DJExile posted:

My first portrait shooting experience was interesting to say the least. My dad wanted me to shoot an outdoor party (with a Great Gatsby theme, which was a lot of fun) in the evening. While having the sun behind me is nice, the problem was that it was going through a tree, and as the night went on, it got away from the tree and blew out about half the area I was shooting. Ordinarily, "change the shooting area!" is the order of the day, but this was in front of a friend's 1914 Model T (which was loving gorgeous) and he didn't want to move it if he didn't absolutely have to.

This is an example of what I was dealing with. Smaller groups, I obviously got in closer, but this was a problem all night. Would there be something I can do down the line to fight that?



I already know the picture isn't great by any means, but I had just received my new flash and had virtually no time to practice with it, so everything was on AUTO settings.

squidflakes posted:

15 minutes and people expect half-way decent portraits?

torgeaux posted:

Dude on the far left of the group portrait is suffering from some radical lens distortion.

jackpot posted:

Woman second from left in the group portrait is just suffering

squidflakes posted:

I don't know if I'd say below average. You at least took the time to pose everyone, even if the lighting makes them flat and boring. The people themselves look like they would like to be anywhere but right there, but if this was a work thing I'm surprised you even got the hint of a smile.

The only thing that really irks are the reflections off the gilt lettering on the books and, in the first portrait, the plastic announcement holder.

The holder you could have moved, but the spines would obviously reflect unless you were lighting from the sides.

jackpot posted:

Haha if you scroll up the page from the bottom you notice this woman actually blends in with the books, it's like she's wearing some kind of librarian camo.

TeMpLaR posted:

I was going for an 'American Apparel' feel.

poopinmymouth posted:

I love having my 2nd light to control density.

I keep it almost perfectly at the camera axis, similarly to how Dan Winters uses his ringlight. I need to build some screen covers to control the ratio more, this is using 2:1 (my power pack is locked at a 2:1 assymetric)

HPL posted:

I like the way the green banner bulges a bit. Makes it look kind of like a button. A jolly, candy-like button.

HPL posted:

I had to crank up the contrast a bit because of the white seamless. I was getting light spill around the edges of the models because there wasn't enough space to get them far enough from the background plus it was rather foggy in there so the whole room was diffusing light. I agree with you about the yellow areas. One culprit in the third photo was that I was using hard light (gridded 285HVs) so that made the transition from light to dark a lot harsher. Plus by the time I was doing the black seamless shots, it was even more foggy in there as you can see from the light area on the right side of the photo. I don't know why, but every studio-type of shoot I've done seems to end up as a huge foggy haze by the end.

I considered going with less saturation, but I really dug the bright colour of the lipstick and the rich blue of the laboratory glassware. The models weren't exactly olive-skinned sun worshippers, so turning down the saturation also made them look incredibly pale. Plus I was going for more of a film-like colour cast. I used the Provia colour setting in DxO Optics. I definitely could have put a little more work into the post-processing but I wanted to try to see how good I could get it with minimal post work.

In the future, I'd definitely go with less contrast if only because I'd get the lighting better. This was the first time I've tried a seamless background shoot.

Reichstag posted:

dukeku posted:

Floating head portraits are very en vogue

evil_bunnY posted:

Did you tell her to make her least attractive face for that second one? Also I'm not even gonna ask where that's acceptable workwear

LargeHadron posted:

Skinny Mom Jeans Emporium


e. Also I don't think her face is unattractive in the second. You have a good-looking girlfriend, notlodar . Sorry to hear that she's stupid though.

1st AD posted:

Yeah those jeans are really high waisted, nice photo otherwise though.

rcman50166 posted:

I've been learning photoshop lately. My buddy has a green screen backdrop so I just went nuts. Admittedly not the greatest, but I'm still learning.













Feel free to beat me up over these.

deaders posted:

That photography shirt... wow.

They all suck btw.

365 Nog Hogger posted:

Like it a lot. I'm fine with the shadow, but seeing where the seamless curves to the ground bugs me a little.

8th-snype posted: