My first ever photo shoot! I got my DSLR about 3 months ago and have been enjoying the new hobby immensely.

The girls at my wife's salon wanted to enter a photo contest for L'Oreal Professionel, doing each other's hair / make-up / clothing and being models. I was recruited as the photographer so here are the results of my first "serious" session shooting people:


This one was taken at full 250mm zoom on my 55-250 telephoto. I think I was too far away for the flash to really do much in the way of fill light. I didn't like how soft it was so I sharpened it as much as I could in Photoshop, I wish I had a sharper lens (or better technique! ).



This one was taken with the model leaning on the white roof of an Austin Mini, it reflected a LOT of light and washed out her features, but I like the way it made her eyes pop and properly exposed the detail in her hair. (taken with a borrowed XSI w/ Kit lens)


Another one taken with the borrowed camera. A lot of photoshop work in this one to blur and darken the background for some depth of field.

Looking for some feedback and ideas on cropping, etc. Also what's your process for sharpening? I was just randomly moving sliders until it looked better to me.

It's unfortunate that only the first has good separation between hair and background. When you photograph to emphasize hair it helps to have a "hair light", especially for dark hair, to separate it from the back ground. The difficulty masking hair often limits what you can do in post processing, although I suspect there are masking tools and techniques that would help.

An off camera flash, properly placed is a flexible tool for lighting hair, although you may need a snoot of some sort to limit the spill from a hair light. You can often use a reflector, for hair light, depending upon the circumstances.

In terms of sharpening, these images need selective sharpening rather than over-all sharpening. It's easier to sharpen the whole image, but photos of women and children are usually not served wisely by one-size-fits-all sharpening. I suggest either use a sharpening brush or make a duplicate layer, apply sharpening and then erase the layer over the areas such as facial skin where sharpening isn't flattering. You can also use masking which will be easier for some images than erasing. As for sharpening technique, I have an entire book devoted to sharpening in my pile of PS books to read. Until you're ready to invest the time to become a sharpening wizard, I'd suggest experimenting to learn what each sharpening tool can do and experiment with selective sharpening.

Thanks very much for the tips! I'll definitely re-visite these shots with some selective sharpening of the eyes and hair, is there anywhere else I should concentrate on? Or just avoid the cheeks and forehead area?


I do have some more from the set that had the nicely blurred background, but the girls didn't like their expressions or poses for some reason or another:

In general, if you're not using an lens or camera body with shake reduction I'd recommend significantly higher shutter speed. Few people can hand hold for optimum sharpness at 1/60, let alone 1/30 of a second. The old rule of thumb of 1/focal length assumes very good hold technique and relatively small viewing magnification - something like printing the image to 4 x 6 or something like that, as I recall. Although sharpening techniques can make images appear sharper, it's no substitute for a sharp original.

As for what to sharpen, the simple answer is everything that looks better sharp. Does sharpening jewelry add to the image or distract? does sharpening clothing detail add or distract? Does sharpening foreground detail add or distract? When in doubt, make a duplicate layer, sharpen part and see if the image is better. If not, delete the duplicate layer.

Hmm, I suppose I should have bumped the ISO up to 400 or 800 then, or left it on AUTO. I just realized the EXIF data was stripped when I uploaded the shots, I was shooting with a Canon T1i, using a 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS telephoto and a polarizing filter. I also had a Speedlite 380EX mounted to the camera but I don't know if it did much good at the distance I was at.

What would you consider a hold-able shutter speed for these shots? 1/250"?

Thanks very muchfor the feedback. I'm learning a lot!

Also, what's the best (cheap, DIY) way to set up a hair light? I don't think I'll be doing a lot of portraits but if I can McGuyver something together on the day of the shoot that would definitely be a good thing! Does the light get placed behind the subject? Or off to the side, just out of frame?

Handhold speed depends upon focal length, whether it's windy and how still you can hold your camera. A heavier DSLR has less shake due to mirror slap. A light consumer-grade DSLR will often need a higher shutter speed. For lenses up to 135 mm I find 1/250 usually OK, if I do my part holding the camera steady. The only way to know what works for you is to experiment and view the resulting images at a large size. There's no real cost to experimenting with digital and much to learn.

Back in the old days I had a full set of studio lights. If you want advice on lighting with cheap strobes, the lighting and studio techniques forum may be a better source of advice or some of the appropriate internet sites such as the Strobist blog: http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/