My First Real Portrait

[Coastal Flyer]

My first attempt at a real portrait.

[echoback]

very pretty model, but I think you could try adjusting the curves a bit and slightly darkening it. her collar looks washed out and her skin tones could be a bit warmer. but nice first attempt!

[Coastal Flyer]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will play with it a bit and see what happens. She was a captivating model.

CF

[SmartWombat]

Do you have another shot that includes all of her hir?

[Alison]

Exposure's good. Composition is fine. Colours are gorgeous. (colours are something I ALWAYS struggle with!)
I can see you used the flash which is a shame to be honest. I avoid using my flash if I can and try to use my settings instead.
I can also see you have tried to do something with the bg. Or you have made one completely like I did with my twin shot. I can see it mainly around the shoulders and collar.

And I don't mean this to sound mean but it's very ordinary. Being your first attempt and maybe an experiment it's understandable. But you can make it a little more interesting by rotating by 20 degrees clockwise and then cropping.
That's what I do sometimes especially if I think a portrait needs that little extra something.

Something else that might have been nice is to have had a different bg. Maybe have her standing in front of some flowers (lotus, peony, narcissus). Or in front of a pagoda. And used your aperture for bg blur.

I've often thought about painting my own backdrops but have never got round to it. Something to think about though isn't it?

You did a great job for a first timer though CF.
I'm STILL trying to get things right! But I'm slowly getting there...I think...LOL.

[FadderUri]

I agree with echoback... the collar is washed out to the point that it looks like it was photoshopped into the pic. The skin tones I wouldn't worry so much about on the face, as Japanese makeup tends to make the model looked washed out anyway... however, the neck should be natural looking. Unsure of what type of camera/flash unit you're using, but if possible, you could redirect the flash up about 45 degrees and wind up with a much softer lighting.

Rotating the shot 20-25 degrees as Alison suggested is a good idea, too, if you're looking for something different. Straight on portrait shots are good, too. The best idea is while you have a good model willing to pose for you a few moments, take as many as you can with different angles, settings, and flash settings.