First time Portrait shoot

theregsy

Senior Member
Becky prom-9909_DCE.jpg

I was asked by a friend if I could take some photos of his daughter before she went to her Prom. Being a friend of the family, Becky, who is outgoing and a natural poser, wasn't at all hard to work with and had ideas of her own about how she wanted to be photoed. Anyway, comments and advice welcome. :)
 
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Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
2 things that come to my mind:

1- The color of the umbrella I find disturbing. You could just desaturate it and make it lighter.

2- You should have used some white reflector or fill-in flash to get a little more light into her beautiful eyes.
 

theregsy

Senior Member
Thanks for that Marcel, I'll have a go at the De-saturate idea, and I'll keep the other point in mind, in fact I did use fill in on a couple of the other shots, I'll pop one up for appraisal :)
Thanks for the pointers :)
 

Browncoat

Senior Member
You should have used some white reflector or fill-in flash to get a little more light into her beautiful eyes.

I agree. This is the biggest thing that stands out to me. Having your subject lower their head is an open invitation for bags under the eyes if you don't have enough fill light...the umbrella probably isn't helping either. Here we have a young lady, and poor lighting has aged her into her 30's.

There are some other things. I'm being picky here, but the old saying goes: if we know better, we do better. There are some unspoken "rules" to good portraiture and posing, especially when it comes to ladies:

1. Never show the back of a woman's hands. They appear to be flat and manly. Try to pose a female's hands so that you're photographing the side of the hand, which is the thinnest part.

2. Sleeveless = bad. It's rarely flattering, especially for women. She's pressing her arms tight against her body, which is making the undesirable effect even worse.

I like the umbrella. It adds a splash of color, which is important here considering the black dress and drab background. You should have rotated it so that "Dunlop" was out of the frame however. Now instead of it being a cute accessory, it's become just a golf umbrella.
 

theregsy

Senior Member
Thanks for the advice Anthony, I will take that advice on board for the next one :)
I agree with your pointers and admit its tricky to get the kind of shot you are suggesting without having, better lighting or possibly even a studio :) Must save me pennies LOL

Its nice to learn from the Pro's :)
 
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