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How do I improve my portraits?
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Hello all!
This is my first crit post, be gentle! :)
A few people have asked me to shoot their children. With the camera, like. Anyway, all my shots come out really flat and dull looking, I’m not at all impressed by them. See an example image here:
Further portrait samples on my website if that wasn’t bad enough for ya.
I’m not on a proper DSLR yet, using a fuji s9600. I have two external flashes, one which I sit on the camera and one I put on a tripod and trigger remotely. I can’t afford a proper lighting system, and my backgrounds are all bedsheets :oops: I see some magnificent portrait work out there, is that how it comes out of your camera or are the wonders of photoshop involved? Any help would be greatly appreciated, and please feel free to edit my pictures as you see fit. A little moustache on the girl, maybe..
There are some good tutorials on this site
https://www.photographyireland.net/viewtopic.php?t=155
There’s nothing wrong with your lighting equipment, a flash on camera for fill and a main light off camera is great for most portrait work, I can’t see the evidence of any flash in the shot you posted. One of the key elements of portraits is to be able to see the eyes.
All the best
Si
As Si Said, try to get your subjects to look at the camera,,,
I dont know how you feel about Photoshopping etc but it can be used to help with these kinda shots…
I used the healing brush to clear the spot on the wee lassies forehead,
adjusted the levels to brighten the whole shot,
Adjusted the contrast to lessen the shadows,
sharpened with Unsharp mask
Sighted Blurred with Gaussian Blur
Cropped a little tighter
Added a narrow black border
with this result…
Something to attract their attention at camera level would have helped here. Heard of someone around here some years ago used to have someone creep into the room with a big blown up hammer and pretend to knock the photographer on the head, the reaction on the children’s faces worked!
We have political correctness now, so……..Folks,
Thanks so much for taking the time to advise! Pippatee, love what you did to it, the colours are way more vibrant :)
Ifor and others, I do know what you mean about getting them to look at the camera, but they’re a lively pair – this had to be snapped immediately, because 99% of the time they are beating each other’s heads in, this was quite an unusual pose :) Getting someone to attack the photographer just might work, though :)
Deirdre
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