Fee Fee Loc: Pennsylvania

After critiquing, kindly provide suggestions as to an inexpensive route I can take to give lighting life to the photos of my test subjects. (funds are tight at present)

In addition, please suggest a good portrait lens (inexpensive if possible) that would also enhance the quality of my photos. Thank you all, for your advise. I'm still very much a novice. :-D I have a Canon.

W F 1


W F 2


W F 3


W F 4


W F 5

Leon S Loc: Minnesota

I actually like the first picture. the second and the third is blown out. the shots would be better if you took them further away and used a defuser on your flash. Move back a little and focus on the eyes more.

jim quist Loc: Missouri

a good portrait lens is in the 85-105 range, that goes back to film days. anything less than 85mm will not be flattering to a woman, I saw a photographer using his 400mm sports lens for a portrait, the woman was laying on her stomach at an angle to him, we used a flashlight for some fill...it looked great. sigma and tamron make decent lenses.
I shoot with a canon 1d mk3, which will soon be a back up for the 1dx I am getting ready to order.

take a look at the site strobist.com

Fee Fee Loc: Pennsylvania

Thank you. The blown out specimens are cropped that way to cut out some distracting background. Perhaps I may just delete them so as not to explain this repeatedly. I very much appreciate your help. :thumbup:

Danilo Loc: Las Vegas

You didn't tell us what lens you already have, Fee Fee. You obviously have a wonderful imagination, and that can be your most important photographic accessory.
I used to be partners in a photo studio in Wisconsin. We had the largest camera-room in the whole state jammed with 10's of thousands of $$$ worth of studio strobe-lighting. And yet I would constantly find myself making reflectors of various shapes and sizes out of cardboard, tinfoil and white paint, and devising ways of positioning them both in my photos and out of them. Made me wonder why we spent all the $$$.

I needed a refection the shape of a crescent-moon for a photo of a saxophone one time...out came the cardboard and scissors, some glue and tinfoil, I hung it from a lightstand so I could see the reflection in the horn! Turned out great!

I would always use larger, usually white, reflectors to "bounce" the lights from to create softer shadows. The reflector is much more important than the light itself.

Any lens that allows you to operate from about 6-8 feet away is going to be great, even if it's not the sharpest lens in town. My message to you is: Spend time, not money. Shoot, shoot, shoot! :thumbup: :thumbup:

Leon S Loc: Minnesota

What Danilo is saying is very correct. Your lighting needs to be spread out more evenly over the subject. That's what I was trying to say when I said blown out. See the reflection on the pair and on her nose and fore head. Try to spread the light around more evenly using whatever you have to do so as Danilo explained. Keep trying.

Fee Fee Loc: Pennsylvania

Thanks Danilo, that was a great story. I'll try some experimentation.

I'll be taking a workshop class at the end of the month. I currently own an EF-S 18-55mm. I know that's way below what I should have for portraits. However, I'm a beginner and wasn't sure as to how serious I would become. I now realize how much I totally enjoy it. Besides that, people are starting to ask me to take their photos. If I agree, naturally I want to do a great job with the best that I can afford. I turned down work a few times and figured I had better get to studying to perfect things.

Thanks again.



:lol: :lol:

Danilo Loc: Las Vegas

Absolutely, Fee Fee! Pride in your work and always striving to do your best is prime. But...don't let that stop you from trying things that may not work! Those things, of course, you must do on "your own dime" or penny, as the case may be.

You can surely do fabulous portraits at the 55mm setting on the lens you own. Ideal would be 75mm to 85mm. Try to shoot at apertures of f/8.0 or f/11.0, when possible, to gain the most image-quality from your lens. But don't quit shooting because you don't have that perfect lens.

Most important is to learn to "see" what your light (and shadow) areas are doing as you shoot. Notice the shadow from the nose...is it creeping down over the lip? Does it make the nose appear larger than it is? Or the shadow from the forehead...is it putting the eyes in shadow, causing your photo to look dull? The better you become at "seeing the light" the better your photos will become, and more people will want to pay you lots of money to photograph them! And believe me, Fee Fee, some of those people will own cameras that you or I can only dream of! But they need YOU to take the magic picture! :thumbup: :thumbup:

Fee Fee Loc: Pennsylvania

Oh, I understand. (smiling) Thanks Leon.

Danilo Loc: Las Vegas

I'm trying to figure out why you would say photos two and three are "blown out". I don't see any washed out highlight areas that are lacking in detail. Perhaps you're seeing something I'm not, Leon. The exposures look okay to me...

Fee Fee Loc: Pennsylvania

Danilio, that is so encouraging!!
You almost called tears to my eyes. Yes, I will continue to shoot. So many are pushing me because they get a thrill from my creative edge. (if I can pat my back a little) As a gauge, I examine many, many portraits and realize what my work should look like. I want to produce what I'm attracted to. (in terms of quality) I appreciate their excitement but I want to be just as excited and proud of pushing out quality work.

Thanks again for the boost of confidence!

Fee Fee Loc: Pennsylvania

Thanks Jim

Danilo Loc: Las Vegas

The highlights in the hair of picture #2 are essential. Without them here is what you have, Leon. It just doesn't work.

Fee Fee Loc: Pennsylvania

Danilo, Leon was referencing the photo that i attached below. I had deleted it by the time you entered the thread. Sorry for the confusion.

Previously deleted photo

Leon S Loc: Minnesota

I think Fee Fee understood what I meant by my comment. Direct light on a subject can give some nasty reflections.