Larissa - first portrait shoot

Larissa is our daughters best friend and she agreed to be my first model.
Portraiture is completely new for me and I'm aiming for a very natural look and I want to use only natural light (or whatever light there already is).

I'd like to hear your thoughts and critics and suggestions!

I like them all, but 1,2 and 5 stand out, especially 5.

I have no experience whatever with pointing cameras at people for portraiture so my comments need to be qualified but as far as capturing flattering facial expressions #2, #3, and #5 stand out for me.

Awesome work Carlo!!! You are looking like a pro at portraits already. Your daughters friend is really beautiful and has a very nice smile and some real natural expressions.

My favorites are in this order... #3, 4, 2, 5, 1.

#1 is my least favorite because her shadows are really strong. I like that in the others her body isn’t casting shadows onto a wall or other object. There are some shadows deeper in that shot, so on a whole her shadows almost fit, but I think technically you wouldn’t want shadows around her. Like #5 you did good in that aspect.

I really like the shadows on her face in #3, and B&W is the perfect choice I think.

A really good series Carlo, and I hope you keep this up. Any chance your daughters friend is coming to America any time soon? I would love to have her model for me.

Thanks or your detailed thoughts, Jim. This was really an improvised shoot during our holiday. It was the first for both of us an we handled it rather casually. She's very nice and easy and I'm sure we can do a lot more shootings together.

JimFox said:

Any chance your daughters friend is coming to America any time soon? I would love to have her model for me.

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I don't think so, but I can ask her

Good shots! I really like #3 and #4... You really got some good detail there and the light is fantastic.

#2 is nice too, but the right side of the picture looks a lot darker then the other side, maybe you vignetted before you cropped? I think there might be a lot of hair highlights that could be there in the left side of her face..

David S said:

Good shots! I really like #3 and #4... You really got some good detail there and the light is fantastic.

#2 is nice too, but the right side of the picture looks a lot darker then the other side, maybe you vignetted before you cropped? I think there might be a lot of hair highlights that could be there in the left side of her face..

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Thank you for your comments, @David S
#3 and #4 are actually heavy crops from larger images (as is #5). I wasn't yet confident enough to get nearer, but that's definitely not a problem for her, so next time I won't need to crop anymore
I think you're right about #2. I actually vignetted it (no crop). I have reducedthe vignette and lightened the right side up a bit. How's that?



P.S.: My favorite is #5

Carlo Didier said:

Thank you for your comments, @David S
#3 and #4 are actually heavy crops from larger images (as is #5). I wasn't yet confident enough to get nearer, but that's definitely not a problem for her, so next time I won't need to crop anymore
I think you're right about #2. I actually vignetted it (no crop). I have reducedthe vignette and lightened the right side up a bit. How's that?

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P.S.: My favorite is #5

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HEY ! That looks a lot better ! World Class !

These are all excellent, great job on using the available light!

2 and 5 are very nice - they work best with her features and also feel the most natural.

The others seem a bit stiff/staged.

Jeff

beavens said:

The others seem a bit stiff/staged.
Jeff

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Thanks for your thoughts, Jeff. That may be because it was the first tiem she was in front of a camera.

Carlo Didier said:

Thanks for your thoughts, Jeff. That may be because it was the first tiem she was in front of a camera.

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I don't blame her! I hate being in front of the camera. One of the challenges of portrait work is definitely getting the subject to loosen up and be 'normal'.

Jeff