First Portraits

[AzMandella]

Hello everybody. I am new here and I am trying my first attempt at portrait photgraphy. I purchased a Photoflex First Studio set that consist of 2-250w tungston bulbs with silver umbrellas and stands. I also bought a QL3200 with 3' Octobox with 5000W and 1000W bulbs. and a Photek 12' backdrop stand.

These pics were shot using a Canon 20D with a 70-200 F4L lens on a Slick 700DX Pro tripod. I shot in Manual using the settings derived from a Gossen Digipro F meter.

I used the Octobox with a 500W bulb for my main light and a 250W with an umbrella and a dimmer for the fill. I used the dimmer to get a little more than 2-1 light ratio.

These pics are of my 8yr old daughter. Any suggestions or input are greatly apreciated.

[AzMandella]

Wow! 24 views and not one response. Are they that good that there is no need for improvement. Or are they that bad and nobody want's to hurt my feelings. Man the PC stuff is getting old.:idea:

[Frog]

Probably those with expertise in portraits haven't looked yet.
I'm not an expert by any means but I do notice the light reflections on her lips which I think can be fixed in photoshop.

[Grandpaw]

This is an excellent first attempt! :thumbsup: To me they are very good. Unless you have intentions of paying for custom frames you may want to leave a little more room around the subject and not crop as close so you have room to work with. I tried cropping the last picture in an 8x10 format and it wouldn't work. Just something to think about, Jeff

[AzMandella]

Thank you. Yeah some of the cropping was hard since she moved closer to the camera and filled the frame too much. I was using a remote trigger for the camera and didn't notice her a foot closer. All the pics were already croped in a 8 x 10 format to even up the sides. The 4th was intentionaly done to have her left side out of the pic. Next time I will not use so much zoom so as to leave more room for better cropping.

P.S. I think the lip shine was from the lip gloss my wife put on her. Next time no gloss.

[SkipT]

I think they are good, maybe need to be shot in a softer light tho. And the 3rd one you cut off the left side of her head. Other then that looks good to me.

Shooting with a softer light should take care of the shine on her lips also.

Keep at it you can onlt get better

[naznomore_92]

I think the first one is the best. All of the lighting and everything seems right in that one

[Alison]

I only just looked at this and I haven't read what other people have written so forgive me if I am repeating anything..
The lighting is good as is the clarity. Great colours.
The composition needs a little work though. The eyes are too centred. Google the rule of thirds. Your portraits would look even better then :thumbsup:

[AzMandella]

I only just looked at this and I haven't read what other people have written so forgive me if I am repeating anything..
The lighting is good as is the clarity. Great colours.
The composition needs a little work though. The eyes are too centred. Google the rule of thirds. Your portraits would look even better then :thumbsup:

Yeah I know the rule of thirds. The problem was I used to much zoom when shooting and when I croped in a 8 x 10 format I couldn't get the eyes on the upper imaginary horizontal line without loosing the top of her head.

[Digitalman]

You are doing quite good for your first time. What setting on the camera did you use?

[AzMandella]

You are doing quite good for your first time. What setting on the camera did you use?

Canon 20D / 70 -200 F4L. F4 @ 40 in Manual