Someone requested to see a couple more of these. I rented a lens, and was just playing around with my friend who was a great model. Open to criticism but I'm far from a professional and I don't pretend to be anything I'm not, so be nice lol. It was the middle of the day and the sun was either crazy bright or behind the cloud for a few moments of better lighting, so the lighting is a little different depending on the photo.

[Schraubstock]

Hi
All good, nothing wrong with the lighting and execution of the pics. In fact I like natural light photography, simply, to get good results often requires advanced photographic skills. You and your model have have done well to capture that "retro" look.

Unfortunately, in the true sense of authenticity, the model's body modifications don't do anything to enhance the retro spirit of the images.

What I will never understand, however, is the willingness of people to mutilate themselves. Like all fashion trends they appear quickly and disappear often as quickly which makes body modifications, well, a "permanent fashion trend".

There are two things young people will regret when they get to mature age: Facebook and tattoos.

(As always, my personal opinion is the only one I wish to express)

Cheers

[osv]

i think it's great, well done

[RGlasel]

It looks like the two of you had a good time doing this and I really like the creativity behind the poses. If you want to try this again, I would suggest using a longer focal length, say 50mm, avoid apertures narrower than f5.6 (or maybe even f4) and watch out for either bright white backgrounds or overly cluttered backgrounds (like the multiple Hot Rod covers). Try to isolate the model (make the eye stay focused on her) or the model in juxtaposition with only one other element (say the sign on the door or the handlebars on the bicycle). Take this for what it's worth, free advice from someone who has very little experience with portraits himself.

[debakarma]

For midday shooting you can hardly get better, except with a lot of props. I am beginning to hate props and accessories - carrying all that stuff - so I have gone minimalistic. I must say, you did a fantastic job. I love that last shot.

[Schraubstock]

apertures narrower than f5.6 (or maybe even f4) and watch out for either bright white backgrounds or overly cluttered backgrounds (like the multiple Hot Rod covers). Try to isolate the model (make the eye stay focused on her)

Hi
You are both right and wrong. (How is this for constructive advice)
My leaning would be to keep enough of the background recognisable (perhaps just a bit blurry) to have enough of the retro information contributing to the image so both the model and the setting form a unit to underline the intent of the creation. This is the "no" part of my answer.

The "yes" part of course makes sense also but I feel this would make more sense where the background is not so much of a retro look itself.

I better stop analysing otherwise I don't know myself in the end what I am talking about.

Cheers

[laughlady99]

It looks like the two of you had a good time doing this and I really like the creativity behind the poses. If you want to try this again, I would suggest using a longer focal length, say 50mm, avoid apertures narrower than f5.6 (or maybe even f4) and watch out for either bright white backgrounds or overly cluttered backgrounds (like the multiple Hot Rod covers). Try to isolate the model (make the eye stay focused on her) or the model in juxtaposition with only one other element (say the sign on the door or the handlebars on the bicycle). Take this for what it's worth, free advice from someone who has very little experience with portraits himself.

Appreciate the advice, thank you!

---------- Post added 04-06-16 at 08:15 AM ----------

For midday shooting you can hardly get better, except with a lot of props. I am beginning to hate props and accessories - carrying all that stuff - so I have gone minimalistic. I must say, you did a fantastic job. I love that last shot.

Thank you!

---------- Post added 04-06-16 at 08:31 AM ----------

Hi
All good, nothing wrong with the lighting and execution of the pics. In fact I like natural light photography, simply, to get good results often requires advanced photographic skills. You and your model have have done well to capture that "retro" look.

Unfortunately, in the true sense of authenticity, the model's body modifications don't do anything to enhance the retro spirit of the images.

What I will never understand, however, is the willingness of people to mutilate themselves. Like all fashion trends they appear quickly and disappear often as quickly which makes body modifications, well, a "permanent fashion trend".

There are two things young people will regret when they get to mature age: Facebook and tattoos.

(As always, my personal opinion is the only one I wish to express)

Cheers

I definitely understand where you're coming from, I don't think I've seen any big 40's or 50's models that were tattooed, though tattooing dates waaaaay back before the pinup era so now i'm curious lol. The earlobe stretching is a bit more of a "stretch" than the tattoos I think lol. However when it comes to regret, knowing myself and many many other tattooed individuals of all ages, I can say that regret probably happens way less than you'd like to believe. It's basically just a different form of creativity & expression, and for the folks to feel they may have went a little too far on something specifically, the methods of tattoo removal and reconstruction of earlobes, etc, are becoming better all the time. Facebook scares me way more, haha....

---------- Post added 04-06-16 at 08:32 AM ----------

i think it's great, well done

Thank you!

[KLAATU]

She is Beautiful!!!
The perfect Woman to play the part...
I just Love it. Thank You.

[sherrvonne]

She reminds me of my daughter, lol

[Kerrowdown]

Someone requested to see a couple more of these

That someone were me.

You mentioned in the other post, that it was part of a shoot and I was interested to see what else you got.

[robgski]

My opinion about Modern body modifications aside, I think the model had the right look for the hot rod culture and hot rod pinups of today, which is usually not a recreation of the look, but an homage or a pastiche of retro and new. Your model has the right look and attitude to fit right into that style.

As for the photos, bravo! The colors are nice and bold which fits to the pin up style. The car and restaurant door as settings/props, were great choices for the most part.
The bike is incongruous, but if you don't try a prop you don't know if it will work for the shot or not, and you go with what you have on hand.

I also applaud you making the best of the lighting conditions, better than not taking photos at all, and I think the contrast was well balanced , did you use reflectors or flashes?

I think you got the DOF right for each shot, in some pictures, the models face is the centerpiece, it is clear and sharp and all else should be slightly OOF, but in the longer shot, leaning on the car and at teh restauratn door, those things are part of the overall shot, mood setting, as opposed to a modelling portfolio, so having more DOF in focus is the right choice.

Cool pix, and I'm biased because I love this style of photography, but your pictures really did come out very well.

[laughlady99]

My opinion about Modern body modifications aside, I think the model had the right look for the hot rod culture and hot rod pinups of today, which is usually not a recreation of the look, but an homage or a pastiche of retro and new. Your model has the right look and attitude to fit right into that style.

As for the photos, bravo! The colors are nice and bold which fits to the pin up style. The car and restaurant door as settings/props, were great choices for the most part.
The bike is incongruous, but if you don't try a prop you don't know if it will work for the shot or not, and you go with what you have on hand.

I also applaud you making the best of the lighting conditions, better than not taking photos at all, and I think the contrast was well balanced , did you use reflectors or flashes?

I think you got the DOF right for each shot, in some pictures, the models face is the centerpiece, it is clear and sharp and all else should be slightly OOF, but in the longer shot, leaning on the car and at teh restauratn door, those things are part of the overall shot, mood setting, as opposed to a modelling portfolio, so having more DOF in focus is the right choice.

Cool pix, and I'm biased because I love this style of photography, but your pictures really did come out very well.

Thank you! I appreciate that you (and everyone) took the time to sit down and respond with your thoughts and suggestions! I did not use any type of reflector or flash, I would certainly like to play around with that one day though (not much $$, what's the best cheap reflector to get? I usually use manual lenses (this one was a rental, so it was a little nicer than what I own) so I'm just picturing myself trying to figure out how to use a reflector and use both hands on the camera at the same time, with sunlight changing and people moving around, sounds complicated haha). A lot of the bright color and clarity was honestly done in photoshop/lightroom, the SOOC shots didn't look anywhere near these, lol! I was chasing her 2 twin toddlers out of the car during the shots as well! It was fun and I'm happy they turned out as good as they did

[sealonsf]

Fun! Well done.

[KLAATU]

Twin Toddlers, that adds to my Love of this Photo Shoot...

[robgski]

what's the best cheap reflector to get?

This is the reflector kit I am ordering

Renitng lenses is a great idea, I use borrowlenses.com and I love the variety that is available for Pentax.