Portrait Shots (show us your best)

[Overland Hadley]

[JohnLemieuxPhotos]

My friend Ashley

[photoman]

My friend Ashley

John- great shot and I like the b&w conversion. One thing to always be aware of is how contrast adjustments and sharpening affect skin blemishes. I think if you took a few minutes to clean up her skin she would love the shot 100x more. Don't have to get crazy into editing with buying skin software - just using a blur or clone tool to reduce or eliminate imperfections.

[photoman]

I've found that when photographing kids, try your hardest to fill the entire frame if it's going to be a head shot.

I usually try and focus on their eyes, lock my focus in by holding the shutter button half way down and move the camera frame so they're not 100% centered, then take the photo. It just makes the photo look better for some reason.

I agree with both of these points. When shooting portraits it is all about the eyes. If you can focus on them and get them really nice and sharp it makes the image.

I hate using flash so I always try and get my portraits on overcast days, or make sure I sit the kids in the shade of a tree or something that has good, even light, but nothing direct.

While I agree in shooting in full shade and on overcast days are best - there is no reason to fear the flash. There are many cheap or even free flash tricks to make the flash seem more natural. The proper use of flash allows you to get those eyes bright and clear as mentioned above. Once you are comfortable with the flash you can use it to fill flash and help balance the subject vs the background.

Shallow depth of field (Low f/stop like a f/2.8 or f/3.5) will really make the subject jump out of the frame, but not so shallow that once you get past the bridge of their nose the eyes go out of focus. This is something you'll just have to play with and shoot a few shots to get it right (Thank God for the LCD on the back of the camera)


Take photos when they're crying, when they're laughing and everything in between. These are the candid photos that will last generations. Everyone has the posed shots, but the ones that we all remember are the candid ones that really show the scene.

Good points here!

[photoman]

Natural light -

Most recent shoot


Light is reflected off a glass building across the street


Broken light under a railroad bridge


Doesn't always need to be a face shot. Candid stuff is sometimes the best.


You can shoot into the sun with natural light as well- Silhouette's make for great shots.



A couple other natural light shots

[JohnLemieuxPhotos]

John- great shot and I like the b&w conversion. One thing to always be aware of is how contrast adjustments and sharpening affect skin blemishes. I think if you took a few minutes to clean up her skin she would love the shot 100x more. Don't have to get crazy into editing with buying skin software - just using a blur or clone tool to reduce or eliminate imperfections.

I would normally but this was just a proof that I sent her, so I only did what I do in Adobe camera raw.

Same set

[JohnLemieuxPhotos]

Some more

[photoman]

Using flash or strobe

First time with White Lightning Strobe and umbrella in my house. White rolled paper on background stand. Had a sheet of plexiglass on the floor. Cranked the stereo and told the little girl to do whatever she wanted as long as she stayed on the plexiglass. Great time and some fun shots.



Same little girl


Similar setup - softbox instead of umbrella


Diffused flash unit on a cable. Letting the little boy play with it.


Flash bounced off ceiling as well as use of home made bounce card


Fill flash using home made bounce card


Off camera fill flash- hand held unit on wireless trigger


2nd curtain sync with slow shutter speed for stop action

[Lost Canadian]

These are great guys!

[taco2go]

Aaron those are amazing! Thanks for sharing your work guys.