City - Greenville State - SOUTH CAROLINA Country - United States
About
I noted on my last visit to the portrait place in the mall (yeah, I can't afford a *real* portrait studio), that the pictures I got for $125 basically sucked. So, I thought I'd try my hand at it. Anyway, here's my first serious attempt at any sort of formal portraiture, using my daughter as a model, in exchange for chocolate chip cookies.
I don't have any "real" lighting, so I used a 23-watt flourescent lamp to light the backdrop, and a 60 incandescent bulb to light up Elizabeth.
Any comments/criticism/suggestions will be really appreciated.
Photoshop levels, color balance, and unsharp mask. Neat Image noise reduction... a real studio would be nice :/
The little princess! Yes, after seeing the second picture I can say that those advices helped a lot! The second shot is much better than this first one... You really did some improvement! She deserves some candy bar + a big ice cream! lol ~:-) Dri
Ditto to what everyone else has said. I find the prices of those mall shops to be highway robbery too. So, I started doing portraits for friends and family myself. You don't need a studio to get a good portrait. I, myself, work strictly using natural lighting. That way you capture the children in a natural setting with natural light and more candidly. Try it and see how it works.
Most of the suggestions I have for you have been made already.
I'll echo the thought that you should move her further from the backdrop (I find that about 5 feet between subject and backdrop works well), and open up your lens to a nice wide aperture. I like to shoot portraits at f/2.8 or f/4 in 35mm, for a nice narrow depth of field that helps focus the image on the subject. Focus on the eyes.
I'm a big fan of natural light. If you have a window that you can set up your backdrop near, I highly recommend you use it. A simple piece of white foam core or posterboard can be used as a reflector to fill in on the shadow side and adjust the contrast on your subject.
If you must use artificial light, an inexpensive way to start is to pick up some work lights from someplace like Home Depot. I would suggest raising the main light -- it looks too low to me in this image (you can see from the catchlights in her eyes where the lights are positioned -- watch for this in the viewfinder), and the direction of the light creates an unnatural abiance in this photo. Our natural tendency is to want to see the main light coming from above and off to the side (since that's where the sun usually is when we look at other people). Start with your main light about 45 degrees off to the side of the camera, and about 30 to 45 degrees above the subject, and adjust it from there to achieve the effect you want.
Like everything else in life, this takes practice. This is a good first attempt, and I wish you much joy in your exploration of this aspect of photography.
Thanks, all... heheh. I meant to have a third light, on the left, but the bulb was burned out in the other lamp, and no one told me. Funny about the sheets in the dryer sitting for two days remark... very close, more likely two months (I don't even know why we have that sheet - there isn't a bed that size in the house). All very good suggestions, very much appeciated, and I'm looking forward to trying them out on her.
Yes, I have to agree with both Nikki and David. Personally, I believe natural lighting would be better. The shadow that moves from left to right needs to go and is very distracting. You have a beautiful little girl and need to capture the sparkle in her big brown eyes dad! Another idea for a backdrop setting would we a natural one as well. You can always "blur" out the background in PS, and play with the levels and lighting. Looking forward to your next post. Best regards.
Very cute! Personally I would try to use natural light for this kind of portrait.
Something that might be fun also is to use an old sheet and let her finger paint on it, then photograph her in front of it (using David's suggestions of not being so low and having her stand a bit more forward). Or maybe try fan-folding it and then ironing it to create a pattern rather than the 'I just came out of the dryer where Ive been sitting balled up for two days' look.
Beautiful baby. Nice expression of her. Her sweet smile is really good. You used the lamp to the light backdrop. this is really nice. Regards, Yatharth.
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