My Nephew's Outdoor Portraits C&C welcome.

Fujiguy

My first real go at seriously trying to take a good portrait. His mum got him to stay still long enough to take about 10, but the rest were out of focus. They were taken with an Olympus e-400 last week. C&C welcome!

Thanks.


SOPP3 by Paraic_Evans, on Flickr


SOPP2 by Paraic_Evans, on Flickr


SOPP by Paraic_Evans, on Flickr


bw by Paraic_Evans, on Flickr

AnCatDubh

Hey Paraic, Nice images.

I'm liking the monotone'd at the end the best. The face is better lit and it draws the eyes more so than #1 which is a very similar image however with darkness / shadow on the face.

#2 and #3 are kinda average, not particularly bad but maybe not the most creative when it comes to the composition. Again they have a darkness / shadow on the face which you might have found a bit of fill flash would work wonders with. That said, they are still nice images and i'm sure the child's mam/dad would be pleased with them.

Be mindful of backgrounds. In #1, the car albeit out of focus, is a distraction within the image and unless intended it could probably have been easily excluded from the composition. Also in #3, the sign that he was leaning up against in #1 appears to be stuck into the back of his neck (this is where it is jutting out from).

Other than that just remember that sometimes with younger people you may actually be better getting candids - take 20 candids and you may get one keeper. You tend to get more natural expressions which will make for better photographs. The ones which you've presented are a little awkward in terms of the pose. That said, I like that while getting him to stand still that you've gone for an off center and non engaged angle with them.

There's hope and lots of it. As I said, there's nothing particularly bad with them but try concentrate on composition and/or getting pleasant candids in natural surroundings. Alternatively if getting to young people to pose, be prepared. It isn't as easy as say cheese.

Hope that helps.

magicbastarder

my first impression would be that the conditions were not ideal for portraiture; the light is too direct and contrasty. so you often get face in shadow, or if it's in sun, the subject squinting.

Fujiguy

AnCatDubh Thank you very much for taking the time to give me feedback, and i agree, now looking at them i see the face is too contrasted or something, and flash would have made sense. To be honest, it never even occurred to me to use flash to balance it out ( next time i will definitely remember ) next thing on my shopping list is an external flash, hopefully with a off camera trigger of some sort. The background is not great, and only after the first 3 did i even notice i should have been at 180 degrees to get the forest/greenery as a background instead. i guess that's why i am still a newbie, and that's why i need the C&C! Your post helped a lot, thank you.

magicbastarder Thanks for the feedback, yep i see that now too, next time i will be able to watch out for it, and get into a more shaded area or something. Thanks for that, appreciate it.

bullpost

If you are shooting on a day with lots of sunshine (rare these days) you can use open shade to get better subdued lighting and avoid harsh light.
See following article for more info: http://insights.betterphoto.com/2007/08/shooting-faces.html

Fujiguy

bullpost That article, and the blog itself, is a lot of help, thank you!

tororosso

Hey there, I would agree with the other posters. An Cat Dubh more or less sums up what I was thinking.

no. 4 is the best for me. Black and White works well. Nice photo

no. 1 Similar to no. 4. Would prefer that the back of the head wasn't clipped out as well although this photo might work better in black and white.

no. 2; The tree directly behind his head is a little distracting.

no. 3. Could use some fill in flash and the stand behind his neck could be remove.

Overall the fourth and first are the best in my opinion with the black and white standing out most!