Learning Portraiture

I've been trying to expand my photographic skills and I wanted to try to learn portraiture. Since my last attempt didn't work out so well. I kept my eyes open for another opportunity.

In the meantime, I've been researching some photography blogs to give me an idea of what poses would be nice.

I mainly looked at the blogs of Jasmine Star and Tara Whitney. I like Jasmine Star's poses for couples getting married and I like how Tara Whitney poses the family in a natural setting and situation to document fun and love. So I'll basically try to mimic those when I go out to shoot my friends.

A few weeks ago, we went to Queen Elizabeth Park and had a small picnic under some trees so I decided to do an impromptu protrait session.

Here are some of them.

Here's a shot of my friend Paul

and Doris.

They didn't turn out exactly like the engaging photos of Jasmine Star or the oozing with personality type photos of Tara Whitney. I guess I have to learn more on how to engage my subjects.

Technically, some of the photos could be better with a better camera and lens. I understand now why people use a DSLR for portraits. Mainly is when you look through the viewfinder, you're not distracted by the surroundings so you can concentrate more on what you're trying to shoot.

Second, a DSLR is faster and more accurate with focusing. I have several photos which would have been nice, unfortunately, they were out of focus and I didn't realized at the time since I was trying to shoot quickly so I don't lose the flow of the photoshoot.

The photos of the would have been better with better bokeh. The background is still too sharp for my taste and for portraiture. The largest aperture my camera can do is F/2.8. The photos would probably have been better with an F/1.8 or F/2.0 aperture.

Another thing I noticed is that I should pay more attention to the background. If you look at the photos of Paul, the tree behind him is distracting. The branches protruting around his head makes him look like he has a crown.

With Doris' photo, the background sun blew out the highlights and that bright spot takes your eyes away from her face and move to the highlight. This is hard.

Here's some shots of couples

Again, blown highlights, not as distracting as Doris' photo since the eye goes from the highlight to Paul and his wife, but the highlight tries to draw you back.

This photo is not as soft and sharp as I would like. It's a bit grainy for my taste even though it was shot at ISO 125 which was set automatically by the camera. Again, problem with a small sensor.

And some families

I just don't have any idea on how to pose them. Boring.

This would have been nice if it was a bit tighter. But I just saw this and this wasn't done on purpose.

While I see a lot of flaw in these photos. I'm sure my friend would love them since it is about them. They're not magazine or award winning quality photos. But sometimes, as long as my friends are happy with the photos, I'm happy with it.

I'll do a better job next time though. And when I do, I'll start charging them for these sessions. Mwahahaha!!! (raises pinky to mouth)