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Professional and Advanced Portraiture
Portraits - Elderly Couple
May 3, 2019 03:17:26   #
warrenrowephotography Loc: Kempner, TX
 
Last weekend I provided a few head shot portraits for a couple for their insurance business web site and for other things they needed. They loved the results, but as usual I always look to improve.

Here's the setting: It was a very bright and warm afternoon at a local vineyard, using a covered rear patio at one of the outlying villas there. The gentleman had to use a cane to get around and couldn't stand well for very long, yet he absolutely insisted on standing for his photos. His wife wanted simple poses for her portraits. I thought they turned out nicely, and as I said previously, they loved them as well; what I provided to them looked much better than what their website had (I checked).

Now I realize that these might be just a tad underexposed, but with a very bright background due to the sun had to do a bit of extra work in post-processing. I feel that the sharpness of the subjects turned out very well.

To the UHHers here, I don't mind a little constructive criticism and I am looking for it here. What do you think? Thanks in advance to all that respond.





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May 3, 2019 10:26:21   #
E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada
 
Job ONE is satisfying the client. They were please with your work so it is a successful job well done! Th expression are good- nice eye contact with the viewer which is importat in a business kinda head shot.

The rest is "photograher talk":

The out-of-doors setting provides a nice environment but there is too much negative space in the horizontal composition. Portraits do not always need to be vertical but theses woud better in a vertical format- more attention goes to the subjects. With all the tree branches on a light field in the background- this get a bit distracting- a bit less depth of field migh have been better.

So...to illustrate some of my points, I did a few quick and dirty edits and messed aroud with your images. I subdued and blurred the background and created a slight vignette. Someties, older folks, like me, tend to pose a bit stiffly or kinda lean backward, so I tilted them slightly- a bit more dynamic for business people.

OK- skin softening and retouching is sometimes controversial but I like to calm down the wrinkles a bit on the ladies. On the mature guys and some of the girls, I just calm down a few thigs on the neckline and the smile lines.

I am not big fan of over-processing portraits in that many of theses issues can be addressed in shooting so theses edits are far from perfect but they just help me to explain waht I woud like to see in the camera technique. Someties I employ a reflector of camera, not as a fill source, but to pump in some more directional light to shape the faces and add more sparkle to the eyes. You handled the eyeglasses nicely!

I hope this helps! Thanks for posting in this section. Theses issues and critiques make for interesting conversations. Please don't hesitate to give me some feedback and you own opinions.





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May 3, 2019 13:50:43   #
warrenrowephotography Loc: Kempner, TX
 
I definitely agree with the excessive negative space; I do plan to create new files with the proper crops done and go ahead and send them over to my clients. They appreciated what I did, but I think they'll love the extra work done, and it's being done on my dime with no problem.

Not a fan of the vignette in these, it didn't fit what they were looking for. But I do see the slight tilt here and the angle is just right. As far as depth of field is concerned, we didn't have that much room to work with on that rear patio and I was using my Canon 85 mm/f1.8 portrait lens - it's my "go-to" for portraits. Oh, and I did not use any reflected light whatsoever; I simply set my camera settings in manual mode for what I saw at that moment; I usually shoot in aperture mode but that wasn't doing it for this set. It's important for me to be confident enough in my abilities to shoot outside of my comfort zone if necessary, and get as much of it in camera as possible - and I think I achieved that with minor editing as needed.

Thanks for the critique! This will help me as I handle more portrait work in the future.

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