More bloody portraits - C&C

Thoie

Attempt number 2,456

Focus is a bit soft (but probably not a bad idea given the model). Hair is messy, half the head is cut off. But other than that Mrs Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play? My house is falling to rack and ruin due to my determination to get better portrait shots. My poor WoW character is only level 72, and I'm running out of clean clothes.

So - lighting? Too much, not enough? Position of eyes on the vertical OK? Camera angle still too high? Anything else I haven't mentioned?

Hugh_C

too close, possibly not the most flattering of lenses, skin tone too close to background?

Thoie

Hugh_C wrote: »

too close, possibly not the most flattering of lenses, skin tone too close to background?

I was using the D40 kits lens (18-55), and properties tells me it was at 42mm. I'm saving up for a 50mm, but do you think it would have helped if I'd used the 55-200 instead (those are the only current options )?

Buzz Lightyear

As you were using the 18-55 you could have afforded to zoom out a bit more on the model. The crop is too close. She could have done with a bit of a lower neck line in this view. An anternative would have been to have the model pose at an angle then have her face the camera, giving her a more attractive shoulder line. The exposure is a bit over as well but this could be rectified in PS or LR if you were shooting in RAW.

I'm not sure what you were using for lighting but try lighting your backdrop a stop over your current exposure to whiten the background, although with the white top that the model was wearing I'd have probably gone for a black background.

Finally as Hugh said try stepping the model further away from the background to take out the corner of the room through DOF currently visible in the shot.

Good try though. BTW have I seen that model before ? She looks familiar

Thoie

Buzz Lightyear wrote: »

I'm not sure what you were using for lighting but try lighting your backdrop a stop over your current exposure to whiten the background, although with the white top that the model was wearing I'd have probably gone for a black background.

I'm not painting the sitting room walls black, no matter what my friends suggest. I never even thought of giving the background its own lighting :S I shot in RAW so may be able to do something with it. Tried a quick "turn the wall white" in Gimp, but that looked odd. I might try it black just to see.

Buzz Lightyear wrote: »

BTW have I seen that model before ? She looks familiar

Was this who you were thinking of?

jpfahy

smelltheglove

Thoie wrote: »

I was using the D40 kits lens (18-55), and properties tells me it was at 42mm. I'm saving up for a 50mm, but do you think it would have helped if I'd used the 55-200 instead (those are the only current options )?

I reckon it's trial and error really. Mine were not great until I got a proper background and lights which now makes me interested enough to go for THE shot. I only use a kit lense though.

I think it is too close, it is not a flattering pose and colour is off, these asre just things you get wrong until one day you will get it right and then realise what it was that you missed, if you know what I mean.

Buzz Lightyear

Thoie wrote: »

Was this who you were thinking of?

Oooh wow. Jesica is looking fabulous. She's very brave to get back into modeling. How is she keeping these days. It's a while since I've seen her. I have to say its amazing how Vitiligo affects people. She's coped with it very well. She's obviously had some good councilling to come to terms with this. It must have been a shock. Is she still singing ? The last time we met she had a wonderful voice. She should try to meet up with this person. I believe they suffer from the same illness.

Thoie

smelltheglove wrote: »

I reckon it's trial and error really. Mine were not great until I got a proper background and lights which now makes me interested enough to go for THE shot. I only use a kit lense though.

I think it is too close, it is not a flattering pose and colour is off, these asre just things you get wrong until one day you will get it right and then realise what it was that you missed, if you know what I mean.

I think I'm just going to have to tag along with someone at some stage and watch them doing some portraits :S (and also keep practising myself).

Many many moons ago I used do some work for a photographer (mainly hand developing), but sometimes they'd bring me to the studio for an hour or so. Unfortunately when I was in the studio I was generally doing makeup and fetching coffee etc, so never really got/took the opportunity to watch them at work.

democrates

I agonise over the likes of that too, what jpfahy did looks like a good answer to me if a bit on the red side - but that could be my dell lcd being uncalibrated.

To replicate that 1st gimp I'd have a go at is reduce master saturation, then tone curve to take the shine off the skin, then colour balance to make it less yellow.

It's a tough one, the deep red shadow on the left of her face and the slight red patch on her neck would probably limit you to delicate changes (well me anyway, I'm not very good at pp), I'd probably smudge with a small fuzzy circle brush to make the transition from the bright area of the cheek to the red shadow less of a draw for the eye.

That complection is a double-edged sword, the natural beauty is great but pp is tougher. Make-up evening out the skin tones makes life easier and can be quite striking but you're saying goodbye to the natural look.

Good lighting for indoors too, did you use a beauty light or reflector low down?

Covey

Buzz Lightyear wrote: »

Oooh wow. Jesica is looking fabulous. She's very brave to get back into modeling. How is she keeping these days. It's a while since I've seen her. I have to say its amazing how Vitiligo affects people. She's coped with it very well. She's obviously had some good councilling to come to terms with this. It must have been a shock. Is she still singing ? The last time we met she had a wonderful voice. She should try to meet up with this person. I believe they suffer from the same illness.

Maybe a bit too much info on personal stuff, eh?

Buzz Lightyear

Covey wrote: »

Maybe a bit too much info on personal stuff, eh?

Did you actually follow Thoies and my links :D

edit:
Oh by the way I think I have a bit of colour blindness, especially when I speed read

Anyway back on topic .....

forbairt

Hmmm personally thought there was a bit too much red in the image

Was having a play with the image ( purely cus I get carried away sometimes and cus I like my black and white too much )



For me softening the image colour makes a big difference but maybe thats just me. Also maybe it goes way too heavily away from the natural colour and its not what you're after. (I've not tried any portraits yet)

As was said though it seems a bit too close ?

Thoie

democrates wrote: »

Good lighting for indoors too, did you use a beauty light or reflector low down?

... or halogen downlighter that's in the sitting room ceiling

Model was positioned below and slightly to one side of one of the lights, then I shot without flash (about 1/4 at f5.6)

Thoie

forbairt wrote: »

Was having a play with the image ( purely cus I get carried away sometimes and cus I like my black and white too much )

I like the outside ones best. The middle one, while perhaps more classic, doesn't reflect the model's colouring and makes her look at bit ill (though possibly only if you know her in real life).

Looking back at the various versions, there's definitely too much yellowy/orangey/red in the original. Would adjusting the white balance on the camera be of use for future shots? I also have the original RAW file as well, so might be able to do something there?

smelltheglove

Thoie are you in Dublin? I have lights and background if you wanted to see the difference they make, it is huge. You seem to know what you're talking about camera wise it's just getting yourself around to portraits. I know what works for me and what doesnt but I have no idea of the technical terms.

You can also go for buying a large sheet of card in Easons in black instead of painting your wall. I did it with this shot.



That was my second ever portrait with no flash. The card made a huge huge difference.

Thoie

I am - I'll be at the launch on Saturday - will you? We could maybe have a chat then?

smelltheglove

If the boss man above lets me out! Ah I should be there no probs, may not be for long though.

Thoie

Tell him it would be an ideal Christmas present if all the door frames were straightened at the weekend. Then, while he goes off looking for a jack hammer, spirit level, two squirrels and mirror to complete the job, you can sneak out.

He won't notice until he hammers his thumb, and you're not there to blame

smelltheglove

Thoie wrote: »

Tell him it would be an ideal Christmas present if all the door frames were straightened at the weekend. Then, while he goes off looking for a jack hammer, spirit level, two squirrels and mirror to complete the job, you can sneak out.

He won't notice until he hammers his thumb, and you're not there to blame

lol, the house would fall down. I asked him to hold a paint tray once and the carpet ended up bright pink. Nah I'll be there for a bit but as he gets to go off playing rock star that night I have to play boring mammy;) Defo though if you wanna test out lights to see if you can figure out the difference and what makes a good pic you're more than welcome.

Burago

A longer lens would definitely help, the image is lacking compression. A 50mm on an APS sensor camera might have the equivalent crop factor of a 75mm but not the same compression. For a head shot like that you would need a focal lenght of at least 70mm.