Chasing Daylight

[natgaines]

I get so inspired checking out other people's posts I felt like I had to leap out there and get started on improving my pictures. I am testing the waters in the portrait area of photography. Thankfully my roommate is a willing subject. I attached two different shots from the same day, and we were running out of daylight. We caught that beautiful afternoon sun but the poor girl had to stare straight into it! I'm wondering what you guys think, how can I start improving these?

I shot with my D60, 18-55mm lens with the ISO at 100. I didn't edit the color just some blemish removal but I tried out a new UV filter in the second filter which really made the sky pop.

Feel free to edit with your suggestions! Thanks!!

[Frog]

I think the first could be improved by having her not looking at the camera but to her left more and that would decrease the shadowed area on the right side of her face.
That's personal preference and others may disagree. I like the setting.
Second one is the winner for me but get rid of that uv filter. Its not needed for digital and I don't think it had anything to do with the sky popping. Did you mean you used a polarizer filter?
Also I think it would work better if she wasn't in the middle of the frame.

[Xia_Ke]

Wow, some beautiful lighting! I'm leaning towards the first being my fav but, the pose looks a little unnatural. Maybe if she was sitting on a bail against the stack. Either way, you're on the right track and would love to see some other shots, if any, from the series.

[MichaelD]

The first one begs for a lightness correction. The lighting is flat and I'm eager to see golden yellows in the hay stack without going over the top, try shadows/highlights in Photoshop and especially notice the beneficial effect of adjusting the highlights (about 10%).
In the second one the colors are off and too saturated. Other than that pretty god shot, except for the issues that Frog already mentioned.

[natgaines]

Frog and Michael D- thanks for the comments on the lighting, I very much see what you mean and will play with adjustments. I'm only starting to scratch the surface in understanding how to do this, so maybe these will be good pictures to come back to in a few months for comparison. I didn't use the polarized filter, maybe it was the camera settings that helped with the blue sky? In some of the pictures I took it really seemed to come out, and in others not so much? I'll have to try some that time of day with no filter-I'm just terrified of scratching my lens! (I'm a total clutz)

I was literally running out of day light and the photo shot wasn't intentional. A walk with the dogs turned into "Hey, look over here!" This really helped me practice because my subject was extremely self conscious so it helped me learn to help my subject relax, and I can see she's uncomfortable in a few of her shots.

Aaron, the bail was higher on the side with the sun so maybe this would be a good spot for the morning sun? I'll post a few more from the series for comparison.

[Xia_Ke]

Love, love, love the lighting and a beautiful model to work with as well. I really like the pose and expression on the first shot but, I would try panning around to the front just a tad so that it's not so dead on side profile. My fav out of the group is the second to last, nice blue sky combined with with the golden lighting. Seems just a hair unlevel though??? I hope you do some more of these as you seem to have a good eye for it.

Aaron

[polarbeardiggers]

wow for just starting out your doing very well,great images and your room-mate dare i say is HOT, well done with what light you have a polarizer does really bring the blue out in the skies,good luck in your future shots enjoyed all of them.

[jetrim]

Many of these are really really good! I've been doing quite a bit of reading on this type of photography and have learned some stuff. I understand your situation was much the same as mine, in that it was a "spur of the moment" kind of thing, but if your roomate is game to try this out again, being prepared with some simple stuff like a reflector should yield fantastic results. Reflectors are commercially available, but you can use almost anything white gold or silver colored to achieve the same effect. It will fill in the shadowed areas with softer (but intense enough) light so you don't get dark spots like in the first fourth and seventh image. Also do a google search for "modeling poses" and you will learn which poses are more flattering to which body types, be it male or female ( the full forward straight-on pose is about the worst for women of any body type). You're off to a really REALLY good start here, keep it up!

[caleb]

I don't know how appropriate it is to link to other sites and if it's not the mods can hopefully remove it and warn me...

Here are two articles that may be of interest:
http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/1091766_qVMdL -pleasing skin tones
http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/1078946_cjhmG -glamour skin technique

fantastic photos though and by linking these i'm not saying her skin tone is wrong or anything like that.

[natgaines]

Thank you guys so much for your comments! It's probably very nerdy of me to say but it really is inspiring to see all of your work and get such positive feedback!

Aaron, I actually did another shoot for her the very next weekend with her boyfriend. It was also very spur of the moment but they turned out pretty good. She felt a lot more relaxed and I found it's much more difficult to capture two people not blinking, smiling, looking at the right place, etc than one! I'll have post a few of those some time!! I'll have to try and make future shots not so profile, I just kept getting my shadow! Lol!! And yes I see the little hair sticking up? I could most definitely photoshop that out. She's like me when it comes to constantly touching her hair. I think it's a girl thing? Haha!

Polorbeardiggers, I'll have to pass the complement along. She really has a natural beauty. She had just got off work and very little make up! Thank you for your encouraging words.

Jetrim, I take my camera with me every where I go, I don't think my friends would find me at all weird if I started carrying around reflectors too! Haha!! If I do want to take my work in this direction I really do need to read up and make a few investments. Thanks for the suggestions on poses. I think having something in mind would make her and I both more comfortable at the shoot!

Caleb, thanks for the links. I'll check them out, I'm always into research!

[gahspidy]

That first shot is very nice. The lighting is good and her look as well. I agree with Michael about adding a bit more of the color to the hay and increase the exposure a bit perhaps. The second image is wonderful, but she is too saturated. Reduce overall saturation and crop into a square format from the right side. Too centered as it is.
Wonderful work