I don't do portrait work, so this is just what an amateur notices. These
are pretty good shots. I've seen worse commercial results.
The backgrounds for Leroy and Linda are too black so Linda's hair
disappears into the background, but you seem to have fixed it with the
next three, although it still seem a little dark to me.
Seems like there is not quite enough light on the right (stage left). It
works ok for the shape of Paul's face, angle of his head, depth of
eyesockets, etc. But it creates or accentuates dark circles under
Lynne's eyes and the mark on her cheek and buries the outside of
Monica'a left eye in shadow. There are also shadows on 3 of the left
foreheads. I guess I would try to adjust the balance between main and
fill (if I've got the terminology right) to make the fill a little
stronger and move it up a bit. I think the nose shadows, etc. would
still provide 3-D modeling if they were a little softer. It might also
help to ask people like Monica, who have hair that will shadow the left
side of their face to look more straight on at the camera?
Thanks for the question. I now see things that might help me if I ever
try portraiture that I wouldn't have noticed without your request. It
seems a portrait photographer has to see 2 different images, a person in
front of them, and a complex 3-D shape and all the interplay of light on
it. "Would you raise your chin a little and look at my ear instead of my
shoulder, please." and such things, I suppose.
Hope that is useful.
Moose
Mickey Trageser wrote:
Hi folks,
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I recently took portraits of local chorus
members. I've placed them on a website for your perusal. This group has such
depth in experience and ability to articulate very useful commentary, I beg
your indulgence. If you'd care to look and provide constructive criticism,
I'd be quite appreciative.
http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze3m2s8/Portraits/index.htm
All photos were taken with the following rig:
OM4T
Zuiko 100/2.8 @ 5.6 (as measured by Minolta Autometer IIIf)
Sunpak 433D fired into 43" umbrella 45 degrees to the left of camera
2 foot by 4 foot foam core reflector just out of view on the right
Neutral grey material over projection screen 3 or 4 feet behind subject
Kodak Portra 160NC film rated at 160
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