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Potential Senior Portraits

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I took my youngest son Patrick yesterday to Mueller State Park and came away with a few pictures that look pretty good for his Senior Portraits. I am open to suggestions on how I could have made these better (aside from getting a better subject :D). These were taken around noon.

 

IPB Image

 

IPB Image

 

IPB Image

 

IPB Image

 

These were taken with the K20D and Sigma 17-70mm sometimes using a reflector.

 

Thanks

Jim

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Couple of things that couldn't hurt:

 

Stay out of the midday sun. If you want to work outdoors, open shade or a lightly overcast sky is best, or late afternoon, when the light softens. Photographers don't always have a choice of lighting conditions, but in this case, you do.

 

Try to avoid high-contrast clothing, or clothing that has vastly different tonal values than the subject's skin. The light-colored hat and the blue/white shirt are good examples of the kind of stuff to avoid. The camera can't record everything the eye can see, regardless of whether you use film or digital.

 

Always focus on the face, particularly the eyes. The face in the first shot looks a bit soft.

 

Always use a tripod or another means of support for the camera.

 

Having lived out there, I know how difficult it is to get you western folks to remove your hats, but maybe a little fill-in flash would take the face out of shadow. (This from a guy who's never owned a flash LOL) You could experiment a bit - get Patrick to tilt the hat back, or try to make sure the subject is front-lit.

 

I think the pix are pretty good too, (your compositions are very professional-looking) but the harsh lighting is a killer. There's undoubtedly no way to retrieve the fried highlights. If the park is near your home, you could go back and try the same shots under better lighting conditions, preferably with more neutrally-toned apparel.

 

OK, that's more than a couple of things, which goes to show that you should never believe anything I tell you.

 

 

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Have him close his eyes real tight before you take the photo. Have him open his eyes on three and snap the photo as soon as he opens his eyes. That will take care of the squinting and narrow look of his eyes caused by the bright light. Alternatively you could but a big black cloth or something just beside the camera and have him look at that. THat also helps cut down on squinting and you don't have to have good timing.

 

If you backlight him have a white card bounce some light back into his face. That will take care of the shadow under the hat. Placing the care below him out of frame works best as you don't get cross shadows, but to either side is also okay if the fill doesn't overpower the rest of the light.

 

Peterjay already mentioned the focus, but I'll repeat anyway because it is very important. I'm not sure what the camera is focusing on but in a couple the eyes look soft. Be sure to focus on the eyes when shooting portraits.

 

I would also give yourself more room in the photo. Back up a bit and don't fill the entire frame. That way when it comes time to make prints you have some wiggle room and can make different sizes from the same photo by adjusting the crop.

 

Backgrounds for the most part look good. THe last one is kind of busy just off the subjects right shoulder and in the third one I might have picked that long grass stem going off on its own, but other than that they do not distract from the subject. THrowing the background out of focus like the first two is a great way to go with complex backgrounds. If the background isn't going to be soft or out of focus try to keep it simple or it could distract from the subject.

 

Northern sky gives you the deepest blues if you are in a position where you can take advantage of that, and as was pointed out earlier you want to avoid harsh sunlight if you can.

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Good looking photos J! They are nice. I agree with the points made.

 

Good stuff though. Keep it coming. I have been doing a lot of portraits lately as well.

 

 

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Guest

Thanks Peter, kargen and jay the pointers. I was using a tripod and was actually focusing on his eyes (one or the other) I'm kinda wondering if he moved just a bit. Fortunatly the park isn't too far away so I can take him back there and try some more shots. He has actually agreed to this, but it will be with his cowboy hat and that same shirt. But I guess beggers can't be choosers. lol

 

As far as the flash I have one of those 5-1 reflectors/diffusers, I'm wondering if that would help soften the flash but not too much.

 

I hadn't even noticed above Patricks right shoulder in the window shot, I just thought the window frame would make a nice framing to the picture.

 

Backlighitng....white cards...I need more equipement. lol But seriously I always thought of backlighting to keep the subject from blending in too much with the background....ie a black shirt with a black background. Am I not seeing the whole picture of backlighting.

 

Thank you all for your time and pointers on this. I really do appriciate it.

 

Thanks

Jim

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backlighting wasn't exactly what I meant. I was talking more of any light that puts the face in shadow than actual back lighting. With the hat you are going to get shadows on the face. A white card or a diffused flash will take care of the shadows. You do want some shadows though to show shape and depth on his face. Just not real harsh shadows.

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Ok Kargen, now I understand. I do have the diffuser 5-1 that I can try. I might also make a little diffuser for the pop up flash on the camera itself.

 

Thanks

Jim

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