NTP Challenge : Genre : Portraiture

[ricktas]

To get our New to Photography members thinking about photographic genres and improving their photographic skills, we have decided to present a few genre based challenges to get you out photographing and thinking about what settings you should use. Also you get to show us your results and get some encouraging feedback

So here is a link to some tips on Portraiture photography: http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?t=16962 and http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?t=26585

Now we want you to put what you have learned in the New To Photography forum to use, and present a portraiture photo here. This is not a competition and expect to get advice and feedback on your photos.

Looking forward to seeing what you have to show us.

[grw46]

My G/daughter.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2711/4387454029_452a516a5e.jpg

1/320 , Iso 200 , f1.7 @50mm . Desaturated , blur mask ,

[CherylB]

Where are all those portrait photographers when you need them? :confused013

Garry, I'm not a portrait photographer myself, but I think you've made a good effort with this shot. I think you maybe could have cut back on the blur around the eyes - that always seems to be the key point I see with portraiture - keep the eyes nice and sharp. I would also say that being b&w, it probably needs a bit more contrast.

[TotalPanic]

Picture of my dad next to a window
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3551/3493627732_ea2912187a.jpg

No amount of glamour treatment will work :)

[tanz]

Would this be classified as a portrait? Also I am a bit unsure about my pp, when I am working on my photo's I lower the brightness of my screen down to 0 because I had some photo's printed out a while ago and they came back quite dark. But now if I put my brightness back up, this photo looks quite overly bright.

https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/Photos/forum/IMG_5509_edited-2.jpg?w=278c2a69

[ricktas]

Tanz, your link is not in the correct format. It doesn't end in .jpg, so the AP software has no idea what it is supposed to try and display

[tanz]

Sorry, this should work now.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4136/4915231273_655b14c96c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/50820813@N07/4915231273/) IMG_5509_edited-2 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/50820813@N07/4915231273/) by tan1a (http://www.flickr.com/people/50820813@N07/), on Flickr

Edit: Rick do you want to delete my other post that didn't work.

[FallingHorse]

Hi Tanz - I'm not a portrait photographer but I find the red reflection in the little girls eyes a bit distracting as well as the out of focus leaves in front of her face. Personally I would have liked to see a bit more of her darling little face and maybe have gotten her to hold them down a little

[tanz]

Thanks FallingHorse, I only noticed the red after I had posted the photo here, I have now learnt that I am going to have to wear dark colours when taking photo's :D

[wahaha]

Well i tried shooting this at 50mm but she is so small and get's distracted when I come too close so I shot this at 70mm. I don't have any people subjects so I decided to use her while she still looks pretty after the bath.

http://i842.photobucket.com/albums/zz344/wahaha86/071.jpg

[justo316]

Grabbed this shot from under a railing at the Perth Royal Show over the weekend.

Been practicing focusing on dogs eyes rather than their noses for a change!

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j90/justo316/IMG_0027.jpg

[ricktas]

I have missed seeing the recent posts in this thread. Sorry

Tanz : agree with the critique above, I would add that you have her eyes and face beautifully focused.

wahaha : cute as a button. When photographing our pets it is good to get down low, to their eye level. We see them everyday from the top down, and you have done well here with the nice pose and the eye contact. White dogs can be difficult to capture well and it is worthwhile slightly under-exposing the shot to ensure that you don't get any areas of fur blown out to pure white and devoid of detail. Good photo, of a cute girl!

Justo : Well done, very well taken portrait. Focusing on the eyes is the way to go, but also try and use a smaller aperture to get the nose in focus as well. This was taken at f1.8, if you had used about f4 - f8 you would have gotten more of the dog in focuc, still rendering the background blurred

[julie21]

This is one of the wonderful man I am blessed to be married to taken in the last throes of summer at Brighton foreshore.
Unfortunately captured myself in his glasses as well!
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj144/BookOfWisdom/DSC01306-1.jpg

[ricktas]

Julie, capturing photos with spectacles on requires some skill to rid the reflections. Unfortunately as soon as those reflections appear, it also lessens the impact of the subject's eyes. When doing portraiture, the eyes are the point you should focus on.

There are a few tricks, one is obvious, get your subject to take the glasses off. However, sometimes their glasses are part of who they are and how they are perceived in the world. There are a couple of tricks, get your model to turn so their angle to the light changes, there will be a point where reflections lessen. You can also use a polarising filter on your lens. Polarisers don't just make skies bluer, they reduce reflections (polarising sunglasses anyone?).

Though this was probable a 'snap' shot, taken in the spur of the moment, a few seconds considering the scene, especially when it is a compliant partner that will do what you tell them too (hehe), you can improve on your photography by slowing down and considering a few small things to get that better shot.

Now, this is a great portrait, It shows personality. Keep at it, and use your subject that is readily available to work at improving your skills

[ray223]

Still working through all of the NTP lessons ...

Snapped this one a couple of weeks ago but the face was way under exposed - brightened the face but this has blown out the background.
I don't mind it myself but I don't think it would work in all situations??

550d, 1/400s, 84mm, 4.5f, iso 100

I guess I could of cleaned up his jumper a bit to get rid of the fluff.

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