Portrait Photography (0/1)
ski...@juno.com
graduation? Is it different for adults, teenagers, and children?
Where should I have the subject look? at the camera? over my shoulder?
at some distant place?
It depends on what I want to accomplish; but I also want to do this
right. What makes a good portrait?
I attached a few as samples and ask for your opinions and suggestions.
So, I pose this to this esteemed group of professionals. What is a
good portrait photograph.
Thank you.
Bob
ski...@juno.com
graduation? Is it different for adults, teenagers, and children?
Where should I have the subject look? at the camera? over my shoulder?
at some distant place?
It depends on what I want to accomplish; but I also want to do this
right. What makes a good portrait?
I attached two samples and ask for your opinions and suggestions. I
attempted to attached more photos but I think they might be too large;
Agent seemed to have a hard time sending this message with five photos
attached.
ski...@juno.com
and somhow it sent this without the attachments.
ski...@juno.com
original message, it didn't work, so I made another attempt to attach
only one, and when I went to the folder with the photos the photos I
had previously attempted to send are gone. They are still on my
computer, but not accessable using Agent, my newsreader. What is
going on here?
On Thu, 28 Sep 2006 09:34:33 -0400, ski...@juno.com wrote:
Richard H.
> Im confused. I attempted to attach some samle portrait photos to this
> original message, it didn't work
Hi, Bob.
This is a text newsgroup. On Usenet, only groups in the alt.binaries.*
hierarchy accept attachments, like photos.
Some hosts will accept and forward attachments, but the better ones
refuse them, so few people will see them even if you do manage to attach
one here.
Instead, post them on a website (e.g., http://www.pbase.com) and provide
a link here.
Richard
ski...@juno.com
I tried to attach the photos again, they were not in the folder?
Is there a free site to load photos?
Bob
Richard H.
> Thank you; what did Agent do with the photos I attemptd to send? when
> I tried to attach the photos again, they were not in the folder?
Can't say; I don't use Agent.
> Is there a free site to load photos?
See the one I mentioned. They have free 30-day trial accounts. Or
Flickr.com. There are loads more...
Richard
dadiOH
> How should I pose the subject for a formal portrait? a school
> graduation? Is it different for adults, teenagers, and children?
>
> Where should I have the subject look? at the camera? over my
> shoulder? at some distant place?
>
> It depends on what I want to accomplish; but I also want to do this
> right. What makes a good portrait?
I've asked myself that same question for 50 years. Best answer I can
come up with is one that satisfies the subject *AND* the intended
recipient...one to which the viewer (particularly the intended
recipient) sees some aspect of character/personality/humanity to which
he can relate.
That means that any single portrait probably isn't adequate for all
intended recipients. As an example, consider a portrait of a young
woman...her father thinks of her one way, her boy friend another. One
could convey those differences in various ways...one would be a sledge
hammer way via revealing garments in one, not in another. A better
way is through slight, subtle changes in expression involving the lip
and eye muscles.
I haven't mentioned lighting and posing because they are basic
"givens". Portrait lighting is relatively standardized because
empirical experience has settled on that standard. Beginning
photographers need to learn those standards so that they can
understand when/how to deviate from them. They also tend to think a
pose makes or breaks a photo and put their subjects into contrived,
un-natural - and uncomfortable - positions. Again, there are
standards.
> I attached a few as samples and ask for your opinions and
> suggestions. So, I pose this to this esteemed group of
> professionals.
Professionals? Here? Hehehe...not many...
--
dadiOH
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Somewhere Nowhere
Bob,
I'd like to comment on one of your shots:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/78281283@N00/254956680/
IMHO, this is much more than a "snapshot."
The subject is sharp, composition is good (use of the rule of thirds),
DOF is very good and the lighting on the subject is nearly perfect.
This shot shows that you are on your way. You have a good eye.
Try to remember that you usually want a shallow DOF for portraits. In
studio portraits, you usually want a slight shadow on one side
(asymmetrical lighting), but you can't control that on the street.
Keep shooting.
Brian
--
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brian J. Rueger | Hampton Div. of Fire & Rescue | "Who dares wins"
Capt./Paramedic | Fire Communications Officer | Hampton, VA.
B.S.Comm/I/Pilot | MSgt, USAF (Ret.) 49199 | NREMT-P
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Check out my photography: http://www.usefilm.com/member/skypilot
"Life's too short to drink LITE beer!"
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ski...@juno.com
Brian:
Thank you very much for your encouragement! It is much appreciated.
I saw this kid in a plaza in Bergen Norway and thought he had a nice
look, nice blue eyes, and asked if I took take his photo, he eagerly
agreed. it was a cloudy almost rainy day and that probably helped. I
took only one photo of this lad. Up till now, I preferred the photo
of the boy with the orange shirt, but now that you bring my attention
to this photo, I can see that it is indeed slightly better; not nearly
as good as what I've seen on some web pages, but I can see that it
might be a tad better than the boy in the orange.
Thank you for your tips; I use a Nikon D50; I think that is good
enough for now, do you agree? I used the portrait setting on this
one, as I did on the orange boy, so why did this one come out with a
shallow DOF and the orange boy didn't?
I really do appreciate your comment regarding having a good eye.
Someone once asked me how I take such good photos (this person was not
an expert and I never thought I took good photos, that was his
opinion) and I replied, "I take lots of photos, some just turn out
good."
On this this to Scandinavia I took 6,227 photos.
Bob
dadiOH
> Brian:
>
> Thank you very much for your encouragement! It is much appreciated.
>
> I saw this kid in a plaza in Bergen Norway and thought he had a nice
> look, nice blue eyes, and asked if I took take his photo, he eagerly
> agreed. it was a cloudy almost rainy day and that probably helped.
> I took only one photo of this lad. Up till now, I preferred the
> photo of the boy with the orange shirt, but now that you bring my
> attention to this photo, I can see that it is indeed slightly
> better; not nearly as good as what I've seen on some web pages, but
> I can see that it might be a tad better than the boy in the orange.
I think so too. However - IMO - it would have been improved had the
light been less top heavy and the background a bit less busy.
I realize that those elements can't always be controlled in this type
of photography; however, moving either the boy, yourself or both might
have helped.
The poster to which you replied mentioned "the rule of thirds". Not
the case here, subject is centered.
______________
> Thank you for your tips; I use a Nikon D50; I think that is good
> enough for now, do you agree? I used the portrait setting on this
> one, as I did on the orange boy, so why did this one come out with a
> shallow DOF and the orange boy didn't?
I'm not familiar with your camera so I have no idea what a "portrait
setting" does. The difference in depth of field is due to the size of
the aperture...smaller (in size) aperture = greater depth of field.
More light generally = smaller aperture with automatic cameras.
__________________
> I really do appreciate your comment regarding having a good eye.
> Someone once asked me how I take such good photos (this person was
> not an expert and I never thought I took good photos, that was his
> opinion) and I replied, "I take lots of photos, some just turn out
> good."
Figure out why :)
ski...@juno.com
wrote:
>I think so too. However - IMO - it would have been improved had the
>light been less top heavy and the background a bit less busy.
>
By 'top heavy' do you mean les light from the top? I don't see what
you mean, what does having top light do? in the photo we are talking
about, what affect did the top light have?
>I realize that those elements can't always be controlled in this type
>of photography; however, moving either the boy, yourself or both might
>have helped.
I agree the background detracts and I could have have the boy move to
be near a structure, there was a reflecting pool nearby. I guess I am
still feel a bit awkward about taking the time, but the boy seemed
pleasant and patient and I am sure he would not have objected to
moving.
>The poster to which you replied mentioned "the rule of thirds". Not
>the case here, subject is centered.
Sometimes centered is allright, right? In this case I wanted to have
the boy centered, the background was not interesting.
I will get out and take more photos. I want to visit the zoo in
Washiington DC and try some animal portraits. Hard to get a lion to
smile, but I'll see what happens. And I am sure there will be some
people there to practice on.
dadiOH
> On Fri, 29 Sep 2006 14:19:27 GMT, "dadiOH" <dad...@guesswhere.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I think so too. However - IMO - it would have been improved had
>> the light been less top heavy and the background a bit less busy.
>>
> By 'top heavy' do you mean les light from the top?
Yes. It is the dominant light.
___________
> I don't see what
> you mean, what does having top light do? in the photo we are
> talking about, what affect did the top light have?
It sunk the eyes, created the heavy lines under same and made the tops
of the cheeks and tip of the nose overly bright relative to the rest
of the face. Also accented the orbital ridge, top of forehead and
shirt/jacket collars.
Compare the face in that one to all the other kids. The lighting in
those is dead straight in (due to flash) which isn't usually
desireable either but it will show the difference twixt the two light
directions..
_______________
>> The poster to which you replied mentioned "the rule of thirds".
>> Not the case here, subject is centered.
>
> Sometimes centered is allright, right?
Sure.
faune8
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