I don't know how to do that though??? How??

I have a flash, yes, but I didn't think it would have been necessary in a very well lit park (bright outside) - lesson learned, guess I need to try it with a flash next time... it just seems so pointless though...

These were definitely not supposed to be professional, so I did no editing whatsoever

Thanks for your c&c I will keep these points in mind to make the next ones better

This post was edited by chantal7 on May 28 2009 09:25pm

What I mean by that is that when you are caught unaware you aren't posing which gives a very natural feel to the shot. I personally hate posed shots just because they all feel so pretentious.

Yeah - I see what you mean. But I did what the people told me to

I have to agree with you guys on the pretentious part. I have actually tried to get some nice portraits of friends of mine in the past and all of them turned out crappy because they were all posing and/or showing off instead of acting natural and I HATE posers lol. That picture you took of your brother looks great, Chantal. It's just too bad that it's kinda a lil bit out of focus. I think to be able to take natural looking portraits you may will have to do like those wildlife photographer, hide somewhere like behind a tree or among bushes and try to take pictures of people when they are not aware of your presence lol xD



I have heard that diffusers could soften the bright light from flashes and spread them so the skin would look more natural. I mean rather than a powerful discharge of intense flashlight, the light is being softened and "spread out" by the diffuser.

This post was edited by Futurama on May 29 2009 10:53am

Haha - that picture if my brother was taken with my shitty kit lens, it never did focus well. It's easy to take people not aware of my presence, and I actually enjoy taking pictures like that... I have a few somewhere... most of these shots are the ones I haven't bothered sharing online, and I have hundreds of them.

I use http://www.amazon.com/LumiQuest-LQ-107-ProMax-SoftBox/dp/B0016CT0J8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1243633392&sr=8-3

It is a softbox designed for any external flash. It spreads the light out over a larger surface making it more of a fill light. This works very well when you are trying to remove shadows without giving your picture the flash look.
It is kinda big and sits on top of your flash, but it does a very nice job.

lmao! You are so evil lol. Those kind of "surprise" shots could also turn out to be very hilarious too. I recently took a picture of some coworkers of mine even though they were aware of me taking pictures of them and one of them actually tried to act serious but he actually looked quite funny in the resulting picture. Other than that I have only taken portraits upon requests by people I know and I never really liked them because they were just too pretentious and kinda wanted to look cool in those pictures so they could show their friends or whatever and brag about it or something lol.

here is an example:


He is actually a pretty nice guy but sadly he also loves to show off lol.

Ah - cool - thanks! Glad to see they are cheap, haha. I might get one, I just might - it looks funny.



Ah - I C I C!

Yeah yeah whatever. What I was trying to say is that some people are easier to take portraits of because they would act natural while others are just plain annoying posers lol.

@Warcow - What's the difference between a softbox and a diffuser? I mean from what I have heard they both do the same thing, to make portraits look more natural. hahaha considering they are basically just a piece of plastic they better be cheap xD

Oh. They are used for portraits? I got one of those but I did not know what I should use it for. xD
Maybe I should try out the difference now ? Then i will post some photo when I am done.