1st Potrait picture ever

[Polarbear]

Hello again, well now that I am house bound with a torn Achillies tendon for the next 8 weeks I have got round to selecting some of my pics from my recent trip to India.

I am and still are very nervous about doing "people" pics. I was lucky at Dahlutabad Fort near Aurangabad, I stopped halfway up in the stifling heat. I met this lovely local lady who literally begged me to take her picture. Wow! free portrait lesson, so here are my results, and no she didn't want any money!

Taken with my A300 and the kit 18-70mm lens that lots seem to scorn, but I find more than adequate, funds limiting.

BTW i post these pics untouched.

Comments welcome

[Lonnie Utah]

#2 is closer. It's a good shot and I like it. That being said, there is room for imporvement.

Try going with a tighter crop on the face (ie less back ground) and bumping up the contrast. With all the bright sky in the frame, the camera has a hard time picking up the interesting details in the face and her clothing. To me, on my uncalabrated monitor here at my 9-5, the whole image seems to be about 0.5 step over exposed.

Finally, try to get the subject balanced in the frame. As taken, it's slightly off to the viewers left.

[Polarbear]

Thanks, at last ! I honestly thought it was so rubbish as I wasn't getting replies. I was worried people might not want to sound to critical, but how am I going to get better if I don't get any feedback?

Anyway yes I see what you mean about pic 2 re the bright sky, and getting closer to the face. Something I shall bear in mind for future portraits. I shall have to put my nerves aside and enjoy the moment....

Comments are really appreciated

[aster]

Hi Polarbear,

Welcome with your photography.
We may be late comers but never get discouraged by our tardiness please.

I like the naive approach you have to photos. Lonnie already pointed with some leading advice. I like the background structures that are local monuments and I agree that composition of the first photo could be a little decentered and as Lonnie said a little less exposed.

She has a very nice colouring to her skin texture. I think in time you'll be an excellent composer...

Thanks for sahring,
Yildiz

[Lonnie Utah]

And don't be afraid to use that tammy 70-300 for portraits..

[Dr. Harout]

And don't be afraid to use that tammy 70-300 for portraits..

Seconded.
BTW, you can just make some PP on the second shot and you'll have a great portrait.

[bakubo]

BTW i post these pics untouched.

Comments welcome

Thanks for posting your photos! I think I prefer the first photo but, IMO, it would be better with a bit of post-processing. I just spent 5 minutes on it and I think it is better. If you want to see it then let me know and I can post it here.

[Polarbear]

Hi everyone

Thank you for all your feedback it is really appreciated

Lonnie, I hadn't thought of using the Tamron, I thought it might be too "close", but I see after your other comment that it would be a good way of getting closer and pulling the subjects face into the picture.

Bakubo, I would love to see what you have done with my picture, and how you did them. I have always "fought shy" of adjusting my pictures afterwards. Usually out of fear of messing them up and lack of experience with all but the most basic PP software.

[bakubo]

Bakubo, I would love to see what you have done with my picture, and how you did them. I have always "fought shy" of adjusting my pictures afterwards. Usually out of fear of messing them up and lack of experience with all but the most basic PP software.

Here are both a color and B&W version. I just rotated it a little, cropped, opened up the dark areas a bit, lightened it a bit with a slight mid-tone boost, added a light touch of local area contrast (USM 3, 40, 0), for the color one added a very small amount of saturation (5), and then a very light smart sharpen (35, 0.1, lens blur).

polarbear_2.jpg

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polarbear_2_bw.jpg

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[Lonnie Utah]

Lonnie, I hadn't thought of using the Tamron, I thought it might be too "close", but I see after your other comment that it would be a good way of getting closer and pulling the subjects face into the picture.

PB,

FWIW, "standard" potrait lenes are generally between 85-105mm.

[Polarbear]

I like the B&W version, makes her look more interesting. Thank you again for the guidance, and yes it does look better without so much sky!

[bakubo]

I like the B&W version, makes her look more interesting. Thank you again for the guidance, and yes it does look better without so much sky!

I forgot one thing. For the color version I also adjusted the color balance a bit.

[sury]

Polarbear,
I think the heated air (often 40C at 9am) is causing some of the haziness and you have to tackle the mother nature with post processing. Probably some haze removal techniques could be used to your advantage. I also find that auto WB tends to make Indians a bit reddish. It could be that cameras are more optimized for fairer colors (yellow dominance?). I used to get better pictures with film cameras when I bought the film in India rather than take it from US where I presently live. I am originally from Hyderabad, India and it has very similar weather and terrain to Aurangabad. Please note that these are my personal observations and have no scientific data to backup.

Bakubo, for me, this may not be a good candidate for black and white. She is almost blending into the wall and background and lacking contrast. On the other hand, if the 2nd image is cropped tight to face only as Lonnie suggested and post process per Doc's suggestion, and convert to B&W using your flow, that might work better. Talk about global collaboration and world peace....

With best regards,
Sury

[Polarbear]

Hi Sury,

yes you are right, it was hazy, but it was about 3pm-ish and still getting hotter! I do find that a lot of my pics , especially more rural than city, get this haze, I couldn't work out if it was the pollution, or sand and atmospheric dust? Now I know. I do miss the crispness with landscape I get elsewhere. I guess that is all part of the landscape that makes India, India!

I wondered also if it is just the natural "brightness" (Very sunny weather) that almost over exposes most of my shots, it is unrelanting. I found very ddifficult with "white" buildings for example. Equally Sandstone red buildings came up paler than I expected.

I am definatley going to have to do some PP with this visits shots untill I get the colours and light to how I remember them.

I don't have the money for Adobe photoshop, so I have downloaded the free PP GIMP, in an effort to have some pp control...........Arrghh , did I just say I was going to adjust my pics?

I have to save my money for better things like return travels, where now I am learning so quickly, can make better adjustments whilst I am there.

I may take my Minolta with me next time and try as you suggest, some pictures using film bought there, it would also save on taking it with me, and processing is so cheap there. Although it maybe a bit suspect in some places.

Well Thank you again for your kind advice, I will say I do adore India, and found the people in Maharashtra most hospitable and relatively less hassel than the big cities, if you get my drift.

PB

[sury]

Couple of free photo editing packages I use (one more than the other) is Picasa and Piknik on Flickr.
I don't use Photoshop very often. I am glad you enjoyed your trip to India. I find people more often than not,
very nice during my travels too.

With best regards,
Sury