A shot from my first TFCD shoot.

[a.saliga]

I had my first time for CD shoot yesterday. It was nothing like I thought it would be, especially for the girls being total strangers to me. Once I started shooting everything was relaxed and went well. Anyways, on to the shot for critiquing.

I took about 170 shots of the two girls, and this is one of my favorites. Jenn (pictured below) was a natural. I found that posing the girls was the hardest thing to do. Luckily Jenn had some experience.

I realize this version is underexposed...I corrected that issue and then realized that I used up all my Flickr bandwidth for the month, so no more uploads for now. Guess it's time to get the pro account.

One thing I also see is where her right arm is cropped. Is that too close to the joint?

I don't know it all, so I'm sure there are other things you guys will see.



I don't feel like posting all of them, but I'll post one other on a diff thread...

[clockdoc]

Hi Andrew,
I had seen this shot when I viewed your flickr images earlier. I feel it is probably the best one as for posing and lighting style (rim lighting). I agree that it is a bit underexposed. IMHO the image can be improved by closer cropping to eliminate the awkward;y positioned left arm. By croping up a bit from the bottom you can balance the vertical composition. Too bad you don't have a little more space in front of her. Lastly, clone out the little yellow spot in the upper right hand corner. You are off to a good start. Keep shooting!

[a.saliga]

Thank you clockdoc. You always know your stuff and I love getting your critiques. Would you happen to know any good books our online resouces to learn more about posing. I'm new to people photography and will take anything I can get. I have looked over that PDF on one of the threads with all of the posing examples. It's good, but I want a guide that tells me what part of the body to pose first, what to watch out for, where to crop, etc. Any suggestions?

And by rim lighting are you refering to the sunlight that is outlining her body and helping to seperate her from the background?

[clockdoc]

Thanks for your kind words. As always I am glad to help out where I can. I am not familiar with any specific posing guides online but I am sure that a Google search will turn up tons of examples. It always makes the photographers job easier if the models know how to pose. 8-)
You are correct regarding the rim lighting. You can achieve a similar effect by placing your main or key light in back (but to the side) of your model. You would then need a second frontal fill light at or near the camera. You have a good eye so be on the lookout for lighting opportunities such as this to practice your craft.

[clockdoc]

Hi Andrew,
I had forgotten I had this link to a posing guide. It is from an old master of photography but I think you can apply his words of wisdom to your contemporary photographic style. Let me know what you think.
http://www.photodigital.net/zeltsman/

[a.saliga]

Very nice. I'll check that site out soon.

Much of what I know I've carried over from video. I started on the video end because I'm a multimedia production major and we do a good bit of video production. So I'm familiar with 3 point lighting and other lighting basics. I have always found lighting to be one of the most difficult things to master though.

[pcarfan]

This may help

Examples of Poses

To me the poses in that link definitely looks 'wrong' as well, but I don't know much about this topic. (this is not a comment on your work...I'm talking about the poses in the link provided by me)

[oriolhdz]

Hi a.saliga:
I have no more to say after Clockdoc c&c. Is always a pleasure to read his thoughts, doesn’t it?
There is out there on the web a flash file called poser if I'm not wrong. I have it on my pc (which I don't have right now, because I’m on a mini vacation visiting my girlfriend) but I'm sure you can find it. It has a lot of poses for models.
Drop me pm in a few days to contact you and send the file if you still need it.
See you around!

[Robin Sarac]

I downloaded the image and cropped her left arm and right from the elbow down -- keeping the top right of the picture -- and the photo seemed much more focused... great picture! I didn't post it because your signature doesn't indicate that it's alright.

Also, I'm not sure how to post an image on my computer directly to a thread ... LOL!

[HSM]

I too viewed the other pictures of the two models and the one you posted here is indeed the best one of the group. I felt the way you posed her made her look much more confident and "modelesque"...compared to the other photos.