Critique First tries at portraits - crits wanted!

35millimetre

35millimetre

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Name
Charlotte
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Hello all. I've been trying to branch out from mostly film-based photography to improve my skills using digital and simple on-camera lighting. I've had two lovely volunteers to practice on, and I'm looking for some pointers and advice as to how I could improve my portraits further.

These are for an actress looking for headshots - they had to be fairly neutral.

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These are for a friend looking for a new avatar/portrait to use around the internet and for work purposes.
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Hi Charlotte, I admit I am no portrait photographer but if I could give my first impressions of the portraits?

I feel they could do with a little more fill light on them, even with a reflector just to lift the shadows.
I am drawn to the composition of #2 of the young woman and #1 of the fella, I think it's the head tilt that make these more interesting, not having the eyes level works better IMHO.

I would be mindful of backgrounds too, I find the background in the second young woman shot a little bright, i feel it distracts the viewers eye away from the subject.

As mentioned, these are first impression observations, please feel free to ignore. :D
 
I like the pose in the second shot of the actress but, as already mentioned, the background does detract quite a bit.

I feel that if you had some woodland nearby the shots could have really looked good - but not straight on shots - unless you're really talented, and have a studio, they really work.
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I'd agree with what Iain said regarding composition, the two he picked out are the better.

I'd also watch your white balance, the difference between the two shots of the guy is vey noticeable, you can see the browns in his hair in the second shot as its much warmer, the coldness of the first shot makes it look totally different.
 
The first of the woman needs a little more light around the eyes, either a reflector or a little fill flash, also it looks a little cool so maybe a white balance adjustment.

In the second one the green of the background is great, just a pity about the whatever it is :), also a touch more light on the eyes.

The first of the chap is probably the best of these, a little white balance adjustment to warm it slightly would be great :)

The last one just needs a little more light in my opinion.

These are the views of a photographer, the views of a client/friend are a lot different.
 
cowboy said:
The first of the woman needs a little more light around the eyes, either a reflector or a little fill flash, also it looks a little cool so maybe a white balance adjustment.

In the second one the green of the background is great, just a pity about the whatever it is :), also a touch more light on the eyes.

The first of the chap is probably the best of these, a little white balance adjustment to warm it slightly would be great :)

The last one just needs a little more light in my opinion.

These are the views of a photographer, the views of a client/friend are a lot different.
Click to expand...
:agree: plus maybe a little under exposed but a reflector or fill will also sort that out
 
Thank you all! Will try to grab a reflector for next time I shoot a willing victim, and stick to more neutral backgrounds.

Does anyone have any advice for keeping white balance levels the same through different shots/environments? I use Lightroom and the sync function, bit even then I find sometimes the light colour can differ from shot to shot. I usually do property photography, and this would help a lot there too!
 
Are you shooting auto white balance? Get a grey card and get them to hold it for a test shot then use the dropper tool in lightroom to set the correct white balance. Of course, you can tweak it to suit afterwards if you're not happy with it.
 
minnnt said:
Are you shooting auto white balance? Get a grey card and get them to hold it for a test shot then use the dropper tool in lightroom to set the correct white balance. Of course, you can tweak it to suit afterwards if you're not happy with it.
Click to expand...

I am, then tweaking it in Lightroom if I notice it looks off afterwards. I'll try this - thanks!
 
All of them are underexposed and cool looking WB. There are tonnes of books and tutorials on taking portraits and Christmas is just around the corner :)
If you want to do this professionally, get yourself a solid foundation in the basics.
Then when your friends kindly give you their time you will be able to produce the goods without any worries.

Your focus, DoF and connection is there, so work on the other aspects and you will have some winners
 
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dade_f said:
All of them are underexposed and cool looking WB. There are tonnes of books and tutorials on taking photography and Christmas is just around the corner :)
If you want to do this professionally, get yourself a solid foundation in the basics.
Then when your friends kindly give you their time you will be able to produce the goods without any worries.

Your focus, DoF and connection is there, so work on the other aspects and you will have some winners
Click to expand...

Thanks - had a look through some of your portraits and WOW. Don't think I'll ever be in that league, haha :)
 
Thanks - they do look warmer and better exposed in your edits. I'll spend more time on getting the basics right - thanks all :)
 
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