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My First Shoot

JGH

New member
Hi All,
At the end of January i did my first shoot. It was a long day and i was really nervous as up until then i had been taking pictures of my wife and it wasnt really an issue if i messed up the lighting or composition.
This was also the first time i was using my new dark grey 6m backdrop and some coloured filters for effects.
The model is a friend of my wifes who comes to us for English lessons & after some of her friends saw the pics they want theirs taken too. (especially as i'm not charging for the session or the edited pics i give to them) Its good practice for me with the lighting/posing and photoshop work.
I post a couple here for your comments, advice & critic as although my wife says they are good and the model (client) liked them (which really is the main thing) i would like some feedback from fellow amateur photographers.







Thanks J
:salute:
 
T

tokengirl

Guest
The photos are very nice. However, she is wearing so much makeup that it's covering up her natural beauty.
 

JGH

New member
The photos are very nice. However, she is wearing so much makeup that it's covering up her natural beauty.
I didnt get involved in the hair and makeup side of things as i know nothing when it comes to things like that, however i did do quite a bit of photoshop work on the skin as there were quite a few blemishes and i had told her i could remove them in post so she didnt need to apply to much foundation.
There is quite a difference between the before and after pics though.
I don't think i'm brave enough to tell a woman to take most of her makeup off or that it looks overdone :LOL: i might find myself in hospital having my camera removed !!!!:eek::eek:
Thanks to both of you for your input, i'm concentrating more on portraits as i find it quite a difficult area to get just right and need to practice and learn as much as possible, plus i get alot of satisfaction when i finally get the lighting and pose right. Just takes me a while to get....warmed up so to speak..
We took 215 pictures during that session and the model liked 105 of them, so i told her i would edit 10 in PS for her.
I found that a few of the shots she had blown highlights in her hair as i set my lights up for dark hair and was concentrating so much on her poses and my lighting that i forgot to keep an eye on the histogram regulaly. My bad, lesson learnt. But at the end of the day the model (client) was happy and that is the most important thing.
You can see the other pics if you click on the Photobucket icon in the signiture.

Thanks J
 

MRfanny

New member
the first one is fantastic, very well lit to me and her hair is silky. i think the red background in the second pic is abit overpowering? did you use flashes or lights?
 

JGH

New member
the first one is fantastic, very well lit to me and her hair is silky. i think the red background in the second pic is abit overpowering? did you use flashes or lights?
Hi, thanks, i thiink the first pic is the best of the shoot, there were a couple of others taken in the same light but i didnt edit those as i didnt want to give the model (client) a load of pics that were all the same.
The red in the second pic is quite strong i agree (a little to much tweaking in PS). I dont have studio lights, all i have is 2 Metz 48 AF-1 flashes. Studio lights would be easier and quicker i think as they have modelling lights and i wouldnt have to take so many test shots to get the light where i want it.
As for the colour, well i dont have any gels as i cant find them here in CZ so i use lids from cosmetic products and shampoos, oh and tic tac sweets (see the Macro thread).
Today i was asked to shoot the interior of a gym for some promotional material and im crapping myself now as i have never photographed interiors before. (Im still learning to do portraits !!) To top that the owner wanted to know how much???? I have no idea, i think i will trade him some free sessons for my wife..
Thanks for taking the time to look and comment. Its gives me food for thought and confidence.

Thanks J :thumbup:
 
B

borissimo86

Guest
Absolutely beautiful! Very nice colors and lighting!! It's amazing how bright the first one is without the skin tones looking overexposed :clap:
 

JGH

New member
Absolutely beautiful! Very nice colors and lighting!! It's amazing how bright the first one is without the skin tones looking overexposed :clap:
Thanks Borissimo86 for your comment, i have to admit i was suprised at that too. There were a few shots very similar to the first but a tad darker and i remember thinking i'll just push it a fraction more, a little bit more and.... oh wow that seems to have worked.

I have done a couple more shoots since this one and have one booked for this sunday so hopefully more practice for me. :):)

J.. :salute:
 

JGH

New member
excellent work
eyes have great definition and highlights are very well controlled
Thankyou Riley, they didnt all come out as clean as these and i wished i had either taken notes or at least taken a shot of the setup as i cant remember how far the softbox was from the model.
Never mind, i will just practice more. All these were shot in manual exposure and manual flash. I have just started to expolore TTL. It seems quite good, so i think i will have a bash with it to see if it makes life a tad easier..:)
Thanks for commenting.

J...
 

JGH

New member
Re: My First (2nd) Shoot

Hi All,
Did a second shoot with Lenka on Sunday. Not sure how i feel about the images i made as i need to pay more attention to where the light falls on the model as there were many shots where the light was in the wrong place or the shadows were just iffy. Working with speedlights is great but i could really do with some proper studio lights...:LOL: yeah right J, try running that past the wife....:deadhorse:
Anyway here are three from sunday, comments good and bad welcome..







Thanks J, :salute:
 

ErikTande

New member
Good start. I think a stronger backlight could help pop her off the background a bit.

What was your lighting setup?
 

JGH

New member
Thanks for the feed back.
The first image is sort of trying to simulate a moonlit shot hence the blue and lower key.
The original image was actually shot with a full CTO gel on the flash to simulate a setting sun and this worked well but when i was experimenting in lightroom i got this effect and sort of liked it so i kept it. Maybe the blue isnt the right color to imitate moonlight or pehaps a little less of it.
The second shot was a bedsheet over a 2mx1m frame with 2 speedlights shooting through it set to F11. Lenka was standing right infront of it due to space limitations and lit from camera right with a 60x60cm softbox set to F8. I tried a 2 stop difference first but the light wrapped around her too much so i changed to a 1 stop difference and if you look at the chest and back area there is a slight amount of light wrapping around her. It was a good day and i have learnt alot but i find i dont shoot portraits as much as i would like to. But i do value the feedback from people as it helps to have more eyes with different perspectives and tastes. Thankyou for looking and commenting.

J
 

fotografz

Well-known member
Re: My First (2nd) Shoot

Rather than on the 4/3s forum, you should post this sort of stuff on the lighting forum here on GetDpi where you may get a bit more feedback. No one cares what camera format you use, it's about the lighting.

Over-all, you are doing remarkably well given that you are restricted to speed-lights.

The "moon Light" one doesn't quite work because it has too much color. IMO, your "as shot" image might benefit from converting it to B&W and tinting it ... sort of a "Blu Film Noir" approach ;).

-Marc
 

JGH

New member
Fotografz you have made that photo look exactly how i wanted it to look.
I never thought of B+W and adding a hint of color. That will work alot better.
I will have a play later and add the edited one to photobucket too.
Thanks for the fresh look and idea.

J.
 

fotografz

Well-known member
Fotografz you have made that photo look exactly how i wanted it to look.
I never thought of B+W and adding a hint of color. That will work alot better.
I will have a play later and add the edited one to photobucket too.
Thanks for the fresh look and idea.

J.
:thumbs:
 
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