----- Original Message ----- From: <pnstenquist Subject: Re: GESO: Anne
> But keep in mind that nailing it in just a few shots is an aberration. Most > accompished > portrait photographers shoot a lot of frames. Don't quit working until you've > nailed it. But > don't count on volume. Make every shot count. I'd like to expand slightly on this. Sometimes it doesn't matter how many frames you shoot, you are just wasting yours and your subjects time. It happens. Recognize if this is happening, and go and do something else. There is nothing to gain by trying to force a picture to happen, and often, there is much to lose. I found when I was learning portraiture (some would say I never did), I shot the same model, often with the same background, the same lights and the same lens many times in a row, probably 50 times. As I worked with her over time (several years), I got more keepers per session, and the quality of the keepers went up as well. You have some good shots there, and she really is quite beautiful. Next time you photograph her perhaps try keeping the lens axis at or near her eye level, I think you will find she photographs better with a slightly elevated camera. Also, longer focal length and get farther away. I wouldn't go shorter than ~90mm with her. In general terms, when you are going through you pictures, don't dwell overly on the good ones. Everyone shoots good pictures from time to time, and frankly, I'd rather look at someone else's good pictures than try to feign a lack of narcissism about my own. Cull out the good ones and give copies to your friends, post them to the net, or whatever, and get over it. It is far more instructive, and far less egotistical, to look at the ones that didn't work and try to suss out what went wrong. Once you've figured why a picture didn't work, don't repeat that mistake. Eventually, you will get more keepers (if for no other reason than to be able to stop looking at crappy photographs). With your portraiture, try to be very objective about your subject. No one has a perfect face, and there is nothing wrong with either doing a bit of camouflage or misdirecting to limit the exposure of less than wonderful features. Contrary to popular belief, portraiture isn't about recording what your subect looks like. Also, people tend to either have goofy happy smiles or else rather stern expressions. I hate goofy toothy smiles in portraiture. You have to do a few to keep the subject's mom happy, but only do a few, perhaps while adjusting any lighting you are using. If you do too many the person starts to look like Ronald McDonald. Stern expressions tend to make the person look sullen or morose, which isn't attractive in the least. Unless you are Yousuf Karsch, stern is a good expression to stay away from. I like to try for a "pleasant" expression. Sort of smiling on the inside, and just letting a hint of it out for the camera to see. If that makes any sense.... William Robb -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
