[robbo]

I am trying to improve my portraitures. I am sure that 99% of my portraits will be of a more spontanious nature at this point. I am curious as to some advice about how much of the frame to fill with the subject, etc. and best first steps to learn in post production to improve the quality. Your C&C on this shot would be appreciated as well.

[marcinklysewicz]

robbo
1. it's overexposed. if you are using manual pay attension to exposure time - it's always better for your photo when you make it too dark then too bright. then using some software you could correct it easly.
2. colours - always remember to choose the right source of light, when it's wrong it'll affect colours. here you had nice sun light and colours should be really warm and nice, they are rather cold.
3. sharpness, DOF and composition are ok.

[robbo]

Thanks. The original was a little darker. I decided to lighten it up a bit to be able to see her eyes some more. I will go back an play with it soem more. Thanks for the advice.

[chrisa]

I think you've captured a good spontaneous shot here. You've got one important thing right imo, eye contact.

In terms of frame filling, with portraits I would go for as frame filling as you can get, unless the surroundings are important part of the image. I think you've got this well composed and used good DOF to get the subject to 'pop' out of the background.

[Rob Barron]

The composition here is lovely and works really well. It is a stop too light so I'd back it down a bit robbo but other than that it is a lovely natural moment captured well I am not entirely sure that the over-exposure is just down to your PP work though as there is some burn out on the hair over her left shoulder. If the original has detail there then I would back this off until the detail reappaears, that will give you a reasonable reference point as to what the right level of light should be.

I think when Marcin mentioned selecting the right light source he was refering to the White Balance as you didn't have any choice over the light source (I've often wished I could turn the sun up or down but so far have failed <g>) but I don't think the white balance is a problem here. The colours look a bit light as mentioned above but they also look natural. There is no colour cast here so I think the WB is fine.

I love natural portraits like this, well done

Cheers,
Rob

[robbo]

I backed it down a notch and changed the crop slightly. Her hair is still a little blown out. She does look a little warmer. There was a crear blue sky and a lot of sun. I had a polarizer and may have wanted to change the WB from cloudy to sunny - my camera's presetting for snow is cloudy and exp +0.3. I try to mimic that in A or S, but maybe should look to change the WB. I feel like I almost know what I am talking about now!

[Dabhand16]

That second one is much better

[Rob Barron]

Definite improvement, you've done really well Robbo. Doesn't it feel great when you ask for advice but YOU go and put it into practice and pull off a real improvement Well done.

Cheers,
Rob

[robbo]

[quote=Rob Barron;187841]Definite improvement, you've done really well Robbo. Doesn't it feel great when you ask for advice but YOU go and put it into practice and pull off a real improvement Well done.


Yes, Rob, it does feel good. I am on a one week streak where I am starting to feel more confident. I am reading a Tom Ang book that is giving me some good project/challenge ideas to just to go shoot every day life within made-up parameters (ie. shoot everything you see that is red) to get my mind off of trying to fill page 72 in an Ansel Adams book.

Also, I owe a great deal of my improvement to this site. Seeing what others shoot, making silent critiques of it in my head, and comparing those to the comments of professionals has been a big help.

[Rob Barron]

You are coming on really well Rob. Just keep on taking it steadily and learning as you go. It's the best way but there are no short cuts. The more committed you are to learning (which you clearly are) the faster you will learn

Keep it up matey,
Rob