Post Your Best Portrait Shots!

[bassmangtk]

This is Doc Hendley, founder of www.winetowater.org. He brings clean water to places the UN won't let larger groups go and funds it through wine tastings.





This is a fan of his at the rally.


Gary

[Rodger]

To be honest I really like the second one with the exception that the girl's eyes are closed, it's a nifty composition

Thanks twistedframe! A couple cool shots came out of just pointing and shooting haha.

This is Doc Hendley, founder of www.winetowater.org.

Very cool. I've never heard of him. Is he a big name? Did you crop or were you that close when you took it?


-Rodger

[Keith B]

I shot this tonight just messing around with lighting. Not crazy about the green wall and the fuchsia sweater but liked the light and expression.


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[Sean Setters]

I shot this tonight just messing around with lighting. Not crazy about the green wall and the fuchsia sweater but liked the light and expression.

As soon as I saw the picture I thought to myself, "Wow, that's great lighting.." The colors don't bother me, though...but I imagine they might clash a bit more for those who aren't colorblind. ;-)

[Keith B]

Thanks Sean! I'm holding that in high regard since I've been a fan of your work for some time now.


This kind of thing always happens, I tell my girlfriend I'm just messing around don't worry about posing, just sit there. I don't get concerned with colors in the shot because I'm just checking lighting. And then when I realize I'm really liking everything else about the shot and that they are keepers except for the color. BW just doesn't do much for the lighting in this shot either.

[Sean Setters]

BW just doesn't do much for the lighting in this shot either.

You know, that's something I've come to realize--delicate strobist lighting doesn't always translate well to black & white. Sometimes the color of the light (as in a gelled background or mainlight) significantly helps draw the viewers eyes to specific elements within the frame. Every now and then, though, I like a picture better in black and white. Take this one, for example, from the same shoot:





The color version simply wasn't working for me because her shirt was actually a light blue. However, when I converted it toB&W and applied a red filter in post, the shirt became darker and the picture worked better. You might want to try the same technique.

[Dave Johnston]

@ Keith... that IS some good lighting... but I agree that the green background is not the most appealing.


@Sean.. Love the railroad shot. There are very nice lines and an intriguing pose selection, I can see that black and white really would do more for the shot than color.


Took this according to the strobist idea of shooting with white balance set on tungsten with a CTO gelled flash.


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Canon 50D + 70-200 f4L @ 70mm f11 1/100" ISO-100. One 580exII camera right full power shot through roscoluxfull CTO gel and 6" DIY paper snoot.

[Rodger]

Sean, love the railroad picture!


Dave, Nice catchlights!! Personally I'm not sure how I feel about both warm tones and cool tones on her face. But that's personally, very nice shot!


Finished up some more senior pictures:











C&C welcome, right off the bat, I should have taken a serious pose face on the third image. I'm not sure if the lower perspective of the third image lends itself to a happy-go-lucky type of expression.


I'm starting to realize I really like shooting portraits. Or at least "people pictures". They're more interesting to me than Cranberry, PA landscapes haha.


-Rodger

[devsalvi]

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[Chuck Lee]

BW just doesn't do much for the lighting in this shot either.

You know, that's something I've come to realize--delicate strobist lighting doesn't always translate well to black & white. Sometimes the color of the light (as in a gelled background or mainlight) significantly helps draw the viewers eyes to specific elements within the frame. Every now and then, though, I like a picture better in black and white. Take this one, for example, from the same shoot:


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The color version simply wasn't working for me because her shirt was actually a light blue. However, when I converted it toB&W and applied a red filter in post, the shirt became darker and the picture worked better. You might want to try the same technique.
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Dang Sean...


That shot is awesome. Not just the lighting but the composition is phenomenal.


Kieth,


I like your messing around portrait. The colors aren't that bad. The lighting is soft and very natural. It sorta looks like you took the shot while she was watching TV. I agree with Sean, mess around with black and white filters, you'd be suprised at what can come out. Picasa 3 has a very good filtered black and white converter. I play with the white balance and color deflection in Silkypix when converting from RAW to B&amp;W.