First portrait posts

[wattsbw2004]

Ok i know i know about the hair strands going every where due to the windy weather but im no good at cloning things like that out. But yea I tried my hand at candid portrait shots this weekend with the tips I learned from this site. This first one is of my girlfriend looking at the sea gulls trying to eat the fish from the fishermen's hands while they cleaned them.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wattsbw2004/842316093/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1303/842316093_816e39075a.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Amazed-2" /></a>

The 2nd is while she was looking off a spotting tower at an Aquarium.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wattsbw2004/842315903/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1117/842315903_b0194b2a8c.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Amazed" /></a>

[Nicole]

I like the first one the best, the skin tone seems better, and the look kind of more natural. In all honesty, the stray hairs don't bother me because to me it creates an atmosphere. The hairs indicate that it's windy. And let's face it, perfect hair in the wind is definitely not possible ;). So, did you learn a lot from your first foray into portraits?

[wattsbw2004]

I actually did and I realized it's very hard to focus on the eyes when taking these kind of shots but oh well. Another thing was using different settings to get a better DOF which i think came out pretty good. Thank you for the comments

[wulf]

The first one is definitely a much better portrait - not just the skin tones but also the overall composition. I think the blowing hair enhances the portrait - it gives your girlfriend a "presence" from right to left without obscuring the background. The second one (which is also, IMHO, far less flattering) doesn't come close.

Were they both taken with the same camera? The difference reminds me of what I used to get with my point and shoot (and some post processing) compared to what I can do with my D40.

Wulf

[wattsbw2004]

Yea they were both taken with my HP point and shoot. the 1st was takin from her level but the 2nd was takin from a couple steps up on some stairs. Both were in completely diff' locations, about 45 minutes away so the sun was almost down in the first unlike the 2nd where the light was up there somewhere around 3-4 o'clock.