I was a film photographer for most the years of my life.. 7 kick-@$$ years living in Germany. Photographing everything! I had a peculiar way of picking my light. I lightly close my eyelids and spin around till i see it. I mean not see it, but oh the h*!! with it. Ive had 3 weeks worth of Mavens crash courses (this digital sh!7 can kis my - ) and I am tired and so here it is da+=it.. .. <---- on his second shot of fine single malt.. This digital stuff is freaking me out guys! Come on!!! Where the hell is the wheel thing and that you stick that .... screw it.. lol ... where TF is that brush thingy you use for .. never mind. found it.. (^@#! .... And where the h#(( are all my pictures going to!!! Someone answer that! Hey guys. Glad to break the ice.. Hoooaaah!

Umm... What the h#(( did i want to say? Oh yeah. How does my digital attempt at this portrait look.. Should I go back to my trusty F1?

OMG it's so da^% big!

Musta been some nice single malt!

Only two shots, really? Dude.

whitewash wrote:
Only two shots, really? Dude.
It usually takes four shots to get me that incoherent.

Regarding the photo - the ambient is very low and maybe that is what you wanted. But to me, I would have liked it more if you balanced the ambient more with your off cam flash.

Not like shooting the landscapes I'm accustomed to doing.. Do I even have a fighting chance at portraits? I should have diffused my flash too. We had 20 mph winds. Otherwise I'd used one of the few large round collapsable diffusers I have.. As far as post proccess ------- this damn headache ..... "where did I set my Glenlivet"?

We were in the trees away from the wind and it was heavy shade. Thursday I have access to a country golf club for doing some more shots. Not the Glenlivet kind either.. First time out Tuesday was harsh mid-day sun.. So I think I'll shoot later this next outing. Going to use reflectors this time. Any advice? Oh.. Here is one more pic.. If I can figure out how to do that in this thread.

I can say there is too much shadow on her face and neck.. Reflectors here?

And she wanted a tight headshot.. This was originally a test shot.. First one actually. Well over-exposed subject, but I was going for the under-exposed background effect.. Is it a keeper? I'm not charging for the portraits.. Mainly doing pics for family and such.. You can't charge for something untill you can give consistent proffessional results..

Wasn't only two shots whitewash.. Well,,,,, not by the time I got to bed anyhow.. <<<-------- he stays up all night banging his head on the desk

If you guys take it easy on me and give some good advice from time to time I promise to buy you all a round.. I guess this is not a chat room.. ~ peace ~

First of all stick with film. It rocks

Second I'd you're really just starting to shoot people, I'd suggest using natural light. It's much easier to gauge, and you can focus on getting a good portrait instead of having to figure out the lighting at the same time... Once you nail that, the move on to flash work.

It will take practice and lots of experimentation and you will know when it looks good. The shot where you asked about reflectors - matter of taste. I kind of like the shot you have. The hard light can add a little glam sometimes. But the last one - if you shot in raw you may be able to save it, but maybe just use the delete button. It's only digital after all.

if you were heavy film shooter, try starting with 1 stop underexposing until you get used to judge the situation. On nikon you get about 1 stop before white starts clipping so it is close to 100er film in highlight power.
get some good raw developer (capture one) and develop your own color curve to match your style. that you can than apply on all your photos and basically shoot as film with out of camera settings.
It takes effort (because there was no urge to match film look in camera presets), but D800 and even D700 can match any film, you just have to shoot differently.

but agree with everybody else, there is (yet) nothing wrong with using film. stick with it if you like it.
biggest advantage (little boring though) of digital is that images are lab-exact regardless of how old your memory cards are , it helps you speed up your learning curve

This is the size of Arloc's shot glass:

^ HAHAHAHAHAHA!

@arloc: Not surprised you had a headache when you came back.
I assume you want to flatter your subject. Here are some random suggestions on that, which you may or may not like to consider.

Facial distortion -- you're in too close. She wants a tight head shot, ok, but do it with a longer lens and step back a bit so you don't exaggerate her features.

Lighting -- I can take or leave the shadows, but in #2 you've taken fairly clean skin and exaggerated every little pock mark and imperfection she has by using harsh sidelighting. I'd suggest you raise that light a bit higher and bring it around to camera front at least a little, or else add another light source for fill. I don't care if it's a reflector, a pop-up flash, bounceback from a sidewalk, or the sun -- just something to fill a bit. Your light position is a bit low for my taste in all three, although it's better in #1 imho.

If you shoot her in profile, make it a true profile. When you shoot her face at an angle, don't let her nose break the line of her cheek. In my experience very few people, especially women, like to have attention called to their noses.

Reflect or direct some light back onto her hair. Especially in #1.

On the flip side, I think she's done a nice job with her makeup and you've done a nice job with the focus and color. #3 is a little blown, but could probably be saved. I wouldn't try to rescue it if it were mine because I'm not keen on the facial expression. Does she wear braces or hate her teeth? If not, I'd be trying to coax a real smile out of her.

yes...