After today, I learned I have a
lot more to learn about portrait shooting
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I took my K200D with the FA50 f/1.4 and Tamron Di LD 70-300 to an art gallery. Their grounds are very shady, scenic (sorta) and just nice to shoot photos in.
I came up with some okay shots, but what's troubling me is that several of my shots were
COMPLETELY out of focus. Out of about 40 shots, I had to discard 6 or so, one of which would have been outstanding
Normally, this wouldn't trouble me, but during this shoot I had
time. Time to compose, set the shot, etc. Most of the blurred shots used a f/2.8 or so, but some were totally off on larger aperatures
I have no idea what's going on.
Some of the examples (both good and bad):
Dad on tree BW conversion:
Mom and Dad Sunny
I really wanted that picture to work. The first couple of fill flash shots were
way overexposed.... I still don't know why the camera was doing that, unless maybe my shutter speed couldn't go fast enough. Notice the dad slightly OOF
The Kiss - B&W + grain conversion
Son on Ground - BW conversion
Holding Hands - BW Conversion
My favorite photo of the whole shoot isn't a portrait at all...go figure! I actually used a sharpen filter followed by a very slight gaussian blur with neato results.
Family Bridge
Can you spot the boo-boo? Here's a hint : Treehead
Couple of Bridge F/2.0
OOF strikes again
Family on Bridge Rail
I also have this with all three in focus, but the background bokeh wasn't satisfactory -- I like how this is almost the kid's portrait with additional support subjects
And finally, the finale!
Photo BooBoo Hat Trick
Not 1, or 2..but three mistakes (maybe more!).
1) Treehead
2) Strange pose (I couldn't tell them
how to pose)
3) Construction tape in background! Just noticed it about 10 minutes ago.
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Thankfully the family was really cool (I work with the dad), and it doesn't hurt that the shoot was free for them. I certainly needed the experience and it helps build my portfolio. Plus, they got 35 free digital photos and I printed about 10 4x6s for them.
Any critiques and comments welcome -- I think I need to make a list of Do's and Don'ts, as I seemlingly forgot about the treehead rule, etc.