First Shoot
So this weekend I did my first shoot, and it was a huge learning experience. I think I spent more time messing with my settings than I did snapping pictures, but it was a great experience. My friend capitaine-crochet needed some scarves shot for her store and weirdlyshaped was nice enough to help us out and model. I learned a lot about light balance and blah blah, but that's not nearly as important as my biggest lesson that night. A portrait is more than just capturing an image of a person that looks nice, you have to show their personality. If you try to pose them yourself or tell them how to look, it becomes painfully obvious that the image isn't genuine. Take a look at one of the first images from that night.
This is almost painful to look at, and it's one of the better ones. I had started the night by dictating how I thought she should sit and look. Her smile, her pose, everything about it is just... hollow, fake. It was very clear I had no clue what I was doing, and I have no lighting equipment so I was just working with whatever light was coming in through her windows. I wasn't happy with what I was doing at all. As I was beginning to question every life choice that led me to this ridiculous moment, weirdlyshaped had a simple suggestion that turned things around. "How about we go to the roof?" So up we went. After only a few shots I was frustrated with myself, so I figured it couldn't hurt, and knew I definitely shouldn't be in charge of things.
It took me a minute to figure out how I should adjust my camera for the new light so the first few shots were a little dark. I decided to just let my model do her thing (she's got way more experience with this sort of thing than I do), and it was amazing how quickly things changed. The smiles weren't faked, the poses weren't ridiculous, and most importantly we were all having fun.
After she switched coats and scarves things we're moving along smoothly. I was more relaxed, which led to a more relaxed model, which meant better pictures. I also figured out that if I get closer, the shots look better (seems really obvious now, but you're reading this to hear about me making stupid mistakes).
As the shoot went on and the sun started to disappear behind the mountains, things got silly. Obviously this was no longer for capitaine-crochet's store, we were simply taking pictures just to have a good time. And honestly, this is where some of my favorite shots that night came from. By this point I didn't give a damn about what poses I had seen online that I thought might look good, the plan didn't matter. I wasn't just shooting an image of a person and making it look nice, I was shooting a personality.
In the end, it was a great night and a fun shoot, simply because I admitted that I had no clue what I was doing. I still have so much more to learn, but for now I'm happy with my progress. Thank you again so much to my amazing friend capitaine-crochet (most of you probably came here from her blog anyways, but if not you should check out her awesome crochet work) And a very special thank you to my beautiful model weirdlyshaped (also visit her main blog over at http://www.weirdlyshaped.com/) It probably would've taken me a lot longer than I'd like to admit to learn this lesson without you.
Critiques are always welcome, and in fact hoped for. Thanks for reading Unskilled-Photographer
