New guy... Please tell me the good, the bad, the ugly about this portrait!

[jfountain2]

First post. Hoping to learn to take better portraits. Please let me know what I did right, wrong, or any other advice you can offer.

Thanks.

Pentax K100D
Shutter Speed: 1/80 sec
Exposure Program: Portrait Mode
F-Stop: F/13.0
Aperture Value: F/13
ISO: 800
Focal Lenght: 50.0mm
Lens: SMC Pentax-DA 18-55mm
Flash: Fired (pop-up with diffuser)
Metering: Center Weighted Average

Cropped and Shopped to enhance color...

[BryanPanting]

Not to bad of a shot. The highlights on her face are a bit distracting. some suggestions I would make would be to not use the program modes. Using those you loose any control over you image and the camera makes all the decisions for you. I would suggest learning how to use aperture priority for portraits like this. Using that mode you could have opened up your aperture more that would decreased your depth of field to blur you background some, allowing your subject to pop out more from the image. Composition wise I would have liked to see her not as centered. I would crop the left side and just leave a little room before the bottom of her skirt starts on the left. Hope that helps some.

[jfountain2]

Thanks!

At this point I'll take all the advice I can get. In the original photo she was less centered but there was a pipe sticking up out of the ground on the edge of the shot and I cropped it to take it out. I'll try re-cropping and follow your advice to see how it looks.

I've been trying to learn more about getting out of the program modes, so far I don't like my results but I will keep at it.

[wilfreddy]

You need the DOF she is too close to the background.
You also need a reflector her face has lots of shady shadows.
Is very important that the model has life.They need to feel the moment
each click must be the best same as you taking pictures each time is the last time.

Just practice this is all practice and also practice photoshop it helps a lot.
Well good luck keep up the good work Hope to see your stuff around!

[jfountain2]

Originally Posted by wilfreddy

You need the DOF she is too close to the background.
You also need a reflector her face has lots of shady shadows.
Is very important that the model has life.They need to feel the moment
each click must be the best same as you taking pictures each time is the last time.

Just practice this is all practice and also practice photoshop it helps a lot.
Well good luck keep up the good work Hope to see your stuff around!

Your right! She does look to close to the background. I'll have to remember that, we're going to try and do some more shots later today (it's great having a daughter that wants to be a model) I'll also have to look into getting a reflector, I've never worked with ont so it should be interesting.

Thanks for the advice!

[DanSir]

Originally Posted by jfountain2

First post. Hoping to learn to take better portraits. Please let me know what I did right, wrong, or any other advice you can offer.

Thanks.

Pentax K100D
Shutter Speed: 1/80 sec
Exposure Program: Portrait Mode
F-Stop: F/13.0
Aperture Value: F/13
ISO: 800
Focal Lenght: 50.0mm
Lens: SMC Pentax-DA 18-55mm
Flash: Fired (pop-up with diffuser)
Metering: Center Weighted Average

Cropped and Shopped to enhance color...

hey I am Danny

here is my advice. first i have to say, i like the picture, its not bad. being centered in a picture is not always that bad either. (depends on what you are going for.) mine are usually centered, however, the object of my interest takes up most of the frame. (i am a portrait/pet photographer).

what i would recommend is the same thing my teacher recommended to me and honestly it has worked wonders. "First shot a picture in 'programmed mode - sunset, portrait, action, ect- then try to do the same shot, in Manual mode." by doing this, you will learn a lot about how to set stuff up. learning to set your own aperature for a particular shot, the shutter speed ect.

if you have a willing candiate (i.e. model, wife, sister, brother, dog, and so forth) have them pose, shoot in the programmed mode, then read your EXIF data. write notes - or keep them in mind when you are composing the next shot in manual. (i always find these handy. i come back to them all the time). then try to duplicate the shot in Manual mode. when i did this, i learned so much. I still practice this. the more pictures you take the better you get. if this makes any sense. i would say that about 80% of my pictures, turn out like crap. but i still look at data to see what went wrong and in the next shot i try to fix that.

sorry i am not near my hard drive. but when i am, i will post some pictures, pre and post manual.

Danny

[MSidPhoto]

Well...it quite a shot.......and yes you can make this one look a lot better....

1) Reduce the shadows on the right side of face (right from MY view).
2) Pose her in a way that her second hand comes in sight
3) Make her stand casually a little away (more in front) from the background....

And remember its not necessary to take a full body portrait...you could go in closer and get her face too in a nice way. The background is a very fine one and you can do a lot with it.

Good luck

[tefalynn]

All the above camera info is great! I'm definitely all for reflectors, but from the glare on her skirt it looks like you were trying to utilize the little bit of shade that the tree had to offer on a really sunny day. Try finding a completely shady spot then using a reflector to highlight her face more or shoot at a less sunny time of day ie early mornings, late afternoons. I tend to agree with an above post about sticking to a head and shoulders shot if you are trying to get the hang of portraits...you have a lot more to work with, and the final product will feel more accomplished. hope that helps!!

[PowerPix]

Originally Posted by jfountain2

Your right! She does look to close to the background. I'll have to remember that, we're going to try and do some more shots later today (it's great having a daughter that wants to be a model) I'll also have to look into getting a reflector, I've never worked with ont so it should be interesting.

Thanks for the advice!

I find that the background itself is very distracting.

[guyzer09]

I think your intentions of the composed shot was good but with the sun shining thru the tree it created light blotches across the photo. now this is where a off camera external flash comes in handy! if it had been an external flash and not the pop up one it would have burst a bright enough light to eliminate the blotches. just a thought and a good investment