Hello everyone, I just recently was asked to do a senior portrait shoot by a co-worker. I have never worked with people before, I usually only do Wildlife and Sports photography. I dont really have the gear at the moment to take great portrait photographs, but I did the best i could with what I had to work with. All CC is very much welcome and appreciated as i would like to improve.
Sony A9
FE 24-105 F4
100MM, F4, 1/125SS, 50 ISO. Natural Light Only.
That's a great start, and you certainly have gear to make some good portraits.
The light is beautiful, warm and flattering, and she's lovely. The two areas for improvement are posing and composition.
Even experienced photographers have trouble working with subjects ("models") with little to no experience. So a good workaround is to get them to do something. A young lady in a jacket like that can clasp part of the jacket, hold it out to the sides, let it hang so her hands disappear, or throw it over her shoulder. This should result in some dynamic poses and some genuine expressions.
As for composition, if you'd either moved her or your position just a bit to place her head just to camera left there is a space free where there are no twigs right behind her. Always pay attention to background elements that could look odd or distracting. In this case, the twigs could look like horns growing out of her head.
And lastly, her hands are cut off. Hands can be awkward (again, have her do something with them), but psychologically visible hands are a sign of friendliness and trustworthiness, so it can look odd when they're missing. Maybe crop this just above the elbows if there are no photos showing good hands.
Thanks DJ, much appreciated. The biggest struggle i had was coming up with poses. She of course had no experience modeling before, and i had zero experience trying to pose a model. Great advice overall. Thanks so much. Also, I agree about the composition and cutting off the hands. I too thought it looked odd afterwards. And i didnt even notice the twigs in the background that could resemble horns, great catch. Thanks for taking the time the critique it and not being overly critical. That happens alot these days. Have a great weekend!! Cheers!!