Senior Pictures
Corinne is one of the young women in our small branch here in New York. She's a convert to the Church and is what we like to call a "rock". She's awesome and knows her stuff! I've been so impressed with her. She's been an example to me from time to time, and I'm her leader! Corinne is also the strangest teenager I've ever met, and it's one of her best qualities: she's always concerned with everyone else but herself.
Corinne knew I had just gotten my new camera and asked if I'd take her senior pictures. I said I would try! If they didn't turn out, she could go somewhere else. Corinne and I had a blast of an afternoon on Sunday taking pictures around our home! She was a ton of fun! Miraculously, a few pictures did turn out. These are some of my favorites.
So obviously I have some work ahead of me trying to get the camera to focus in just the right spots (her eyes) and more. I don't have any cool photo editing stuff--I just mess with exposure and saturation mostly and add a few rounded corners and borders from the internet. If you have any photography feedback, I'd love to hear it! Any down-right honest suggestions on portrait taking and photo editing would be greatly appreciated.
But overall, I kinda like how these turned out.
I absolutely LOVE the first one with the flannel shirt! Great job Jessie!
ReplyDeleteyeah, that's my favorite too!
ReplyDeletei love the second flannel shirt, the sass! if i lived by you i'd let you practice on me too... lol. you did a great job though!
ReplyDeletemy only advice would be to avoid the bright sun, it washes out features and gives the subject that bright yellow glare on one side of their face, and unwanted shadows... it looks like the perfect time of day, but in the shade, like under the trees or the side of the barn one... then there's no yellow glares or shadows or squinting, yet the coloring and lighting is just right.
some of the ones i took of my brother against the super colorful wall are right in the sun, and i wouldn't have taken them there except we liked that wall. but they're just too yellow and bright for my taste.
having a photoediting program helps a ton, cause if it's too dark, it's much easier to lighten it than to darken a bright glare or overexposure.
that's my two sense. but you really did a great job! the hardest part for me is the posing, and it looks like you did great!
oh, and i use photoshop to edit, but i found a website, picnik.com, that allows you to edit photos for free. you have to pay for extra features but it has a lot of good basics. i use that on my work computer sometimes. you could give it a shot!
ReplyDeleteAwesome job Jessie! I love your personal style and creativity. A trick that I have learned to help get the eyes in perfect focus is to set your cameras auto focus point right on the dot in the middle. (So your camera always focuses right in the middle.) When you're ready to take a picture, center the camera on the eyes, press the shutter button down half way (to auto focus perfectly on the eyes), then you can move the camera from side to side to compose the picture how you want it, and then you just press the button down all the way. I hope that makes sense!
ReplyDeleteI don't know what your settings were, but when taking portraits with your lens, you'll always want to keep your aperature as open as it can get (the smallest number). That way you will get the most background blur.
These are just a few things I have learned. Keep up the good work!
Oh, I forgot to say that it made my day this morning when I looked at my blog and saw 3 comments from you! Thanks!
ReplyDeletei like the flannel ones also.... you should back to cali and take photos of Jeff and I. hehehe jk.
ReplyDeleteJessie! They're beautiful pictures! You've got a natural talent. I really like the barn picture and the one where she's by the fence.
ReplyDeletenice job jessie
ReplyDelete