First post on here, and first photoshoot i have done for a brand call mingalondon, i upload some of the pictures, hoping you guys could give me some feedback and help to improve in my next shoot :)
First photoshoot, and first post in Fstoppers! If you guys could give some feedback, and tell me some aspects to improve, i would appreciate :)
Hello Joao, welcome to Fstoppers!
Let's focus on the first photo, shall we ?
There are two major things to consider in portrait photography:
1) LIGHT: how your subject is lit, where you cast your shadows, how deep the shadows are, and if they are better gone or not.
2) SUBJECT SEPARATION: keeping your subject the main focus of your photo, having distinct separation and contrast between your model and the environment, keeping your subject's joints non-cropped, not letting the horizon creep through her neck, etc.
Firstly on subject separation, in your first photo, you've got her hair mixed up with the dark shadow behind her.
That's not helping the eyes of the viewer stay 100% focused on your subject.
Luckily the line formed by the edge of the pool is barely below the point where it would cross her neck.
Unless you are shooting a full body portrait, usually you'll want to have as little background interfering with your subject.
Thus, a better angle would've been to shoot her with the water of the pool ( the long side ) behind her, in order to have only your model and the blue blurry water behind her and nothing else.
Lighting-wise since you had some rather hard light from the sun, you should've used a diffuser ( they come rather cheap, a nice 5-in-1 reflector/diffuser kit costs approx. $20 ) to make the harsh light softer on her upper & lower chest area.
A reflector would also be useful to fill her left ( left as we look at the photo I mean ) side of her face with light, either fully, or if you wanted to go for a half-lit, half-in-shadow portrait, use the reflector accordingly to create a softer shadow than you currently have.
In general now, in portraits, another key element is having the eyes of the subject in sharp focus and if it's a close up, make them pop, make sure they are lit and exposed perfectly. It can make a whole lot of a difference.
If you want to shoot full body or 2/3rds in order to include some "meaningful" background to create a story/mood, make sure you LET ONLY THE NECESSARY AND MEANINGFUL objects/background in the photo.
If you want for example to shoot a woman by the mirror having her make-up done, make sure all you see in the photo is the lady, the mirror, the make-up accessories and perhaps some hair styling accessories.
Her cigarettes, her lighter, a forgotten sock, and perhaps her cellphone, shouldn't be there.
It's a rather, first think, create the scene & mood in your imagination, plan the shoot, find the perfect location/setting, place your model accordingly, find the ideal pose, fix the lighting, shoot & enjoy!
That's all I have to offer you for now.
Keep on shooting!
I personally have no issues with the separation or overall lighting. I think these images are really well done and great compared to the results most people get shooting in hard daylight situations (the outside images).
I think what would set these images from a 3 star photo and a 4 star image is the model choice. While she isn't repulsive by any means, she does not fit the traditional look found in the genres of fashion, beauty, commercial, or editorial. She is very close though. I think removing the nose ring and choker necklace would make these even stronger. In the case of the choker, maybe just the cheesy yin yang medallion is all that would need to go.
Of course take what I'm saying with a huge grain of salt if you are not looking to produce images that would sell to magazines and get you hired by art buyers. Sometimes it's easy for photographers to forget that people often just like taking photos of their friends and significant others and if that's the case then these are solid for that. But if you want super strong images for your portfolio, and this goes for 90% of the images I see on any portfolio based website, I think you really need to consider your models (both men and women) carefully.
One last thing that does bother me looking at them again is the hair styling. If you take the time to get the hair perfect or photoshop out all the stray hair, you can make the styling of these images look way more professional. It's funny how sometimes the subconscious things like poor manicures, sloppy hair, dirty clothes, etc can make an image feel less complete. Luckily most of those things can be fixed in post processing but going that extra 20% can make a HUGE impact.
Lighting wise though, I don't think you have anything to worry about there in my opinion; you have that nailed.
Now that you mentioned the choker, it started to bother me when looking at the photos :D
If you were going for the American Apparel/Terry Richardson look that is very popular these days I think you nailed it.
The last image is composed a little bit awkwardly. Alone it might not pass... but in series it plays just fine.
I like it, seemed to be going for a more lifestyle type of fashion which is currently very popular, looking through instyle magazine recently i noticed that many people are shooting in harsh sun, getting hard shadows, shooting in real world situations seems to be the theme lately
On the contrary, i think the model choice totally fits in with brands like supreme and lazy oaf. I could easily see this published in dazed and confused.
loooooove it!