out4life2016 Loc: Bellingham, Washington

Yesterday during a bright sun and mid day I was asked if I could take some shots of this friend just wanting photos for herself, boyfriend, and family back east. I agreed and did a fast study on using a speed light during the day in bright sun situations. This is by far my first shoot and I would like some opinions on what yall feel I need to work on. I was using a Canon 6D mark ii with a 24-105 is usm lens and a Godox TT685 speed light. Like I said, this is really a first for me and in the end she loves the photos and we all had a great time. Here are a few examples.

Thank you and please if you have comments tell me why you feel that way so I will know what to work on. If you just say they look like crap and don't tell me why then im just going to think your an ass. Give me reason why.

Thomas

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jpgto Loc: North East Tennessee

Personally, I think you did quite well. However the more you use the speedlight and practice, the better you will get with 'fill light' instead of direct flash. Kudos on your first attempt.

out4life2016 Loc: Bellingham, Washington

Thank you, this is something I really want to work more on and the young lady loves free photos so its win win for both of us.

jpgto Loc: North East Tennessee

Good luck. Practice, practice and practice some more. Change position of the speed light head periodically to see the differences instead of direct flash!

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

Outstanding first attempt. You might want to try a diffuser on your Speedlight to soften the light.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/20x30cm-Universal-Mini-Portable-Softbox-Diffuser-for-Flash-Speedlite-Speedlight/361749732616?hash=item5439f6dd08:g:CEwAAOSwMGBazUgi:rk:6:pf:0

out4life2016 Loc: Bellingham, Washington

Thank you for your reply, Funny thing is, I actually have a Diffuser for the speed light and a separate soft box and for some reason never thought to use it.

jpgto Loc: North East Tennessee

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Thomas, Nos. 2 and 6 are reasonable. 6, I'm not too sure about the dress position. The remainders of the photos show hot spots, easily remedied with diffusers such as umbrellas or soft boxes. Some of the poses appear to be a bit awkward, as well.

It's wonderful that you have a willing subject with whom to work. That can be a benefit to both of you. Some reference material you might want to visit:
http://stobist.blogspot.com and https://www.youtube.com/user/pmcc150. Phillip is a bit quirky, but knows his stuff and has some great tutorials.
--Bob

Photocraig

I agree with jpgtp. the flash seems to high powered and should be reduced (or moved further away from the subject) to provide fill light. The subject's skin tone is quite light or pale, and should be lit less brightly for a more flattering appearance.

My second comment is about posing models/subjects. This quite lovely young lady is full figured and her raised arm poses do not flatter her (nor do they flatter most sleeveless females). The second photo shooting from an angle with the elbow pointing away from the camera works better. This is among the most difficult areas to learn in portrait photography. The combination of selecting the best poses for your subject based on coloring, wardrobe, background and and figure type, and then directing the subject to make the poses the most flattering for themselves.

There are books and some very good YouTube tutorials available for this topic. Watch more than the basics, and even look toward "Boudoir" posing, not that this is your or this genre, but they are more specific for the female form, and especially informative on suggested poses enhancing various figure types and those that de-emphasize "certain" areas. Having a wide repertoire of posing options can help avoid cliche poses (or modify them) like the skirt holding.

Good job on the dress color being strong and contrasting with the background. And your capture of the variety of good facial expressions shows good rapport with the subject and ability to capture the moment of best expression.

The inclusion of the flowers as a prop is good. In my opinion the placement, between the knees, is questionable because, I don't think it works for the portrait and secondly, perhaps somebody's grandma might think it might be "suggestive."

Overall, nice job for a first shoot, and keep it up. People deserve thoughtful photos and portraits that are done in a quality way representing them. In that sense mission accomplished. and I encourage you to do more.
C

out4life2016 Loc: Bellingham, Washington

Thank you for your honest reply. I will deffinitly study more on the subject. I need to hear these replies for the info they provide. We both had a lot of fun and this is an area where im surely wanting to learn more about and practice more.

out4life2016 Loc: Bellingham, Washington

Thank You Bob, Its always nice hearing from you and receiving the advice you give. It was fun for the both of us and this is an area that I surely want to improve more on.

jcboy3

Skin color is all over the place, as in not consistent, and very blue, as in not realistic.

1. Don't shoot into an upraised arm Better if the arm is behind.

2. Don't shoot down unless the subject is looking up.

3. Don't shoot straight up a dress, have the subject angle their legs away to the side.

4. Don't shoot flowers between legs, ever.

5. Try not to shoot up at your subject.

6. Try to get a gap between arm and dress if the subject is holding the dress up; or it's a big swath.

dancers Loc: melbourne.victoria, australia

I know zero about photography, but armpits are not attractive.

CO

In most of the photos, the flash has overexposed the young lady because she's close to the camera. It's very evident in photos #5 and #6. Bryan Peterson, in his book, "Understanding Flash Photography" has a great technique to deal with that. He puts both the camera and flash in manual mode. He exposes for the background with the camera settings. When the flash is in manual mode it will display the ideal flash to subject distance on the LCD screen. He estimates the distance and adjusts the flash output level until that estimated distance is shown on the flash LCD screen. I've tried it. It works very well.

You can also just use flash compensation until it looks right. In most of those photos, I probably would have dialed in about -2 or even -3 flash compensation.

Firing the flash into an umbrella is a great way to great a larger light source. It also gets the flash off camera to avoid the totally flat lighting.

I use a Kupo swivel umbrella bracket and fire my flash into a 33" silver reflective umbrella. An umbrella with a silver interior gives you about 1 stop more light. You can also get a shoot-through umbrella for softer light.

There are two books I would recommend. They both cover outdoor and indoor photography:

Master Posing Guide by J.D. Wacker

Portrait Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots by Eric Valind (Do a "Look Inside" on Amazon to see some of the pages.)

Kupo swivel umbrella bracket - large clamping area prevents slippage.

canon Lee

Hi Thomas, You definitely need to learn how to Post edit. I encourage you to keep shooting and practicing & looking on line at how pros pose their subjects.