I just threw the Olympus part on their to make it interesting I was asked by a coworker to do some portraits of her daughter. We did a combination of outside shots to make use of some of the season's colors and we did some inside shots in my make shift living room studio. This was my first real test drive of the Olympus wireless flash system and I have to say it worked wonderfully. For the outdoor shots I used a single Fl-36r fired off camera through a shoot-through umbrella. Being able to adjust the intesnity on the go was invaluable. The first shot below though was natural light only. Inside I used a single Metz 48 AF1 through a white umbrella, an Fl-36r as a hair light and a second Fl-36r as a background light. I was very pleased as were they at how they turned out. This was my second time at doing this type of work. They were a lot of fun to work with and didn't mind hauling "the chair" in and out of my SUV for the shots you see it in. The chair was an experiment but I kind of liked them myself. I think the hardest part was the "posing" I'm still really weak on that and bought a book just prior to this shoot and was able to utilize several of the suggestions in it. Still a ways to go though. Would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions for improvement...

1.

2, 6, & 9 do it for me, all are nice, but those were the standouts on first look. What lens were you using, these don't look like the 50/2. OM 50/1.8 and 135/2.8 by any chance? Nice to see another Oly shooter on here.

Greetings to another Olympus user The outdoor ones were with the 50mm f2.0. The indoor shots were with the 12-60mm. I really wanted a 35-100mm before this shoot and now even more so!

Thanks,
Brad

Over-all pretty good. Exact same expression in every shot though.

Nice photos, but agree she has a same look in all. 2 and 9 are the better of the lot

I think the first one would have benefited with a little more fill flash to brighten up her eyes, because they seem a little dark. Also, the last 2, I am not a big fan of the background, it reminds me of the school portraits from the 80's with the funky backdrops.

Thanks for the critique eveyone. Posing/Facial expression is certainly my weak area. I need A LOT more practice with that stuff. Any suggestions on the best way to learn that kind of thing? Or is simply doing it more often the best option? My background in the last two is a little old school for sure. I was pressed a bit for space and time and that was the best I could come up with along with the High key kind of stuff. Is muslin the way most people go these days? Any suggestions for today's teens? I'd definitely like to have a better backdrop system when the space eventually allows.

Thanks again everyone,
Brad

Just curious - how was the interaction between her and you? I'm wondering about her smile - it is carbon copy in each photo, which are pretty nice, BTW. One time my wife had some Hollywood pictures taken or whatever the heck they were but she got a free sitting for me, too. Digital was just out, if that tell you anything. There was absolutely no chemistry between me and the photographer at all. Nothing. I get along fairly well with men and women but this guy and i we had nothing going on. The shoot suffered from it, I believe. Then again, I'm not a model... Sorry!! I digressed! I'm just wondering if she was distracted, stressed, nervous or whatever during the shoot?

I thought the interaction was good but I do think she was a bit nervous. Of course I was too since the posing side of things is weak for me. She basically left all of it up to me in telling her what to do. Like many shoots, we relaxed more as the time went by, unfortunately I just didn't get anymore creative. I kind of focused on a few key elements I had been reading about prior to the shoot and didn't really get beyond that. I didn't post all of the pics and there are a few that are "slightly" different . Overall I'd say my inexperience in this area was our biggest obstacle...

Thanks for the comments,
Brad

the first 3 are very nice, agree about the eyes in one.

#6 is really cool! Great idea with that chair, where'd you come up with that? Really nice.

The studio shots look great too - #8 rocks. The backgrounds bring back some memories though, that's for sure

The chair was inspired by similar shots I've seen different places (I think one was for a musicians CD sleeve). It's kind of funny actually. I had scouted the place to take this photo and thought to myself it was too bad that I didn't have an old chair I could use. About 15 minutes later, I was running errands and at one of my stops, this chair was sitting outside for sale with a matching couch . It was perfect for what I wanted to try, so I explained to the guy what I wanted to do and he let me borrow it the next day.

Nice shots, well done. I believe most of the nits have been picked.

As others have already mentioned, it's the exact same expression and face angle in every shot. It looks good but not when it's all the same. Was the a case of you finding her best angle then choosing to only photograph that or was it a case where she would always default to this pose? (i.e. the autopose)

the outdoor shots are nice. the indoor shots
look like they're straight from the early 90s.

Woo Hoo! I've moved up a decade! Others have felt the same although they were leaning more towards the 80's Perhaps a poll is in order or maybe a VH1 special! I can see i'm gonna need to start researching backdrops later...

nice eyes, lot look good, # 8 has the most natural facial expression, i tend to try to talk to the person tho try to get some natural reaction,

#6 is great. Nice job on all