A quick introduction, my name is Chris, I've been hanging around corrupting the wedding board for 4 years or so now, I generally make my living shooting women in white dresses with a few other bits on the side.
I'd like to spend more time over in this board this year, learning as much as you will teach me about portraits and lighting thereof, anything to try and take my work to the next level.
So to kick off, here's a quick portrait I did of the Godfather at a friend's christening I attended yesterday.
Chris FWIW I see you as an important figure on the FM boards! You have been here a while now and give trusted advice.
As far as the shot goes I think it is a little dark perhaps and his expression could be a little better.
kudos for pushing the limit on what you normally do. I am hoping to make some big moves this year too!
morganb4 wrote:
Things that I would have fixed:
I see moire on the suit.
The windows are not straight.
Would also have had him looking at the camera.
Thats all from me. Did you mean to post this in Weddings or lighting?
Hey Ben
For the suit, that's how the pattern was, I see no moire on the image, unless maybe your browser is resizing and introducing it?
What would you suggest about the windows? Duplicating the layer then 'distorting' them straight? I'd never have even thought of that, thank you for pointing me in a different direction.
The reason I had him looking in that direction was to get that fall-off across the cheek, head-on the lighting tended to create a shadow in his right eye socket, perhaps a case of caring more about the light than the subject matter on my part?
Thanks for your time, definitely meant to post here, trying to spread my wings a little.
Ziffl3 wrote:
i find the windows more interesting than the subject.
meaning - the window is where my eyes want to go.
Let me ask this: what would you do to lead the viewer to where you want to look first?
maybe a different shot completely, different light setup?
Well I was shooting the AB on minimum power in order to get this lighting, so I could very very easily have knocked ambient down and the light on him up, maybe it would have been a different image, but I felt that the light would have looked unrealistic, maybe it's different in the states, but pubs over here tend to be very dark places, for the inside to be brighter than the outside I feel would have been somewhat jarring.
Not saying you're wrong of course, just trying to explain my decisions.
hardlyboring wrote:
Chris FWIW I see you as an important figure on the FM boards! You have been here a while now and give trusted advice.
As far as the shot goes I think it is a little dark perhaps and his expression could be a little better.
kudos for pushing the limit on what you normally do. I am hoping to make some big moves this year too!
Thanks Doug, some handy advice in between the sarcastic comments?
I tend to lean towards crushed blacks and 'dramatic' lighting, I've always been a bit of a drama queen and tend to think that if it's not dramatic it's boring....I have the attention span of a 6 year old basically.
W.R.T. expression, what would you have suggested? I did what I did because he was "the Godfather" and as a bit of a laugh I thought 'mean and moody' fitted the title somewhat, be interesting to hear your thoughts otherwise
P.S. I replied to your PM....don't make me start a thread titled "Doug....WTF" will you ;-)
Chris Beaumont wrote:
Thanks Doug, some handy advice in between the sarcastic comments?
I tend to lean towards crushed blacks and 'dramatic' lighting, I've always been a bit of a drama queen and tend to think that if it's not dramatic it's boring....I have the attention span of a 6 year old basically.
W.R.T. expression, what would you have suggested? I did what I did because he was "the Godfather" and as a bit of a laugh I thought 'mean and moody' fitted the title somewhat, be interesting to hear your thoughts otherwise
P.S. I replied to your PM....don't make me start a thread titled "Doug....WTF" will you ;-)...Show more →
I don't know i guess maybe a partial look away... he just seems to uninvolved in the shot if that makes sense.
hardlyboring wrote: Chris Beaumont wrote:
I don't know i guess maybe a partial look away... he just seems to uninvolved in the shot if that makes sense.
Looking slightly more toward camera? Thanks, lots of stuff to build on
^lol I did exactly this the other day, I posted a wedding set in the misc forum, wondered why I don't get many responses.
Re the window, it wouldn't be the first way I would fix it. There is a very subtle tilt on the picture, I would correct as much of this in lense correction first - it may actually be totally fixable here but it would at least minimize the amount of work you would have to do using a layer + distort.
Things I would have done differently... I would have ensured it was symmetrical and straight when I shot it. I also would have exposed the outdoors correctly or only slightly overexposed and supplied correct light level from flash for the true subject. The pose seems fine for what you wanted to achieve.
I think you had a great opportunity for a great image. It just seems you didn't take the extra minute to get the best result you could have. Just IMHO.
amonline wrote:
Things I would have done differently... I would have ensured it was symmetrical and straight when I shot it. I also would have exposed the outdoors correctly or only slightly overexposed and supplied correct light level from flash for the true subject. The pose seems fine for what you wanted to achieve.
I think you had a great opportunity for a great image. It just seems you didn't take the extra minute to get the best result you could have. Just IMHO.
What is a "correct light level from flash"? Seems like a highly subjective thing to be making definitive judgments on.
I'm all for taking advice and learning, but it's a bit off to say I got the photo wrong because i envisaged it differently!
morganb4 wrote:
ADDED:
I have just checked it and a rotation of -1 degree and a vertical perspective rotation of +1 fixes it completely. Want me to post the result?
Re pattern on suit, sure. Thats probably what I was seeing.
Also I am wondering how it would look with a stop more light and the detail behind the windows actually blown out. Anyway, just an alternative idea, nothing more.
Cheers dude, I seem to have a bit of a straightness blindspot :S
Problem with more ambient was that it bled onto the subject basically taking away the contrasty light I was aiming for
^Chris absolutely, it was more of a suggestion for an alternative shot rather than anything else. Strictly nothing more.
I have that straightness blind spot too I shoot a lot of UWA stuff and I take so much time trying to get it geometrically good in camera and then I get home and have a hideous straightening task ahead of me.
