriszti...eat=directlink