First attempt at a "portrait"

[RangerGuy]

This is my first attempt at a set-up portrait shot. It wasn't even really planned out in advance. She looked cute, so I grabbed a bedsheet, set it up in the livingroom, and clicked off a bunch of handheld shots with some bounce flash. I played with brightness and contrast and added a soft-focus filter in PP.

I need to start paying attention to poses photographers use - trying to get her into a pose that didn't look horrible was tough - and at 5 years old, she was quickly losing patience.

I wish I had more light on her face, but other than that, how did I do?

[KagoGrl]

Hey! Great job for your first try. Portraits are hard - especially without a lot of light. I agree with you that her face is a little dark - adding some fill light in your post-processing might help with that.

I'm really no pro when it comes to portraits so I think the only think I can offer would be to get her further away from the sheet. Right now the crinkly sheet attracts a fair bit of attention and we need to keep the focus on her. So I say 2 things: 1) get her further away from the sheet so that your DOF blurs it more and 2) iron the sheet you've got or find a slightly less crinkled one

Great start though. If you can keep her interested I say keep shooting. Perhaps give her something to play with. Just nothing too bright and flashy - remember, focus needs to remain on her.

[RangerGuy]

Originally Posted by KagoGrl

Hey! Great job for your first try. Portraits are hard - especially without a lot of light. I agree with you that her face is a little dark - adding some fill light in your post-processing might help with that.

I'm really no pro when it comes to portraits so I think the only think I can offer would be to get her further away from the sheet. Right now the crinkly sheet attracts a fair bit of attention and we need to keep the focus on her. So I say 2 things: 1) get her further away from the sheet so that your DOF blurs it more and 2) iron the sheet you've got or find a slightly less crinkled one

Great start though. If you can keep her interested I say keep shooting. Perhaps give her something to play with. Just nothing too bright and flashy - remember, focus needs to remain on her.

Heh - I was torn between the sheet being too wrinkly, or it adding "interest" to the picture with some texture. I'm really not an artsy person, so I just have to guess at this stuff I plan on picking up some fabric to use for backgrounds - we only have one pure white sheet, and it's only for a twin size bed.

Thanks for the suggestions - I definitely plan on trying this again.

A question for you or anyone else: If I used a regular incandescent lamp to try to get more light on her face, how will that affect the white balance, with most of the light coming from the flash and sunlight through the window?

[clockdoc]

Hi. First, I am glad to see someone out there still using the Sony F707. Did you use the F1000 flash or a different Sony model? When you bounce the light, it is often difficult to get light into the eyes in the form of a catchlight. This can be fixed easily with a piece of white index card attached to the flash with a rubberband. Allow the card to extend above the flash a few inches with the flash pointed to the ceiling. You can experiment with angling it a bit but so far, for me, the straight up mode works best.
As for poses, there are 100's of studio websites out there with sample porfolios that you can study. Let me know if you have any specific questions as I am happy to help where I can.

[RangerGuy]

Originally Posted by clockdoc

Hi. First, I am glad to see someone out there still using the Sony F707. Did you use the F1000 flash or a different Sony model? When you bounce the light, it is often difficult to get light into the eyes in the form of a catchlight. This can be fixed easily with a piece of white index card attached to the flash with a rubberband. Allow the card to extend above the flash a few inches with the flash pointed to the ceiling. You can experiment with angling it a bit but so far, for me, the straight up mode works best.
As for poses, there are 100's of studio websites out there with sample porfolios that you can study. Let me know if you have any specific questions as I am happy to help where I can.

Thanks for the tip - I'll give it a try.

I love my F707 - just wish it had more megapixels. Yeah, I'm using the HVL-F1000 flash. Just picked it up on Ebay a couple weeks ago for $40 and I'm amazed at the difference it makes. This photography hobby is a giant snowball of a money pit. Now I'm looking at circular polarizing filters.

[clockdoc]

Save your money on the circular polarizer as the F707 does fine with a less expensive linear polarizer. The circular polarizers are for dSLRs and cameras that use a different focusing system than the F707 contrast detection system. On your question regarding mixing the light sources, the F1000 light is towards the blue end of the light spectrum while a typical incandescent bulb is more on the yellow side. The GE Reveal bulbs have less yellow in them and may be a better bulb to try if you want to run some tests. I look forward to seeing your results. Also consider using some reflectors to bounce light into those darker areas.

[RangerGuy]

Originally Posted by clockdoc

Save your money on the circular polarizer as the F707 does fine with a less expensive linear polarizer. The circular polarizers are for dSLRs and cameras that use a different focusing system than the F707 contrast detection system. On your question regarding mixing the light sources, the F1000 light is towards the blue end of the light spectrum while a typical incandescent bulb is more on the yellow side. The GE Reveal bulbs have less yellow in them and may be a better bulb to try if you want to run some tests. I look forward to seeing your results. Also consider using some reflectors to bounce light into those darker areas.

Good to know. Thanks!

[baseballboy828]

A seamless background or a natural background would be better for this.

[rikkersc]

I have seen articles where people keep their sheets crumpled up in a bag just to get the effect you have, so I guess it is all just personal preference.
You have a very cute subject, which I'm sure helps a lot.
I like your general idea, but was wondering if the camera should have been lowered for the shot, it almost seems as if you are looking down on her. I wonder if a head on shot would be better.
Portraits are hard, I know, I've done a couple. I think a lot of it is personal preference in angles and backgrounds. If you like it (or whoever it is for likes it) then you've done your job.
Good luck.

There is a thread on here somewhere with a link to various poses, but I'm not sure how well they will work with a young subject. There may be some that would, though.

[aadam_21]

I think this is really good for your first portrait. For me, the wrinkles would work OK if you got out the big "folds" (pulled out the slack on the back). Also, I don't if this is the original, or cropped, but the frame could use a shift down so her elbow is included.

Good job with a cute model. I know my 4 year old isn't too keen to sit around for dad to practice with!