Portrait attempt - part 4! C&C

K_user

Way back, during the summer, I made a few attempts to get a half decent white background portrait. The results weren’t much to write home about. So I tried again later in the year and things were a little better. But then life kinda got in the way and I didn’t have the time to revisit the project until now.

So far I’ve moved the shooting spot 3 times, I think, and am back to where I started. This set up really seems to work for me, so I'd be happier not to have to move around again! Also having recently bought a remote release I find interaction with the little fella a lot easier, no more panicked running back to pick up the camera, focus, only to find he’s gotten up for a wander. Now I can sit and play with him and click away as I need to.

Half the problem here is that my wife isn’t really a fan of the white back ground look, she always says that it looks too bright, while I like it. What this means is that I can never get an honest opinion out of her, she just wrinkles her a nose a bit! Needless to say the few portraits up on the wall are with darker blue backgrounds.

The rest of the problem is that I can never seem to get it to work. Here are my latest attempts. Please be brutal – there are a couple of things that stand out in my mind straight away and it would be interesting to see if someone else comments on them. Not to mention that I've only gotten this far thanks to the feed back from here...

First, with a slightly "grayer" background, the highlights not so pushed:


And then with the heavier highlights...

DaireQuinlan

The original has much better skin tone, are you pushing up the contrast to boost the background ? I'd play around with a different way of doing it, you've messed up the skin tones somehow in the second one.

Thecageyone

I like a white backing, and a bit of high key. Works best with plain/bright clothing I think.

The problem at times, and there's a bit of it here, is that the back drop can turn out yellow-ish. You can desaturate yellows to whiten it, but best to make a selection mask of the child and only desaturate and brighten the backing.

Lovely images though.

AnimalRights

I never understand why the general public want boring generic plain backgrounds.
The framing is all wrong in the 1st one...
I'd also have a darker backdrop to allow for the kids blonde hair/pale complexion not been lost in the white.
I have one of those PLO headscarves btw.

Thecageyone

I prefer a blurred out natural backdrop myself, but given the choice of plain - give me black or white any day. none of your blue/green/indigo with blotches like they use for school portraits.

kelly1

I'm not much of a high-key fan but I think the 2nd one is best. According to a youtube vid I watched the white background should be exposed 2 stop higher than the subject e.g f/8 on the child and f/16 on the background. Others might have a different view...