Tips on making portrait pics better in the future?

Goat Whisperer

Goat Whisperer

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Okay so I took these pictures for a friend of mine, because he s graduating high school and he wanted some. First I know it was a really bad time of day to take pictures :p I wanted to do it in the morning, but I still need to by an external flash for my camera so I was worried they wouldn't turn out to well in poor light, and anyways, when we finally did do it, it was really sporadic so ya. Second I was using my zoom lens cuz it's the only kind I have right now since my other one is broken, I am buying a new one with in the month tho :willy_nilly:

I was using my Nikon D40 with an 80-200 mm lens, no flash, and a wathmacallit lens cap (lol I don't remember the name)

So here are the best pictures I ended up with, can you tell me tips on how to make them better in the future?

DSC_0031.jpg

DSC_0044.jpg

SoftenedBackgroundSeriousBrody.jpg

Then these are specially made :p

MatteBrody.jpg

LeavesBackground.jpg
 
nice shots...

best tip i can give...make sure the eyes of who or what you are taking a picture of for a portrait are in focus ....lets use your photos here as an example of that.... what is the area in your photos must in focus? i notice the arm/elbow is what is in focus, and we need to make the face the 'pop' of the portrait.

btw i really like the second one
 
Mystic said:
nice shots...

best tip i can give...make sure the eyes of who or what you are taking a picture of for a portrait are in focus ....lets use your photos here as an example of that.... what is the area in your photos must in focus? i notice the arm/elbow is what is in focus.
Click to expand...

I know :( I think it's cuz the lens I was using was too zoom-ish, do you know anyway of how to get it to focus in the right area of a picture with that kind of lens? Or what lens I should get? I saved up my money to buy one as well as an external flash.

Is one technique focusing on the face then focusing back on the full body to take the picture? I'm not sure if that would work.
 
AbriannaPeto said:
I know :( I think it's cuz the lens I was using was too zoom-ish, do you know anyway of how to get it to focus in the right area of a picture with that kind of lens? Or what lens I should get? I saved up my money to buy one as well as an external flash.

Is one technique focusing on the face then focusing back on the full body to take the picture? I'm not sure if that would work.
Click to expand...
i usually focus in on what i want sharp first then zoom out....sort of like telling the camera what i want it to keep focus....maybe someone has a better idea on how to do that:D:nod:
 
if you cut off body parts make sure it is at joints - like knees, elbows, hip, etc. not like mid groin or mid tummy

also you can do some shallow depth of field so the back ground is blurry and he is all tack sharp - tone down the background
you can also get him to tone down his wordrobe so he will stand out more from the background

and maybe go somewhere next time so the sun isn't so bright so we can see eyes
 
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