My First Attempt At Portraits

Last night my husband and I went in to Den Haag to meet up with some other photo club members for an evening of portrait photography.  I have been looking forward to it for quite some time because I really like the social gatherings of the group and because I wanted to try to dip my toe into the portrait pool, which I never have before.

You may remember me mentioning this in the past, but I’ve always been intrigued with taking photos of people.  Usually people on the street but I’ve been keen to try portraits at least once, so last night was a good chance for me to have a go at it.

Quite a lot of people showed up, which was not a big surprise as Al, the guy who organized it, usually has no problem getting people together for his outings.  Probably because they always seem to be so much fun, which is why I wasn’t going to miss this one!

We really lucked out with the weather, as the sun was still shining and it was warm enough to just wear a t-shirt when we arrived at 6:15pm.  Some people had set up a picnic and were already starting to shoot when we got there.  It was such a friendly and relaxed atmosphere that even my husband, who didn’t know anyone when we arrived, had no trouble chatting and making friends while he was there.  He also had a lot of photos taken of him by the other members.  My husband… the model!

While he was busy striking a pose, I walked around trying to snap photos and figure out what I was meant to do with my camera.  Portrait photography is a lot more difficult than I had imagined.  There are so many things involved!  Mainly the light, posing your subject, trying to get a clear focus, exposure locking, metering, angles… GAAAAH!!  Overwhelmed much?

I also found myself in one of those rare moments where I become totally shy.

Shut up, I may not always seem like it but I can be shy from time to time too ya know!

Anyhow, I found it hard to get all up in people’s faces and take their photos.  Others would just walk up and say ‘Can I take your photo?’ then people would say ‘Sure!’ and off they’d go doing their thing.  I was the person skulking along behind them shooting from under their elbow or next to their ear, trying to mooch off their session rather than creating my own.  This ended up with me getting mostly photos of people looking off in other directions, which also works in portraits of course, but only if that is what you are going for.  Thankfully, I wasn’t the only one.  Most would see one person posing for someone and then flock like vultures just like I did.  So I didn’t feel terribly bad for my model mooching.

I struggled a bit (a lot) in regards to the lighting.  A lot of people were taking photos with the subject backlit without using reflectors and I ended up quite confused because when I would try to do the same, I’d end up with my subject exposed ok or completely washed out and the background was totally overexposed.  It’d look a little something like this (blech):

Please excuse my husband’s death glare… he doesn’t really want to kill me (or does he??), that’s just what his relaxed face does.  We have that argument all the time when I’m trying to take photos of him.

Me with camera in hand: Stop looking so grumpy!

Him: I’m not!!! This is my relaxed face!! ARGH!

So he basically has two modes when in front of the camera.  Smiling and I KILL JOO!!

Sorry, off topic there for a moment.

I went to one of the more experienced guys and asked them about the whole back to the sun issue.  He explained that some are going for that sort of backlit halo of light look, but that you can use the light however you want.  He also reminded me that the light is quite strong at the moment so it’s easy to end up with overexposed bits.

I figured it made most sense to have people facing the light, or partially facing the light so I started trying to catch people like that instead.  Still peeking in around people while they nailed down a model, of course.  There is only one photo that didn’t require a moderate amount of fussing in Photoshop when I got home.  It happens to be my favorite.  That can’t be a coincidence.

I’m not sure who the little girl is, the daughter of one of the club members I assume.  She was so cute though and I just loved her freckles.  I’m sure there are things I could have done further in PS to make it have more pop but that’s a whole other learning process.

I got some other photos which did end up requiring some fixing up in Photoshop, but I think that’s all a part of shooting in RAW, fixing things like the exposure and contrast later.  So I’m not sure it’s something I’d consider a bad thing, although some require drastically more adjustments than others and some were completely unfixable.  So the fact remains that I’m still a total n00b.  I did get some that I like, even though I’m sure there are many things technically wrong with them, I still like them.

Awww, look at that face, how can I not love him to the ends of the earth and back? Seriously.  It could be because of the slight smile, leading me to believe that he may not want to kill me afterall.

I got a few more photos, but not loads.  You can see them in my Flickr set.

I learned a lot last night, mostly that I still have a shitload to learn about photography. Here is what I walked away with:

1. I really need to learn more about light, how to position the subject and get them from the right angle.
2. Reflectors are your friend!
3. Don’t be shy about asking people if you can take their photo. Especially in situations like this where it’s meant for it and people expect it. Ugh! I’m such a dumbass…
4. I need to read more and find a way to really understand my camera and what it can do.
5. Stop comparing myself with other people in the club with vastly more experience as it’s discouraging and pointless.
6. Ask questions until I understand. My photo club friends really don’t mind sharing their knowledge if they can.
7. Find projects to make learning easier and more fun.  Like this cool project that Al decided to do when he started organizing last night’s meet-up, or the ‘look straight at me and look bored’ project Michiel was working on.  It gives you a purpose and helps you have a reason to approach people, as you have a goal to be met.
8. Practice, practice, PRACTICE and then practice some more dammit!!

I do enjoy photographing people more just as they are going about their day to day lives, but I would really like to try this as well.  When I see the truly great photos that come from other club members I know that one day I’d really like to be able to do that.

I can’t wait until the club has another outing like this again, I’ll be there with my confident, got-a-project-in-mind, lemme take your pitcha! hat on.  I also can’t wait to see the photos they took of me!   Oh yes, that’s right, I had my 15 minutes of model fame too.  It was fabulous!  Perhaps I should contact Tyra…