High School Senior Grad Portrait Session

[Nee7x7]

Hi all!

This was my very first venture into natural light portrait photography. I was asked by this girl's mom to take her Senior portraits and because I'd never done anything like this and didn't feel comfortable charging them for it, we worked out a trade (the family owns a beauty salon, so I'm getting purtied up in exchange for taking the photos). It was a great learning experience for me and we had fun doing it (we went to several different locations on two different days!). I probably took close to 300 pics, some with a friend of hers as well, some with her pet pooch.

These two photos are among the first of her pics that I've processed. I used a gaussian blur on both of these, but I'll also have "normal" photos, too. She also expressed an interest in having some done in black and white and maybe with selective desaturation, too. I'm going to try and create a photo collage for her as well...might as well get as many learning ops out of this as possible.

http://nee.smugmug.com/photos/22963403-M.jpg


http://nee.smugmug.com/photos/22963413-L.jpg

While it was a lot of fun to do, it was also a real challenge because the girl chose outfits that didn't always show her body in the best light (the two posted here were her best look...her others tops were sleeveless and a bit too revealing). She was a little bit uncomfortable with posing, but all in all, I think the photo shoot went surprisingly well. At least she was willing to try some different things (I even got her to sit with her bare feet in a fountain, LOL!).

Her parents are going to post some of the pics in their salon (they're paying for all the printing) and that'll give me some free word of mouth advertising to get potential (paying!) jobs for the future.

I'll post some more pics as I get them processed and post a link to the online gallery once it's completed.

Thanks for looking,
~Nee :rolleyes

[simplefaces]

Nee -
I think you did a great job on these pictures, especially the one where her face is framed by flowers. She looks really beautiful and vibrant, and focusing on her face is a plus for her. Such a gorgeous picture will make her feel great!
Kudos to you -
Maria

[Nee7x7]

I was fortunate in that she does have a beautiful face that is very camera friendly and even though her figure is more of a "Reubanesque" type, I think her natural beauty far outshines any of her "flaws".

Thank you for your kind comments. I'm still on a big learning curve with this type of photography (and I sure made plenty of mistakes, too!). The one with her face framed by the flowers is one of my favorites, too. Her school friend stood to the side holding my silver/gold reflector to put more light on her face. Made me realize having an "assistant" is almost a must for this type of photography!!!

Cheers,
~Nee :)

[Nee7x7]

Well, still with a gaussian blur (sorry 'bout that...), but I liked this one, too!

http://nee.smugmug.com/photos/22984821-L.jpg

Cheers!
~Nee :)

[david_h]

Nee, I love the first picture - excellent capture of a pretty young lady. She does need to get into the family salon and get those roots seen to though.:D

On the other two, I think you might have overdone the blur just a little. I'm not sure what you are looking to do, does she have skin blemishes you want to hide or do you just like the effect?

In any case, nice work.

[Nee7x7]

I guess with the gaussian blur I was going for a more "romantic" look...for some reason, it seemed to work well with her figure type...or maybe not, LOL! All of the pics are being processed initially without any blur added and for those I want to "play" with, I always save the files under a different name (and of course, the original unedited file is preserved as well...learned that hard lesson early on!).

Thanks for your comments...I'll have to rustle up some non-blurred pics to share, as well~ :rolleyes

Cheers!
~Nee

[lynnma]

I guess with the gaussian blur I was going for a more "romantic" look...for some reason, it seemed to work well with her figure type...or maybe not, LOL! All of the pics are being processed initially without any blur added and for those I want to "play" with, I always save the files under a different name (and of course, the original unedited file is preserved as well...learned that hard lesson early on!).

Thanks for your comments...I'll have to rustle up some non-blurred pics to share, as well~ :rolleyes

Cheers!
~NeeHi nee, nice job on the portraits.. I too think you may have over done the blur a bit.. (I'm very guilty of the same thing) you might wanna try erasing the blur on her eyes teeth parts of her hair, jewelry. :thumb

[Nee7x7]

Hi nee, nice job on the portraits.. I too think you may have over done the blur a bit.. (I'm very guilty of the same thing) you might wanna try erasing the blur on her eyes teeth parts of her hair, jewelry. :thumb
Thanks, Lynn! That's a great suggestion. I'll try it out (and lighten up on the blurring, too!)

Cheers!
~Nee :rolleyes

[Sandy]

You did a really nice job. I tend to like sharpness in the face area rather than the blur. You may want to try the Gausian Blur and then the history brush to remove the blur from the face area.

[John Mueller]

Very nice.:thumb
The blur can be over done sometimes.Back it off a little and use a layer mask and paint over the eyes and lips at around 40-50%

[Nee7x7]

I'm reworking the photos (and processing new ones) to have less blur on the face (or no blur at all).

Thanks for all your very helpful comments!

Cheers,
~Nee :)