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Well, today was a big step for me, i have been asked quite a few times for doing portrait from friends but never taken any seriously until today.

to be honest, i am pretty glad for whole the process and outcome, and i have to say doing portrait is actually a lot more fun than i thought. i used to be pretty against it as i spent so much time on automotive photography and never believe that i can do other styles of photography.

anyway, i decided to go light on my gears since this was the first time, so i packed the 85 f1.4, 105 f2 dc, both sb900 and sb600 and i started.

big thanks to this guy: james aka my assistant aka my flash bitch for helping me sort out the lighting (nothing is better than human voice control remote speedlite and stand)


so here is the first set - Zenzi, a young talented uni student. just a few pics for now, should have a few more once finish editing.















feedbacks are welcome, i would like to hear what you guys think.
thanks

Not bad at all as your first outdoor portrait!! You got a nice looking model and your pictures turned out quite nice too!
second to last photo is my favourite. but be careful with the skin tone/white balance when shooting under shaded area as the skin may look greenish

My other comment would be, Zenzi seems a bit nervous and not really relax? For portrait photos, peoeple skills is just as important as your camera skills. If you can make your model feels relax , then the photos will look great. Unfortunately it's something easier said than done.. i'm still learning how to do it

hey wait a minute, yesterday? portrait at mission bay when there was a tsumani warning?

(10-01-2009 06:54 AM)yellow15 Wrote: [ -> ]Not bad at all as your first outdoor portrait!! You got a nice looking model and your pictures turned out quite nice too!
second to last photo is my favourite. but be careful with the skin tone/white balance when shooting under shaded area as the skin may look greenish

My other comment would be, Zenzi seems a bit nervous and not really relax? For portrait photos, peoeple skills is just as important as your camera skills. If you can make your model feels relax , then the photos will look great. Unfortunately it's something easier said than done.. i'm still learning how to do it

thanks for the comment yellow15, i couldn't agree with you more on the 2 points you raise.
1. the white balance and getting the skin tone right was a totally disaster yesterday, i have never experienced changing white balance setting so many times during a shoot before. as it was pretty cloudy, i started with 5850k, but wasn't any good, at the end of the day, i was pushing upto 6300k with fine tuning towards the red a bit.

2. i can definitely see what you meant by people skills is important. you are correct, zenzi was nervous, so was I as both of us were noob on this, first time for her as well! the first 50 or so shots were completely a waste as her smile wasn't really natural and body was bit tensed, but as the day pasted, both of us kind of found the right facial expression to pose. one thing i found was whenever i told her to do a pose, her body/lines came out stiff (even i told her to be relax), so at the end i just told her to do whatever movement and when i see something good, i will tell her to freez and take the shot

(10-01-2009 09:45 AM)yellow15 Wrote: [ -> ]hey wait a minute, yesterday? portrait at mission bay when there was a tsumani warning?

hehe it was at easten beach, we were going to do it in the morning, but due to the heavy rain, we started around town, and moved back to east side closer to evening. i was pretty certain the tsunami would have been past by then, otherwise i would have some mean tsunami shots.

yeah portrait is quite hard but zenzi looks great in the photos!

I like the last two photos the most!

Nice shoot EGD.

These are just purely my opinion. I usually say this because I am not a professional and what I have to say is really just what I think.

The model definitely looks tensed and it shows on her pose. I understand you are rather nervous too. I have learned a few things from my portrait shoots.

-Explain to the model what you are shooting and what you are trying to achieve. Eg. top body / whole body. After ever few shots, reflect with the model and show her the shots so that you both know what is not working and what is working.

-Direct her on her poses. If its her first time, she will naturally be more conservative. She will also not know what poses will accentuate her features.

I won't comment on the photographs as the lighting, contrast etc looks ok to me. Maybe the green tone in the last couple of shots but I am sure you can fix that quite easily.

I noticed that there were only 2 shots of which she was looking at the camera. Was this on purpose?

I think you did a good job, looking forward to seeing more.

thanks for your comments CTM, will definitely keep them in mind next time. and maybe next time i will set up a pre photoshoot meet with the model, and just go through some of those with them, that way we both have some ideas on whats goin to happen during the shoot and have a better flow of communication.

um, i didn't notice that there were only few shots she was looking at the camera, but i did ask her quite a few times looking at my assistant.

and a few more shots:

Some more nice photos there EGD! #1 in this set is my favourite..

yes i agree with CTM that there is no need to comment on individual photos as it's just your first portrait photoshoot and you did very well and there is nothing really wrong with your photos.
But i want to give one more comment, for portraits, try not to tilt/rotate the camera too much. Tilting the camera slightly is not a bad idea and can make the photo more alive.. but unlike car photos, making the model "standing" at 30+ degree for a static shot is generally not a good idea.

but yeah well done!! remember to show us more photos in the future!

(10-01-2009 05:47 PM)EGD Wrote: [ -> ]thanks for your comments CTM, will definitely keep them in mind next time. and maybe next time i will set up a pre photoshoot meet with the model, and just go through some of those with them, that way we both have some ideas on whats goin to happen during the shoot and have a better flow of communication.

I find that alot of the time, the model / subject has no idea how to pose and feel uncomfortable posing. Your idea of the pre-photoshoot meet is an excellent idea. If you have samples to show her, it makes it even better for her to understand.

I have learnt that shooting portraits isn't just taking a photo, its a act to get the model feeling right, posing right, enjoying herself and getting the results they want.

What I have found is, what we as photographs perceive as "correct" or "right" is not always what the model / client wants. What they expect want is alot simpler than what we are trying to produce. If ever in doubt, go simple and keep it fun!! Let the model be who she wants to be!

#4 she looks rather comfortable. Which is good !

nice shots, keep up the good work! Looking forward to seeing more!