[theleestudio]

Hmm, thanks for the feedback CameraClicker!

It’s good to be back.  I was experimenting with LR5’s straighten tool; guess it’s not perfect yet. I shot this without a tripod.

Let me try.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/theleestudio/9945066413/

[theleestudio]

Couldn’t get up on eye level as they were on a tree :/

But I see what you’re saying. Yeah, I normally don’t shoot couples, so it was quite nerve wracking for me. Thanks for the comments!

[theleestudio]

I like the edits done in e4_z.jpg, but the aa8_z.jpg her skin seems too rough. I intentionally lowered the clarity a bit to eliminate wrinkles and stuff.

I don’t know if you saw my newest edit yet.

Man this forum really needs a flickr embed.

[theleestudio]

fixed it here:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8364/8342220271_aa0f919726_z.jpg

[theleestudio]

I will give it a shot. I have the raw file. I’m using Lightroom’s adjustment  brush so it’s going to take some time LOL.

Do you think the first photo of the eye is too dark? Some people said it was. I have a “poppy” version of it here. Might be a bit overthetop/indulgent on my end though, but the 50mm 1.2 (after I got a good copy) is really holding contrast well.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8364/8342220271_c772fbc134_z.jpg

[theleestudio]

Dear ArizonaGuy,

Once again, thanks for your EXCELLENT feedback. I don’t take ANY of this as a tearing down. I’ve been a member of campus life for three years as an RA, so believe me, I get a lot of stuff thrown at me (sometimes quite literally).

The visual aids help a lot. I think I’m more of a visual personal myself, honestly  Going back to the drawing board. I’ve been frustrated with my lack of knowledge of posing as well, and have been reading some texts on it. Do you have any examples of interesting poses?

1. Level. This is a big issue for me that I’ve noticed. I like to shoot hand held, but I’m usually unable to keep my hands perfectly still. What is this guide bar you speak of? Just a straight horizontal line as reference?

2. Lighting issue has been thrown at me a couple of times. I’m hoping to invest in a flash soonish, and some reflectors. I’m shooting in Manual mode already, and I think for that shoot, I had my camera set on spot metering. I’m probably going to take the album down and do a lot of re editing. Brightness should be on her face you say?

Would the brightness in train track 2 be ideal? (and >_< I just noticed that. I was editing late night it just flew right by me.)

3. The negative space was a lot of time due to the fact that I wanted the subject to lie along at least one of the 3 lines vertical lines of the crop, and for her eyes to hit on that intersecting point. I tried not to cut off body parts as you said for the most part. Should I go for a more confined crop? I’m still on the look out for more interesting locations (being on campus is kind of dull, but with no car, that’s what you get).

4. Out of focus softness/blur. I’m curious about that one myself, because in the display window, I nail the focus with the AF points. Like, no question. But it comes out soft. For the most part I’m not shooting wide open and I got my lens calibrated to my body (it was a -3 MA) but then again, it could be my technique. This shoot was exclusively on the 50mm 1.2 L, and it is reputed to have some back focus issues, though for the most part, after the calibration its been pretty spot on.

5. Addressed above. Totally agree @.@

6.  Yes, must stress, none of these shoots have been charged.  Just the one with the family, which was more of an incidental occurrence, (faculty member asked me to shoot their family, told him I wasn’t a pro, they said they liked my photos and didn’t mind). None of these other shoots were for cash, but rather for the sake of practicing and providing profile pics for people. As you said, I am aware I am not ready (hence why I’m posting here for advice :D) I’m also currently enrolled in an online portrait photog class (it was a groupon, I figured what the hell. I also got a groupon from this other photographer, http://www.majoliephotography.com/.

I was going to observe what she does and see if I could learn anything (again a visual learner.) Would she be classified as a faux-tog?

Thanks so much again! With winter break rolling around, I should have a ton of time to study photography and shoot a lot.

 

[theleestudio]

I took your guys’ advice on cropping and the color tones, hopefully this shoot I did today is better. All of the body parts should be intact, and the cropping should be as close to the rule of thirds (according to the crop grid) as close as possible.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.505052909529426.120344.486284131406304&type=1

[theleestudio]

I have always tried to crop with the cross points match up at the eye with the body in one third of the frame, not sure if that’s achieving the rule of thirds. Maybe I don’t understand it fully enough. Can anyone explain if my view is too simplistic? I believe you are supposed to place your points of interests at the intersections of the grid, while keeping it within 1/3 of the photo space?

Would you say keeping joints is more important than making sure the cross points of the grid are aligned at the eyes?

And I really appreciate the critique! I will work on this during my next shoot.

 

[theleestudio]

So a grey card in a scene allows for perfect white balance? I may need to buy one!

Thanks again for your insights about lighting and shadow. If everything is somewhat subjective, then I’m curious about your comment earlier about my color tones. Does that mean there is an acceptable range of color? I couldn’t tell if it was too bright when I was editing, but being on a diff screen and computer may have something to do with it.

 

[theleestudio]

I would check FredMiranda.com or Craigslist for some good deals if you can find it. Esp FredMiranda because of the good rep.

[theleestudio]

Sweet! Thanks CameraClicker!

That shot was with a 17-55mm f/2.8 lens, and I had stupidly left my hood that I bought at home. Live and learn I guess. Is there a link to the Kelby book on Amazon?

This one?

http://www.amazon.com/Photoshop-Digital-Photographers-Voices-Matter/dp/0321823745

Also I reuploaded the image and gave you props on the retouch. Many thanks!

[theleestudio]

Thanks for your feedback Ron!

One of the reasons I dislike the popup flash, is I feel it creates a very artificial deer in headlights sort of look. I don’t think I’m using it correctly when that happens. Is there a standard distance away I’d have to be in order to minimize that effect? I was using a prime lens, so I’ve been doing walk zooming. I will mess with the power settings on the flash and report back. As for reflectors, it sounds like a good idea as well!

I can def see an improvement in the blemish removals. I didn’t do that cause I’m still learning Photoshop and the adjustment brush in Lightroom. Next stop, Youtube for tutorials!

I heard there’s more functionality between LR 3 and LR 4. I have both LightRoom 4 and Adobe CS6 but haven’t touched CS6 much.

A question I have is about highlights and shadows. What is the ‘ideal’ look for those. What makes a picture have good highlights and shadows? How does one determine that? Like, I was messing with the sliders in Lightroom just to see how the colors changed (which would explain the varying color casts) and I showed the model while I was just adjusting things. She stopped me at a certain point and told me she liked it, so I just ended up sticking with it.

For white balance, I usually get a white piece of printer paper and shoot it, then custom WBing it, but I figured since I would be in varying sunlight, AWB would be better.

Thank you for all your help and feedback!

Sincerely,

Jason

[theleestudio]

I think I got a little better results in these photos here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.502507046450679.119863.486284131406304&type=1

There are a few stinkers in there that the person just wanted me to upload, but I like to think I’m improving. Still doing it for free.

[theleestudio]

Thanks for the input! I have to apologize about this topic showing up over and over. I posted it first then it was marked spam for some reason (maybe my name?) and then I got frustrated and posted it again.

Yeah. The 1st one was shot with a 50mm 1.2 L, which I, at the point in time of when I was shooting it, did not fully comprehend the magnitude of how ffing thing the 1.2 DOF was. The original image perspective was a bit off as you said, as I did a meh crop job. I was trying to do the ‘rule of thirds’ to it, by using the grids in Lightroom, but it didn’t work out so well. I think I left my hood at home for this one too. *world’s saddest violin playing*

The other two, soft. Agreed. My 7D was in the shop, so I was borrowing an antiquated 450D with a 17-55mm f/2.8. I recall when shooting, being frustrated with the focus system. Compared to the 7D the 450D is weaksauce. Any soft issues is me being a moron and not practicing with the 450D before jumping into a shoot.

(Though, to be fair, it was a mock shoot. I was filming a shoot for a school project, so it was a shoot inside a film shoot).

Thank you all for your advice! I do a lot of my stuff hand held because I like the freedom it affords, hence why I like to invest in large apertures and the like.

 

[theleestudio]

I’d wait to see examples of his work before passing judgment

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