Portrait shooting suggestions please.

[Mustang81]

What I notice about the picture myself in retrospect is that I should have made it tighter and not gotten the city lights in it and perhaps a little bit less off the other side as well.

Besides that, how can I improve pictures like this?

thanks in advance.

[readingr]

Cannot critique as I can't see the picture

Roger

[Overbeyond]

Turn the camera on its side and get the vertical portrait. Move the lady elsewhere to avoid that unattractive arrangement behind her head and smaller FSTOP to blur the background a bit. Then a little sharpening.
The face is excellent with a beautiful smile and the eyes look great.
Very nice effort.
Tom

[readingr]

Hmmm! still can't see the picture - what's going on?

Roger

[poker]

You are too close to your subject most likely using a wide angle lens. This creates serious distortion. I'm not sure what camera/lens you are using but try to zoom into your subject beyond 50mm. Or just stand back and crop the portrait later.

The thing right above her head should go. The feathers could've worked or the city lights a part from each other.

Make sure the eyes are in focus next time.. Her nose and mouth seem more in focus than her eyes. If you can't use manual focus then put an auto focus mark on her eyes to be sure.

Pretty subject! Shoot more!

[dbutler]

I agree with Tom and Manacsa. But you've got more good than bad. She really is lovely. When you reshoot, please share.

[gahspidy]

You have some good suggestions here already. Your background herre is distracting to your subject. It is usually a good idea to move the subject away from the background so that it is not in focus enough to cause distraction. You will usually have better results shooting with a longer lens than a wide angle for portraits, as manacsa mentioned.
Keep at it.

[Mr Yuck]

Hmmm! still can't see the picture - what's going on?

Roger

Turn off any ad blockers you might have on. If that doesnt work, quote the original post and copy paste the link for the image into your browser window.


I'd recommend a simpler background, the feathers appear attached to her head. (merger)

Try *many* angles and many expressions, you'll need lots of patience and a patient model, but it will pay off.

[Alison]

Did somebody mention portrait?! lol :wink5:

You are shooting with a point and shoot so you may not be able to change your lens. Therefore the 50mm will not be an option for you.

The lighting is very good, no awful flash shadows etc (one of my pet hates).

Other than that I think the main points have already been mentioned:
(please don't be under the impression I am trying to take over your thread. I just think visual examples are so much easier to understand. I am a visual learner myself )

~ Move your subject away from the background. (This will also help prevent flash shadow when using your flash and will give you some background blur which creates a nice feeling of depth).


~ Try using a portrait orientation as opposed to landscape. You can also try turning you camera to create a portrait with an angle, like in the portrait above. Doesn't always work but it's fun to try different things. (If you are going to use a landscape orientation try an off-centre composition. This can be very pleasing to the eye.)


~ Also, a pose, like the lady peeking around the wall. Or even standing with her back to the wall and you shooting beside her, thus getting the wall going off into the background.



~ Sometimes background distractions can add to an image. Make sure it's not the type that doesn't.


~ Move away from your subject a little more to avoid distortion unless a distorted effect is what you are trying to achieve.


~ Try to exercise the rule of thirds (although sometimes this rule can be broken).
http://photoinf.com/Golden_Mean/John..._of_Thirds.htm
http://www.silverlight.co.uk/tutoria...se/thirds.html

If you need any extra help understanding anything don't hesitate to ask :thumbsup:

[readingr]

Okay,

I can't figure out what is going on - Turned off all add blockers, popups, and virus checkers and the picture still wouldn't download.

Copied the url for the pic to another brower and it still won't display saying Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage. I am using IE7 on XP fully patched.

URL i have is http://www.mtco.com/~anteater/r1.jpg

Any ideas?

Roger

[Alison]

Have you changed your profile recently Roger?
I noticed that there is a box there that you can tick to turn off all attachments.
You may have ticked that box.

[readingr]

No, the crazy thing is its only this picture that I cannot view.

I am flummoxed

Roger

[MarcusK]

lol...is that word still used??

Roger don't bother.... I had a similar experience but with a couple of threads actually.... only one of them never showed the image... but the others suddenly did after a couple of viewing times....

I think this Forum works in mysterious ways....

As for the image... well there is nothing to add really... Alison nicely illustrated....

Mustang, just keep trying... move around and try many backgrounds.... and remember the most important thing of all the comments is...if you're using a wide lens... don't get close unless you do want to distort... I got an image in my gallery with a guy eating....his head fills most of the frame and his body the rest.... so....

Marc

[readingr]

lol...is that word still used??

Marc

Only by dinosaur's like me:thumbsup:

Roger

[Mr Yuck]

it's a good word.

IE7 has a lot of issues, when I work on computers for clients I usually install Firefox or uninstall IE7, replace with IE6 from your Windows XP CD.

I'd recommend Firefox over anything else.

[Mustang81]

Thanks for all the suggestions thus far. I will definitly implement a lot of them

FYI, this was taken with a sony alpha, but I am very new into the DSLR world.