My First Foray into Portrait Photography (Subject: @maryjaney)

in #photography5 years ago (edited)

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Hi Friends!

I recently took the plunge to upgrade my equipment from just using my iphone to the canon EOS m50 and have been really enjoying playing around with it for both video and photos.

Yesterday, my sister @maryjaney and I were out chilling on my deck when we realized there was a massive wine walk happening downtown - just 5 minutes from my place. After getting ready, we decided to grab the guitar and jam for a few minutes before heading out. Mary looked SO FREAKING GORGEOUS that I told her to hold that spot and I was going to grab my camera.

This is the first time I've tried portrait photography and I was curious to see how my camera would do. The lighting is not what I would usually consider "good" because the sun was blaring, right above us in the mid-afternoon. I was so surprised at how much detail and depth it was able to capture - even in such bright light. I guess you could say I'm still not used to having a good camera as it seems to keep surprising me!

I have a lot to learn in terms of framing the shot, getting the most interesting angles and playing with different settings/lenses. All of these photos were shot with the kit 15-45mm lens and just using the auto exposure settings on the camera.



Summertime Photoshoot on the Deck


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SteemPeak is Great for Photo Posts!


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I just wanted to give @steempeak a massive shoutout on this post! If you use the image uploader on Steemit.com it really reduces the image quality and makes the shot much more grainy. I hadn't noticed so much when I was uploading iPhone quality images - but now that I'm trying to share higher quality photos - the photo degradation was really noticeable.

I got the tip from @justineh when she did shared a portrait photo shoot she took of me in Austin for my Speaking Media Kit. I couldn't believe the massive different in image quality between SteemPeak and Steemit!

The other great thing about SteemPeak is that you can mass upload a bunch of photos at once. What would have taken me 15 minutes to individually upload (and wait for Steemit to spin) took me all of 10 seconds on Steem Peak as I tapped all of the photos above and they uploaded instantly.

Just thought i'd pass this tip along! I should also note that if you view this post on Steempeak.com - you'll also be able to see much higher quality photos as well.



Cheers to More Photography Adventures



I'm so excited to keep playing with my camera, and learn more about the various settings and lenses I have. I hadn't really thought about doing portrait photography - but it sure helps when I have such a gorgeous model to work with! 😉

I'm excited to get into exploring some more self portrait style photography in the future as well.

Saving My Favorite Photo for Last...

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Have a great day everyone!! What are some of your favorite photos in the bunch?

XO, Lea

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These are lovely and your sister is a gorgeous subject :D

First tip I can give you that will massively improve your portraits instantly and is the easiest one as well: look back to the shots above and count how many have cut off limbs and/or fingers and in which shots a 'zoom out' 'steep back' of a few centimeters would have prevented that! :-) Cut off limbs and fingers are something people overlook easily since we want to capture that smile or look, but also the first thing we can improve on.

Cheers, and great to see you experiment, it's such wealth to have great shots of the people we love :-)

And to give great shots to loved ones... people get so incredibly happy to have a nice photo of themselves... sometimes it feels like the best gift ever.

It truly is the best gift ever <3

These are so nice!

How is Mary's face lit so nicely? Is the light reflecting off the wall or windows of your place? Or did you use a flash? Whatever you've done, it's really worked!

My favourites are:

Mainly for the lighting, but also that ridiculously huge Mary smile we've been treated with.

In Melbourne, I was a fairly popular portrait photographer because I was nice and non-sleezy which was kind of a rarity in that industry at that time... but there were two female photographers that came up and just absolutely slayed that market... so I'm sure if you wanted to make another sidehussle you'd do very well.

These are really pretty... but if the sun isn't playing nice then a gold reflector is super cheap.

Love that look in the first shot. Looks like you also got some nice light.

Pleased steempeak is helping out. Hope we can add even more stuff for photographers.

These are great. Nice job 🤙🏻 @scottshots check these out

Posted using Partiko iOS

Thanks for tagging me Ken, glad I saw these. Great photos @coruscate and @maryjaney! Rockstars! That Canon looks like it did a great job with the backlight. Happy shooting!

I think you did well as a photographer. I would add that she posed nicely for the photographs and it was a pleasure to see your work and read the post.

You got some photography talent! I’m still using my iPhone for pictures 😂😂😂

Posted using Partiko iOS

If I saw you, I'd be tempted to steal your hat lol. Very cute. Wait, maybe your guitar. I'd wear a hat like that.

Beautiful ! @coruscate ♥♥♥
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Blue 💙 Ocean ! :) ♬

Posted using Partiko Android

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