portraits help

[ian.bertram]

These are a couple of portraits from a bunch of shots I took over the weekend. I was at a camp for young vocalists running sound, doing music editing and taking photos . I had very little time to set up for these portraits and the weather was terrible. The shots were taken from a verandah overlooking bushland. The kids were generally facing towards the building and looking back at me. I had an off camera flash shooting through an umbrella set at 1/4 power. I was using a Canon 40d with a 100mm macro lens. There was a fog in the distance quietly rolling in that you may see, but I am more interested in the washout on the left hand side of a couple of the shots. Was this simply the result of not having a hood on my lens and getting some flare from the umbrella flash? These shots have been sharpened slightly and curved to make them just a little more punchy (though they are still pretty soft which I don't mind too much). Shot three doesn't seem to have any problem, shots one and two are the worst of the set I took. What does the brains trust think.

[aim54x]

I really like the first of the set, but all of these are very nice. The flare out on the LHS detracts from them, but that cant really be helped now

[gstark]

Ian,

Where was the brolly placed, with reference to your subjects and camera? It looks as if it was camera left, but how far forward of the camera, and how close to the subjects?

You say that you were shooting through the brolly? I'm interpreting this as meaning also that probably the flash head's raw output may have also been partially exposed to your lens, and even with a hood, there may still have been a flare problem.

[Matt. K]

These images are not bad at all! The soft lighting worked very well. I would offer one piece of advice when doing portraits and that is...always include the hands! The moment you cut the hands off then all you have is a mug shot. Hands are expressive and add interest to almost all portraits.

[biggerry]

.always include the hands! The moment you cut the hands off then all you have is a mug shot. Hands are expressive and add interest to almost all portraits.

thats a good bit of advice, the images do have the 'mugshot' style look, maybe going a bit wider might have helped? you can always crop in right?

but I am more interested in the washout on the left hand side of a couple of the shots. Was this simply the result of not having a hood on my lens and getting some flare from the umbrella flash?

is that the flash lighting up the fog? how close is the fog, you mentioned it was rolling in, the last image does not have any by the looks of it though.

[Mr Darcy]

To the "add hands" comments, may I also suggest giving them something to do. In this context, perhaps holding a piece of sheet music. HTey are vocalists, otherwise I'd siggest holding their instrument to add context.

[ian.bertram]

Thanks for all the replies. The last shot was actually taken later when I realised that I'd missed one of the kids. I was shooting with a 100mm and was about 2-2.5m from the subject. The umbrella was to my left and in front of me about 1m from the subject and relatively close to being in front of them. I'm betting a hood on the lens would have fixed the problem.

Really interesting comment about the hands- I'll give it a go on my next shoot (and also giving them something to do)- the issue was that I had 28 shots to take in about 20 minutes so they are little cookie-cut- best I could do with the time constraints.

Thanks for all the advice.

[tasadam]

Ok, being critical here because they're all good, In 2 & 3 the subjects are facing the light, in 1 the light is from behind (sort of) her. This is making a distracting dark area on the top right area of her head.
Because it is soft light it hides the shadows well, so the image is still good. Maybe another light at reduced power high on the right of this (as we look at it) scene. Just a thought, maybe something to consider.