Portrats

[Byron Lentz]

OK guys, I had the grand kids over the other day and tried my hand at some portraits. A good friend told me to post then and see what you thought. On the ones with the black background I used an old bed sheet hung over a desk, the one with the white background was the blinds over the back patio doors. I bought two clip on lights from Home Depot with Reveal flood bulbs and used a SB600 bounced off the ceiling. Nikon D300 50mm 1.8 lens.
Thanks for looking
Byron

[Frog]

I'm still a novice at portrait but these look very good to me.
You have sharp focus on the eyes in all of them.
I think maybe the first one is too tight for my taste but maybe not for others.
The sheet seems to work well for the black backgrounds but I'm not sure about the color in the fourth. Can sure see a diff when boys pose and girls pose, eh...lol. Gotta love the second one.
Also, I'm glad you got such good results without having to spend a zillion dollars for lighting and backgrounds and etc. Fits in with my plans for future endeavors.

[Shooter Tiff]

the lighting almost seems a little harsh to me especially in the second one, although I do love the look on his face.
the last one is my favorite.

[racedraper]

seems like the light was a little orange and had a straight line effect on top of there headss. learning the flash is hard , trust me . I would have tried to use the pop up for the front and mount the flash behind them to get rid of shadows and maybe put the shop light above and in front. Try different bulbs like florescent, gives off less heat.

I tried using sheets but it still made shadows so I used the curtains that are made of that micro fiber leather like from walmart for 15 bucks, it didn't bounce the light back off .Keep practicing and share your tips also.

[Ptax]

Love the look of the little dude in the second picture. I bet he gets into everything he can reach.

I do think the lighting is a bit harsh. Maybe try some wax paper over the front of the lights.

I like your creativity in the lighting and background setups.

[Byron Lentz]

I see what you mean, the shadow under the chin need a fill, weird how I didn't see that before. Thanks for the input.
Byron

[SmartWombat]

Good advice so far.
You also have to think about the different colours of the light.
Yellowish tungsten lamps, bluish flash simulating daylight, greenish fluorescents.
If the tungsten lamps tend towards orange, you'll the veins in the face show up too prominently (too dark).
Mixing the colours and choosing a colour balance for the camera can be tricky.
If you're going to use flash and ordinary lamps, then look for colour filters to go on the flash, or on the lamps, to balance the colour. Or bulbs that match the flash colour.

[MB1]

I'll just comment on the first image;

Since you cropped tight on her hair on the sides I think you should do the same on the top of the image-crop down until there is a fair bit of her hair cut off by the top of the frame.

I do prefer the look you got in the first three images with a dark background as compared to the fourth image with a light background.

[Byron Lentz]

Plans are in the works for another session, the dark background (sheet) will go in the dryer to remove the fold creases and borrowing a extra strobe from a buddy, we will see what happens.
Again thanks for the imput.
Byron