My first "professional" portrait shoot - PLEASE C&C

[theantiquetiger]

OK, I didn't get paid, it is family. We are doing a bunch of beach shots the next couple days. These are the first ones I have processed so far (my niece)

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3756/9156721338_e5146d0f59_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/theantiquetiger/9156721338/)
peyton10a (http://www.flickr.com/photos/theantiquetiger/9156721338/) by Theantiquetiger (http://www.flickr.com/people/theantiquetiger/), on Flickr

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5472/9156721982_6484e3bc9e_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/theantiquetiger/9156721982/)
peyton2a (http://www.flickr.com/photos/theantiquetiger/9156721982/) by Theantiquetiger (http://www.flickr.com/people/theantiquetiger/), on Flickr

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5529/9156722774_0732b5fa9f_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/theantiquetiger/9156722774/)
peyton1a (http://www.flickr.com/photos/theantiquetiger/9156722774/) by Theantiquetiger (http://www.flickr.com/people/theantiquetiger/), on Flickr

[Matt K.]

First of all, good on you to go out and get into portraiture. I have watched your earlier images, and you are definitely on the right track. Second: she is quite beautiful this helps a lot; and she either knows how to pose or she is following directions well. However, there are some points I would like to make, since you asked of critique. Overall the exposures are quite nice, and I think you hit them dead on.

Image 1 - seems overall soft, but could be intentional processing. I really like the light in this one, but i find that there is too much 'empty space' on the top of the image. Again, this is an easy fix with cropping. I would also suggest to crop the right side a bit closer, since I think the weird shadows are somewhat distracting. Eyes are the main focal point of any portrait; they best be tack sharp if possible. I might want to take some of the catch light out, not all of it, just some.

Image 2 - again some cropping would do wonders here ... cut some off the right side, and lots off the top. Since you have control over vegetation, maybe use a knife and cut that grass stalk off, then it does not interfere. Posture is nice, I like the strand of hair on the face. What distracts me from the subject is the busy background. If you have time, look for those things before you decide where to take the image. you might want to try to open your aperture to allow for more of a creamy bokeh in the background. This is tricky since it does narrow the depth of field. But again: as long as the eyes are sharp ....

Image 3 - crop works well here. her posture and expression are nice and pleasing. Only niggle I have is that her supporting arm creates a shoulder that wanders into the face. For my taste I would try to avoid this, or, take the image more from the left (your left) and have her look over the shoulder more. Sometimes it is nice to not have the subject look straight into the lens, but rather a little over "your" shoulder. This positions her eyes a bit better, imho.

Again, I thnk overall you have done a great job, a little cropping here and there, and voila!

[Runmonty]

Of the 3 of these I prefer the last one.

I agree with Matts comments here , especially the softness in #1, the background in shot 2. All of them also appear a bit orange to me, (but I am looking at work on a lower quality monitor). Will check again at home tonight

[Marko]

I like shot 3 here - Nicely composed, good eye sharpness. I agree exposures look good here.
Shot 1 is soft all over.
Shot 2 - agree on the cropping.

Colour cast does seems a hint red/orange on my monitor.

[Iguanasan]

It's all opinions of course so take mine for what it's worth. :)

I agree mostly with Matt though while the first one is too soft, I really like the crop. I don't think there's any wasted space here. Number 3 in this set is the winner as the tall grasses are distracting in number 2.

It's a great start, keep shooting!