Portraits

The following are portraits that I have taken of various family members. I have learned a lot with each one and study them every now and again to see what makes them good and what makes them kind of so so.

I believe that I had my camera for all of two weeks when Megan asked for a portrait session. Never having done such a thing I jumped at the opportunity. I learned to select my back grounds a little more carefully so that the back ground does not overwhelm the subject. Even then there were a few mistakes. This picture was one of the best but it displays some stray hairs that are a bit of a distraction from the subject's face. There are a bunch of other minor details but that is one of the biggest.

So here is Maria, she and I had a discussion at Jeff and Hillary's wedding that we would not be in to many of the photos. So here is the result of that conversation and a memory for Jeff and Hillary. What I like about this Photo is that Maria is leaning in slightly, gives a sense of intensity. The camera also fills her face, which is all you ever see any way when she's got her camera trained on you which is exactly the effect I desired. The frame is very closely cropped as well, done in camera no post processing, giving extra focus to the subject, the background is blurred on purpose and doesn't detract from the subject. Finally her head is in the center portion of the photo giving it balance. What I really don't like is my little scribble I placed on the photo, wish I had never thought of it in the first place, well I really wish I had kept the original file.

Abe's beautiful bride, she was stunning that day. I was trying for a candid shot when she caught sight of me. So she flashed a brilliant smile and this is what I got. If I had been quicker I would have gotten her looking intently in the direction of her husband to be. I told her after that she wasn't supposed to pose for the camera every time but ignore it, thank goodness she didn't know that before hand! To me she looks like she has a halo with the sunlight hitting the veil. I wish I had used a little bit of fill flash to lighten her up against the veil.

SariAnn was just glowing all day at Abe and Courtney's wedding, I knew I had to catch it now or never. I picked the gazebo where the ceremony was to take place and used a very soft fill flash to fill in the deeper shadows on her face. I love my wife but she has a tendency to pull some odd faces that are not very flattering and make her a little difficult to photograph, not to mention her skin tone tends to show every blemish. However in this photo everything came together. The only thing I don't like, and it bugs me every time I look at this photo, is that I didn't place her in the center very well. Just a bit too much room on the right.

I suppose that this was more of a self critique than a display, but I learn more every time I take a photo and more importantly how to make a good photo. Before I started doing portraits I really only photographed objects and landscapes, that tends to get a bit boring. Well, I have found people to be very interesting subject matter, and since then I like to do both, mostly whichever is available.