My first ever "photo session" & post processing

[alley.cat]

I started to have interest in photography few months ago and this is what I got from my first ever "photo session" The model was my friend and because I didn't have professional equipment like difuser or pro lights I had to use photoshop to correct the pictures & add a little something into it. I used point&shoot camera instead of a dslr too. I wanted to try taking pictures first to see if I have any potential at all before investing into a dslr. I hope you like the result and feel free to give critiques (not only from the post processing point of view but also the angles and crop)
Thank you so much!

I'm attaching before and after & also some other that I haven't editted yet.

[ocnsprt]

Good work w the edits and great job for your first shoot. Your white balance looks a little off, but it looks like you corrected that in your pp so aside from that they are nice.

[lputman]

Hello alley.cat, welcome to dPS. Please take a moment to review the Rules for Before and After Forum.

[DaveQ]

Hi,

just thought I would add my $0.02...

I think you have done a really good job with these shots - both in taking them and also the post production. The thing that strikes me most is that you have an excellent eye for composition; the first picture in particular is very well done - great use of negative space. The sort of shot you would see on an advertising billboard!

You havent posted the technical details of each shot (lighting, exposure info) but as you say, you have clearly been constrained by the compact camera. I have some worked through examples on how to get the most out of a compact here but my top tip would be to forget the onboard flash, and stick to available daylight - preferably through a window. In that situation there is far less difference between the abilities of your compact and a DSLR.

On the Post processing, I would add one extra step to the white balance tip already given: brighten the eyes. The eyes are the focal point in the first and fourth shots and you could make them really stand out by brightening them a bit. My own way of doing this is in Photoshop: add a new layer, paint over they eyes in white, then set the blending mode of the layer to Overlay, and the opacity to about 20%.

The bottom line is that you definitely have potential!

Dave

[alley.cat]

@ocnsprt: Thank you I know, the WB is really bit off but as I said the lights were really poor

@lputman: Aahh, I'm sorry, I will be more careful next time!

@DaveQ: Thank you so much for your praise! I'm much more confident now that I know my first trial wasn't that bad And yes I think I will try to use daylight some time, it's too much work with the lamps, haha! Thank you for the link, I will definitely have a look at it for photography tips!

[AlexisM]

I think you did a great job with your post processing. The image is very nice; I like the composition. I do agree with Dave though, if you brighten the eyes a bit, the image will be even better.