Hey all.

Did my first-ever freebie portrait shoot with a couple of great young people I met via a mutual friend. We shot the photos late in the day at the beach, and I used a radio-triggered Sunpak 422D on a tripod shooting through a cheap white "softbox" umbrella. All were shot in manual exposure mode.









For the moment, I'm doing some free portraits of local people to gain experience in that area, and also to build up something of a portfolio for when I want to start making a few side dollars at it.

Cheers,
Bobbo :-)

[jford]

I think the portrait of him alone is pretty good, and the first of her alone is good, although she looks a little uncomfortable. However, if you want to present people at their best, you need to watch details. The worst offense I see is the soles of her feet in the third - yes, feet are naturally dirty, but probably not what you want immortalized in a portrait. Also take a look at some of the books on posing, to get advice on ways to pose people to best effect. I found Christopher Grey's "Master Lighting Guide for Portrait Photography" (or something like that) pretty useful, even though the title doesn't suggest posing.
Making money at photography is especially hard these days, since everybody has a camera or an uncle/brother/cousin with a camera.
Good luck.

[luftfluss]

I think the portrait of him alone is pretty good, and the first of her alone is good, although she looks a little uncomfortable. However, if you want to present people at their best, you need to watch details. The worst offense I see is the soles of her feet in the third - yes, feet are naturally dirty, but probably not what you want immortalized in a portrait.

It's like you read my mind...

I bet next session - if there is one - they will be a lot more relaxed and natural.

[GibbyTheMole]

I bet next session - if there is one - they will be a lot more relaxed and natural.

There will be. They really like the photos & want more. Her mom was hanging around, and I think she felt a little conspicuous. Here's another one:



Thanks for the input, all.
Bobbo :-)

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Last edited by GibbyTheMole; 07-22-2012 at 07:14 AM.

[jford]

Nicest one of her, IMO. Please understand - I liked the one where she was lying down - it was just the DIRT on her feet. I used to tape the bottom of model's shoes to keep the paper from having scuff-marks. You can't tape her soles - but you can supply "wet wipes", etc.

[GibbyTheMole]

Nicest one of her, IMO. Please understand - I liked the one where she was lying down - it was just the DIRT on her feet. I used to tape the bottom of model's shoes to keep the paper from having scuff-marks. You can't tape her soles - but you can supply "wet wipes", etc.

Yeah, we actually re-did those barefoot shots during our last session I just did yesterday, only this time with clean feet. When we did the first version of that shot, she tried to clean them off best she could with wet wipes, (You shoulda seen them before she cleaned them. Yikes!) but we decided to give it a go anyway.

Those first shots I posted were pretty much straight out of the camera with a little exposure tweaking, and digital airbrushing. I know a lot of toggers look down on effects, etc., so I posted the first ones pretty much the way they were taken. Personally, I prefer the punched up versions of these. Here's a similar "Filter Forged" version I took of the guy:



Same shot as above, but much more dramatic, which I like. I'll see what comes out of this new session & maybe post a couple more.

Thanks for your advice. As a guy who has shot zero formal portraits up 'til now, I need all the help I can get. Ya live & learn...

Cheers
Bobbo :-)