The daughter of some friends of ours asked me to do her senior picture. She came over this morning for her shooting. I did some with a Canon 40D and 70-200/2.8L and some with my G1. Your comments and critique are welcome. These two were taken with a 1965 vintage 90/2.8 Tele-Elmarit ... ... and these with my new 45/2.8 Macro Elmarit.
I think the first one is too tight, and the smile comes across as a sneer. A 90 on a u4/3rds camera is equivalent to a 180 on a 35mm camera, or almost a 4x magnification. A typical portrait lens on a 35mm camera is 75mm to 105mm, or up to about 2x magnification. The 45/2.8 Macro-Elmarit is more typical of magnification for a portrait lenses. It might be "too sharp" for most people for portrait work. A 50/1.5 J-3 should be perfect on a u4/3rds as a portrait lens. The last one is most at ease, and appears more natural. The smile on the third shot is better, but the subject just does not come across as being "at ease". I would go with #4.
I prefer the Jupiter-3 and uncoated Sonnar for portraits. I'll be trying them out with an EP-2 in the next few weeks. This is a 1937 Sonnar 5cm F1.5 converted to LTM on an M8. Personal taste, but portraits can be on the "soft-side".
She's trying a little too hard to smile in all of them, but that's not something you can control. I think the last two work better than the first two because she looks a bit more at ease in a less formal setting (probably because she's in less formal clothing) and I just think the skin tones and other colors in those are warmer and more natural feeling. But any of them would be improved enormously by a more natural smile, which can be difficult to impossible to produce from some people when they know they're being photographed. I have no idea how to pull that out, but a really experienced portrait photographer might have some tricks. -Ray
Ron, Personally #3 does it. She has the same expression in all 3 images. So that means to me, she's natural in the face. #3 has a certain shape to her face that is very appealing. It's a classic pose with the textured wood behind her.... The catchlight in her eyes is perfect. If you Nik Software you could make a nice image out of #3... #4 almost works but her arm looks exaggerated in the foreground....
Thanks for the critique gentlemen. For better or worse, that is Caryn's smile. She is somewhat shy, but has known me for several years and likes how I photograph her. She actually asked me to shoot this for her. Thanks Shooter. I re-processed #3. I didn't really like the way I had lightened it. Does this look better?
i think these are good .........but shoot alot and experiment with different smile forms having her say cheese or another word that contorts the mouth is not as quaint as it seems . its great that she believes in your ability to capture her sweet good looks , that half the battle i would shoot tons of shots and cull later
Ron, that does look better.... I hope the other members agree..... Like Cosina stated...shoot a lot and cull later.... this one, #3 is a good start.....
You have the eyes nice and sharply focussed which is so important. Agree with the comments about her smile. Since you know her you might be able to catch her a little more off-guard. Perhaps shoot burst to give more choice of shots. Otherwise they are technically good and yes the more casual shots work better for Caryn.
