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I don't really have a question, just want to vent in a place where somebody might be able to commiserate. I'm a student intern with my university's public relations department. Our theater department is notoriously bad at scheduling our university photographer for shoots, even though they know what shows they're doing and have internal schedules months in advance. Anyway, this morning, the photographer that I assist gets an e-mail "reminding" him about photo call (promotional shots) this evening. Unfortunately for them, he's got H1N1, so I got assigned photo call. Fortunately for me, nobody in the PR department cared if I totally hosed up.  I was told that this shot, like all photo calls, would be with the actors in costume, on the completed set, with completed stage lighting. We're not allowed to use any of our own lighting to shoot them, no matter how hideous the stage lighting may be (last photo call was dark as hell and entirely backlit... here are your silhouettes, Mr. Director!). So I show up today with an assortment of lenses, but no lighting equipment. Walk to the stage... nobody there. Half-finished set. No lighting. Awesome. The director eventually showed up and informed me that since the set wasn't finished on time, we'd be doing photo call "in a room with nice furniture." They take me to a glorified waiting room with two recessed ceiling lights and a handful of dim lamps. She wouldn't let me run back to the office to grab proper lighting equipment, so I got to shoot all of photo call with available light. At that point I had no qualms putting her staff to work, so I had a couple of them move furniture around to make use of the ceiling lights, while making the assistant director hold a floor lamp and maneuver the lamp shade to bounce some fill light onto their faces. It seemed like a disaster at the time, especially considering it was my first legitimate solo portrait session, but it's certainly something I'll remember for a long time about thinking on my feet. I had to dump the photos at the office without getting a chance to look through them, but I'll grab a few selects tomorrow and share them, hopefully they didn't turn out too terribly. ...oh god that was way too long, sorry about that. Feels good to get it off my chest though.
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Nov 3, 2009 04:56
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nonanone posted:Not bad, especially for a paper. Will you be erasing the 'sanitary blah blah" though? It's killing me, that's the only thing I'm really staring at. Hopefully not, if it is indeed for a newspaper, as distracting as it may be. 
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Nov 19, 2009 16:47
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nonanone posted:Oh, that didn't even occur to me. I guess you shouldn't then...(*is used to fashion where entire face and body shapes are changed*) Yeah I come from a journalism background, so that's definitely where my head is most of the time. I've been doing some PR work for a university the past few months, and the differences in ethics are really weird to get used to.
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Nov 19, 2009 19:27
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I don't know that this is really the right thread for this, but I need to vent somewhere. Huge group photos are a huge pain in the rear end. When that huge group is every sorority on campus, ten times so. Ugh.
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Jan 27, 2010 18:50
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There was actually another photographer on the second floor behind me who did another round of shots to get more of them visible, but she kept messing with the exposure and most of them didn't come out so hot. And about that front row pose, I have no idea. I then had to do group shots of each sorority individually, and most of them did the same thing. There was a woman with me who was basically a handler, her sole job was to arrange them and get them all to shut the gently caress up for two seconds to let me take a photograph. That's still the best shot of like ten. Ugh.
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Jan 27, 2010 19:18
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Paragon8 posted:Positive critique incoming - you absolutely nailed the processing. I wouldn't worry too much about head trees if you're shooting with a wide aperture. It's only bad when everything when everything is in razor sharp focus. Meh, to each his own, but I definitely notice poo poo growing out of heads and it very often bothers me. I often throw out quite a few sports action photos for the same reason, when there's very little control. That being said, I only notice poo poo like that after becoming more serious about photography myself, so who knows what the general public would think. Case by case, I suppose.
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Mar 7, 2010 22:23
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Agreeing with torgeaux about the background distractions. In addition, I'd crop out the ugly ceiling vent, and straighten your horizon line. On the plus side, I like the nice, even lighting on her face, and the red jacket really pops.
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Mar 8, 2010 18:21
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I've been shooting for about a year now, and most of my photography has been sports action and spot news. I desperately need to improve my portraiture, so I'm trying to force myself to practice. Last week I had the opportunity to shoot a softball pitcher, and arranged to borrow my friend's sweet Dyanlite kit. Unfortunately, the battery died almost immediately and so I was forced to use solely available light, I didn't even think to have a reflector handy (lesson learned). Anyway, thoughts? I'm sure it's a cliche pose, but it was one of the few spots I could find diffuse light to avoid the harsh afternoon sun. 
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Apr 13, 2010 04:30
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TsarAleksi posted:I just don't see how it conveys 'pitcher.' It didn't necessarily need to, it was for a profile the student paper was doing on her as a person who happens to be a softball pitcher. e: Still a valid point though, and definitely something to keep in mind.
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Apr 13, 2010 05:17
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Hey guys, I feel like a douche posting a photo for review without adding any critique of my own, but I'm only just getting started in portraiture and so I don't really know what I'm looking for yet. Hope that's okay! I'm looking for feedback on lighting, posing, and what you think of the crop... so, everything. 
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May 10, 2010 04:44
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digitalhifi posted:The smile looks kinda wonky, but maybe that's just how the model looks? Also it looks like she's gripping her leg unnecessarily tight. I like the location and the lighting looks nice. Why did you choose this location? Does it have any meaning to the person photographed? Just some food for thought. Yeah, unfortunately she's got crazy teeth. And the hand was something I noticed after reviewing photos at home, not at the time of the shoot, and I was hoping I was just being overly nitpicky with that observation. Good to know it's as obvious as I thought. This location was actually sort of an accident. We had been shooting in two other spots in the area, and just sort of stumbled across these stairs on the way out and decided to play around. This ended up being her favorite location/pose from the day. No real meaning, but I know what you mean, something to keep in mind. Paragon8 posted:The curve of her back isn't terribly flattering. She's kind of hunched over, be sure to direct models to keep their shoulders back and backs straight. Good call on the back/shoulders, thanks, something I hadn't even considered. Same with the clothes. I have more, but I liked this one because of the relatively clean background behind her head. Most of the rest either have a railing shooting through her head or that ugly green drainpipe growing out of it. A couple uncropped/unedited originals from the same location/pose:    
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May 10, 2010 14:11
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Paragon8 posted:I like the un-cropped version a lot more actually. Well I don't like that one because of the drainpipe head, but here's the one I do like uncropped:  I cropped in from the right to clean up the background by getting rid of the door, and down from the top to emphasize the framing of the rails over her head. What sort of crop would you prefer?
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May 10, 2010 14:24
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FakeHipster posted:I figured this was tangentially related to portraiture and wondering whether you had any advice for on the fly portraits. Don't look skeezy, be friendly, be open and honest, and have fun!
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May 27, 2010 22:30
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Gold reflectors can also be fun to play around with, produces some nice warm light without the harshness of silver.
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Sep 9, 2010 17:27
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I've definitely come full circle. I used to be afraid of lights, shooting au naturale, then picked up some lights and used them more and more to the point where they were almost a crutch, and now I'm back to trying to use as much natural light as possible when it makes sense. A reflector is a wonderful tool! e: This is obviously a ridiculously stupid generalization but I think you know what I mean.
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Sep 17, 2010 19:29
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Haven't had any time for portraiture for the past few weeks, but was able to squeeze in some time yesterday for this girl who wanted some swimsuit shots before it gets too cold. As it turns out, I had no idea how to pose this! (Didn't realize this was the sort of thing she wanted beforehand.) She didn't either, so it was sort of trial by fire. These were all using natural evening light, as I've been using the same lighting setup rather repetitively and wanted to force myself to try something new.  IMG_8887 by RMK86, on Flickr  IMG_9144 by RMK86, on Flickr  IMG_9349 by RMK86, on Flickr  IMG_9369 by RMK86, on Flickr e: Fixed the HTML/BBcode mishap
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Oct 13, 2010 22:06
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Cannister posted:I know you didn't ask me but cutting off the feet on a shot like this makes me feel uncomfortable. The framing looks like a mistake this way. Agreed. The feet themselves may not be the most important thing, but when you cut off just the tip like that it feels like a mistake instead of an intentional decision. I'd either leave some room below the feet or intentionally crop higher (probably the former).
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Oct 28, 2010 15:52
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sildargod posted:As a matter of interest, the line cutting through her leg is completely distracting me. All I can see is blackwhiteblack horizontal liiiine. Plus the plugpoint. The model is awesome though, she could definitely work stronger poses. Nah it's not you, all those elements are pretty distracting for me too and the first thing my eyes are drawn to. I agree that you should try and work with the model more though! BobTheCow fucked around with this message at 17:01 on Nov 8, 2010 |
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Nov 8, 2010 16:58
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AtomicManiac posted:I had a TFP shoot with a model off MM last week, so I could test out my new triggers. The shoot went really awkward, the model was crazy shy and didn't really open up despite our best efforts (I shoot with a friend for fun). I kind of feel like that effected a lot of the pictures, plus it was crazy cold and for some reason I decided it would be okay to shoot after sun-set (Which has never worked for me). On top of that, I discovered my Vagabond has decided to poo poo itself out, so rather than finally getting to try out two lights, I was stuck using just a 430exii. The composition/crop bothers me in both of these. Lots of negative space on top but cutting off or nearly cutting off feet at the lower edges. That's the first thing that jumps out at me, tough to see past.
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Jan 7, 2011 03:58
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Cross_ posted:8 more weeks to go until our due date I would also be interested in this! I have a newborn shoot coming up and would like to follow it up with a few more, but I haven't studied a whole lot in this genre because frankly they weird me out a little and I've never been in the position to shoot them myself in the past.
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Jan 12, 2011 23:18
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psylent posted:Righto, I've taken a few portraits as part of my 365 recently and I'm relatively happy with. Please feel free to rip them apart: The "quick snap" part of your grandfather really shows, the sloppy background (picture frame growing out of his head, window or something just peeking in on the left) kills it for me. Loving everything about the B&W of your dad!
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Jan 16, 2011 04:26
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I've somehow never had to do headshots before this week. Thoughts? Rachel2-0108-final by RMK86, on Flickr
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Jan 22, 2011 13:57
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drat, is Imageshack STILL blocked on SA? Try uploading somewhere else.
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Jan 24, 2011 15:36
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AtomicManiac posted:1) Aim to shoot the hour before, and the hour during magic hour (hour before sun-set). You should be able to find the exact time on a weather website. This is one of my most frequently used bookmarks: http://www.golden-hour.com/
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Jan 31, 2011 18:15
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surgical scar posted:You've avoided isolating her with your framing and depth of field, but as far as I can tell, there's nothing relevant in the additional information. Either isolate her, or use the surroundings to add depth to her personality. Yeah, agreeing with this. She's nicely lit, but the parking lot background is hugely distracting. Also I thought she was just doing something weird with her hands at first because the glasses sort of disappear into that wild pattern on her shirt.
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Feb 22, 2011 23:05
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Hey folks, just finished the photos from my first engagement shoot, would love some critique. Portraiture is definitely the weakest of my photography so I'm still trying to learn. I'm shooting this couple's wedding at the end of the month. The ~20-photo set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rmk86/sets/72157626485041046/with/5614337968/ A few selects:  IMG_0858 by RMK86, on Flickr  IMG_1046 by RMK86, on Flickr
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Apr 12, 2011 21:38
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doctor 7 posted:My girlfriend was getting into opera competitions but had no head shots, and no money to pay for them. I took a introductory course to film (not digital) photography in university as an elective so I said I'd help out. Took these a good while ago with a friend's Canon EOS Rebel XS with the stock 18-55 lens if I remember right. It's been about two years since then and she's used the first and the third as portraits. I just found out I'm getting a stupidly awesome tax return this year and have ordered a Canon T2i. She wants me to take some new headshots but I'd like some feedback on these because my preparation for this was just looking at some headshots and trying to emulate them. Well except for the last one but whatever. A consistent problem in each frame is distracting stray hairs falling over the face. You're obviously shooting outside, but try to pick a calm day, or at least a calm moment. Make sure she has a brush with her, and make sure both of you are looking out for stray hairs. That being said, I really like the first two, although I wish in the first you were shooting from just a tad further to the left to hide that distracting dark vertical background element. The third seems like a bit of a less flattering angle, and an awkward framing/cropping decision. Obviously the fourth is just goofy fun, but be aware that in photos with shallow depth of field, you want the focus to be on the eye. In the fourth, it's on a bit of her hair.
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Apr 25, 2011 14:01
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AIIAZNSK8ER posted:Here's another corporate shot, boring, but I like it. The reflection could have been clever and interesting if it was "Apollo" reflected instead of "Press, Inc." As it stands currently it looks like an inadvertent mistake. Also I'd clone out the light cover or whatever the cream-colored rectangle is on the left edge of the frame. I think it detracts from the otherwise very clean background. Also also, not much you can do about it, but drat that dude's got some gnarly teeth!
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Apr 29, 2011 04:29
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Two things jump out at me first (besides breaking tables ) 1) Chin up! With his chin down in his neck he looks uncomfortable and unnatural. Shoot from slightly above the subject so he's looking up and have him raise his chin out of his chest. 2) Decide if you want a 3/4 length or headshot. You're right that cutting off a bit of the hands looks weird, but I don't know that they're necessary at all. That's your choice, but make a conscious effort to either shoot tighter or wider for effect. e: and if they're going to be displayed as large as that first image as an end product, take the couple of seconds to clone out pimples.
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Dec 1, 2011 18:29
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mobby_6kl posted:How does it feel posting from 1989? I head it was a nice time, but I'm not sure if I could go back to using 640x480 monitors Haha maybe SALR is converting it to the original or something but it's showing up 1267 × 1900 for me. If you think you'll need both shots, just go ahead and shoot both. You never want to rely on cropping an image down when you could just as well shoot it properly the first time. Plus, if you're framing specifically for a headshot you can do some more interesting things that way.
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Dec 1, 2011 22:28
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Seriously though, the photo I posted is only 427x640 so I don't know how it manages to break tables.
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Mannequin posted:Do any of you use ModelMayhem to find models? You could've just ended after that sentence and the scenario would have been the same. ModelMayhem models (and, sadly, many photographers) are notoriously flakey. The few times I've used MM to schedule a model, I've had to start conversations with a dozen people to eventually get to one person who will actually show up for a scheduled shoot. It's a frustrating pain in the rear end, but you get what you pay for. e: What I mean is, don't overanalyze how you communicated or planned or get down on yourself for doing something wrong. That's just the way ModelMayhem works.
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Mar 29, 2012 05:30
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