I have never had much opportunity to play around with portrait photography. I managed to talk my daughter and wife into sitting for me. My daughter said "Dad you get 2 picture then I am out of here". She was true to her word - ha ha. My wife was a bit easier. I bribed her with a nice glass of wine and the opportunity for a chat. I decided to use natural light for the shots.


I placed my daughter next to a window in our eating area. The afternoon light (3:30) illuminated her right side. I used a home made reflector to fill in the non illuminate left side of her face. (reflector made from crumpled aluminum foil, re-flattened, secured to a piece of cardboard, approx 12x14)






I seated my wife in the same location. It was late afternoon (4:30) and the light had acquired a much warmer tone. I decided to try something a bit different. I grabbed some wax paper and taped it to the window to serve as a diffuser, leaving only the center area unaffected. Once again I used my home made reflector to fill in the non illuminated side.

[and]

I'll join in on the praise. these are great, the sharpness is amazing, a combination of tripod and an outstanding lens that was very well focused. outstanding.

I will try to contribute some comments too, I think the first one has been cropped to a non standard format? can be tricky to print and frame. I would go with portrait orientation like in the second shot. For the first I like everything but would suggest to have your daughter face the light a bit more so its not a clear split down the noose, id move the camera as well so you get the same shot with just a bit more light on the other side of the face. More like the way your wife was lit, albeit in her case I would also move the camera a bit so she wasnt facing so much to the side and a slightly more generous crop so as not to cut the hair on the left side.

some notes. but, again these are already great!

[codiac2600]

Thanks everyone for the support and encouragement. I was just thinking about cardinal43's reference to the freckles across the bridge of my daughter’s nose. She is just starting to explore the makeup world. Soon those freckles will just be a distant memory...... or with a few more bribes, and a few more sittings, maybe I can have my 13 year old for a bit longer. I urge everyone to snap a picture or two of their kids, or grandchildren this weekend. Youth is the one thing we all lose.

You're making this assignment too hard... now I need to convince a girl to have a child with me and have it ready by this weekend. Bun making ain't that fast!

[ChrisM]

spyglass - wonderful portraits! Is your 50mm f1.2 the "M" or "A" version?

[spyglass]

Thank you for the constructive comments And. I agree with you on the first shot of my daughter. I will redo the crop to include the upper tip of her head. With only getting her to sit for 2 shots I did not have much time to pull a rabbit out of my hat - ha ha. I would have liked to get more of a soft linear light fade starting from just off center line of her face. It is an excellent point about cropping to remember finial printing sizes for fames, etc. Thank you for that. I was too "focused on the image.
I was fairly happy with the results with my wife. I wanted to create an air of something leading the photo. I find it intriguing when I see a photo and it appears that the subject knows something that we don't know, or we get a glimpse into something about the subject that is bigger than first noticed. Looking at old glamour photographs from the 40's and 50's you get a sense that the models were indifferent to the photographer and viewing audience. Not in an insulting or offensive way, just more like they were preoccupied somehow.

ChrisM my lens is manual. There is no "A" position on the aperature ring. Focusing is thumb and index finger I know I will get some raised eyebrows from saying this, but I tend to like the older lenses and glass. This 50mm lens is surprisingly heavy, and built like a tank. I was lucky to find it used in pristine condition. It has become my favorite lens.