I'd like to know what you think of my photos, what im doing well and what you would do differently. Most of the people I model are just starting out, so I'm not extremely concerned if their posture isn't perfect, (although if you have any pointers for me to help position a model that would be helpful too), im mostly thinking about the lighting and such.

https://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/2800613/viewall

I'm usually quite critical of my own work and never like a picture more than a couple of hours before i start seeing more and more mistakes/ways to make it better. I just want to know if its just me that's thinking this about my pics.

Cheers

Focus, focus, FOCUS! Get your shots in focus! With that being said..... What am I supposed to take from your photos? What does THIS portfolio say to me? Well, a girl holding a teddy bear says, "Good luck with your Toddler Photography". Then the girls with the guitars....... Not my style. It makes me ask why the photo was taken? Does she play guitar? Is that the MOST important thing in the entire world to her? Then, I read at the bottom that it's your guitar, and she's just holding it. That's what it looks like as well, she just has it because you put it in her hands. Then, we get to the bottom, and find a nude girl in the surf. That has got to be the best one you have due to the fact that she's IN FOCUS, and it looks like she's having fun in the water on a summer's eve. It makes sense. Or at least more sense than the rest of them! LOL

Landscapes will get nothing here. People want to see how well you can photograph...........People! The PHoto"chop" shot at the bottom, is pretty cool. Nice idea, and a great way to show models. Just make sure that they don't have legs sticking out of their armpits like the girl on the left! She needed to be in front of the leg, instead it's in front of her.

What would I do differently? Boiled down, you're not bad. Your framing is ok, just be careful with negative space. If it's in a shot, it needs to have a reason, or the eye will just wander around. You want to anchor the viewers eye on the eyes of the subject. I think you need to stop your lens down a bit. Wide open, most lenses are just a bit soft, lending to the out of focus shots you have here. Without EXIF, I have no idea what you were at, but just guessing, it was probably wide open, right? If you stop your lens down a stop or two, it will sharpen up, and you get a greater Depth of Field, increasing the possibility of Focus of the shots. Your exposures are good, color is nice, so not much to go over there. It would seem you have that down! Personally, I would get rid of everything other than the first 8 shots in your portfolio. The first shot of the girl with the Gibson, although not my favorite, is still a decent shot, and everything before that can stay. Oh, and get rid of teddy bear. Cute, but wildly unnecessary! The rest don't say much about how you can be beneficial to a model, and the PS one needs fixing. One last thing............

Get Catgirl here, in your studio!
She's animated, and looks fun. Truly seductive eyes, and she's not bad at doing her makeup! She might be better for you than much of any one else! Shoot with her and experiment at aperture values from f5.6, to f8-f11. See if and how that may help. Then, light portraits accordingly.

Thanks a lot for your post. I don't know what I'm doing wrong within focus, I just use a canon eos 550d (t2i I think in America) and I'm just using stock lens until I can afford a better one. It's quite a budget studio rig but I still think its possible to do well with it, i just dont know why my focus doesnt show so well, i always make sure the eyes are in focus. Most of those first shots i took at f/4.5, at 100iso. any other tips on focusing?

Hahaha I wish I could use her again, but she's in a different country and we are not on good terms.

Thanks a lot for your critism, I will take down some of the shot that i agree on you with

I've use the 650D for years. That 550D will do amazing work. The kit lens though, it will hold you back. Like I said, try getting your aperture up around f5.6-f8, and see if that will sharpen things up for you. I'm not familiar with the weather in Spain, only that the rain falls mainly in the plain.

Do you get lots of sun? Take someone out a couple of hours before sunset, and keep metering, and try to shoot with the smaller apertures. Start at f8, or even up to f16, and shoot through sunset, opening up the aperture as the light diminishes. Check the focus on those shots. Watch and see if you start getting issues down around f5.6 and below. Also, "see" the light as the sun goes down. Use it to your advantage! If you had a fast lens, (50mm 1.8, 50mm 1.4, etc) I would say try using a tripod. But, I really think your focus issues are due to a wide open kit lens. I had the 135mm 2.0L, and the 200mm 2.8L, and had TERRIBLE focus issues wide open. It wasn't until I learned to stop it down, that I realized how sharp those lenses are. Give it a try!

[Edit] Once you do your sunset test, let us see the results!

During the summer it can be very hot, but right now I don't think any models would want to hang around while the sun is setting. It's quite cold, and besides that, I've noticed every winter the girls stop doing photos because they feel fat lol

18+
https://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/31245543
This is from the same album as the other nude one on the beach, f/5.6 , iso-400. Unfortunately the sun was going down quick and I lost a lot of light, the pic is very dull and dark, that's when i decided to get the model on the ground so I could try an outline of her body against the water and sky..

I do tend to shoot a lot with the lens wide open, I'll try to experiment with other apertures from now on. got another shoot this weekend so ill try there.

Be selective and be decisive. A lot of times when starting out we shoot some of anything and everything. And that's fine for learning. But if you really want to grow, narrow your focus on what you want to shoot NOW and work toward that.

For me, in 2012 I wanted to use more darkness and shadows in my work. When I look through all the shoots I did in 2012 I can see that I did just that. For 2013, I'm going in a different direction. I might still do some dark stuff but most of my work for this year won't be focused on shadows.

Being selective doesn't mean u can't do other things. It just mean that u set a goal in one area, accomplish it, then move to the next one. Hope this helps!

A