Portrait night at the club.

I was disappointed with my visit on our first portrait night, so much so i binned all of the images off the computer, but i thought i would see if i could rescue a few still on the card, and describe how hard i found this type of photography.

Setting the scene, young lady offered to model for us, very brave of her. White notice board acted as a backdrop, with a softbox on one side and a general light on the other.
You could connect these direct to your camera, i never tried as those who knew what they were about took front stage and we tended to shoot direct from the sides.



One of our young members was gazing intently, so i thought it would make for a decent candid, and converted it to B&W as the lighting was quite yellowy.



About the only shot i liked was this, still something not right about it, the background should be white not blue, there were so many different sources of lighting and flashes going off.



I feel that perhaps a different approach would be needed by me, im not used to competing with other togs for the chance of a photo, found it a bit too hectic and out of my control. Maybe a bit of practice on an inanimate object set up at home where ive time to play with lighting could help with things.

Well done for having a go Brian, it's always a bit busy at clubs on a model night I think and sometimes your best waiting until things have settled down a bit. Also the model is more likely to be more at eez.

I'm surprised they didn't illuminate the back drop and have her a little further from it, hence the grey.

But if it is one of many then you can try a few different things next time. The prom photos I used to do were very easy in honesty, because the subject played up to the camera so very little directing from me

Possibly a little more thought by the people who set up the portrait night would not of gone amiss, you go to these things to learn and if the set up is not quite right how is anybody ever going to learn. Hard to learn when you have no control over the set up either.
I do however like the 3rd image of the willing model, even though the bg is supposed to be white, it coming out blue gives it a nice soft look, that is my personal opinion anyway

I really like no.3 and I'm no expert but looks like all the different lighting played havoc with WB, I wonder if you shot this in Raw and you could adjust WB to suit....

Thanks Ken, Lost and Owen, the space was quite small so it was hard for all of us to get close, and i agree it would have bee nice for all to get stage front, but we all had voices maybe being out of our depth made us keep back. I wasnt the only one that kept back.

I did shoot in raw, and this is adjusted, my PP skills are limited, something i rarely do for my wildlife images. Im not having a moan, just thought it would be of some use to air my thoughts backed with some examples.

regards brian.

You gave it a go Brian. Who knows, it could have led you into something you really liked doing.
I like the candid shot you grabbed.

I'm still 50/50 about joining a club. Part of me would like someone to explain things in person to me, the other part (after talking to my next door neighbour, he has been a member for years) says not for me. Apparently they can be very harsh cliquey places. I really dislike cliques.

I was thinking that perhaps it's not set up too well - often, for first time portrait shots, dark backgrounds work well especially if the subject sits a good distance from them. It's quite an exact science really.

I think you did quite well considering, and don't be disheartened I think the image of the other photographer is great!

xx