My first "portrait"

[Goldwinger]

OK, since I have no camera at the moment I decided to play with some pics I took a few weeks ago. This is my first "portrait" actually it was cut from a group shot and fake background added. I thought it turned out pretty fair considering.
This was with kit lens and onboard fill flash.

[mtngal]

You must be desperate! The picture is quite nice, though you can see signs of your cloning out the background around her body. Just my opinion, but I think I would have chosen a different color for thebackground - it seems too close to her skin-tone. But that's just my taste/opinion.

[bigdawg]

Same as Harriet. The background needs to be a different color to give some separation. Pretty subject though!

Dawg

[danielchtong]

bigdawg wrote:

Pretty subject though!
Dawg

Agreed.
The background or bokeh is different story. And I have to say changing the color does not help. What happens is that with the kit lens, the background can hardly be rendered non-distracting. The lens wide open is soft and if stepped down the background will be overly sharp.
Another way is to shoot at the subject very very far away from the background.
Limit of your gear should not intimidate you

Daniel

[IntrepidWalker]

Perhaps the background should look something more like this with the subject slightly softer focused.

I didn't spend too long creating the mask as I just wanted to show the effect.

[Goldwinger]

Thanks Harriet, Dawg, Daniel and intrepid.
You're right Harriett, I am desperate. Desperate to get a good camera back in my hands! Besides it was late I was tired and my granddaughter was pestering me! (sorry, that's the best I can come up with on short notice):G
My other half and I went with some other church members over to Kissimmee today to the "Give Kids the World" village to serve breakfast to the kids and their families. I really missed my camera, would you believe I resorted to one of those Kodak throw away? If anything came out ok I'll post some pics but, don't hold your breath. Btw, this is a link to their web site if you care to check it out. It's quite a place. http://www.gktw.org/?gclid=CP7oi_za8pQCFQRksgodw2Brqw
You're right about the background but, I just used the color that was in the original photo so it would be easier to block out the unwanted stuff and not the hair so that's what I got.:-?

Hey Intrepid,:bye:
Thanks for your input. That background does look better; the hard part is getting the hair to look natural. I was just too tired to take it that far for something I was just playing with. Now, if I was getting paid…