Home · Register · Join Upload & Sell

Moderated by: Fred Miranda

New fredmiranda.com Mobile Site

New Feature: SMS Notification alert

New Feature: Buy & Sell Watchlist

FM Forums | Photo Critique | Join Upload & Sell

Archive 2013 · First bodyscaping

ffab
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · First bodyscaping

After viewing some nice articles from smokingstrobes.com, I decided to give a try with the help of a willing and very patient partner and my happy-to-go SB600.

Any comment to make it better ?

I put the raw file here (dropbox)

Jan 12, 2013 at 05:53 AM

RustyBug

Offline
• • • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · First bodyscaping

Diggin' it.

Nice job of showing form, shape, contour, texture & tonal variation. Also diggin' the falloff. Wondering how a monochrome treatment might look with it as well.

There does seem to be a color issue with red / yellow-green along the side of the model. I'm wondering if this is your ambient lighting contributing in the shadows where the strobe isn't reaching / overpowering ambient.

Jan 12, 2013 at 09:12 AM

dmacmillan
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · First bodyscaping

Nice job! I like it. Good example of "the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection".

Jan 12, 2013 at 09:56 AM

RustyBug

Offline
• • • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · First bodyscaping

Not to be confused with a monochrome rendering effort ... here's the red channel for consideration that might help reveal some of the lighting that is occurring along the model's side. Suggestion/question being that warm incandescent ambient lighting (i.e. red channel) is creeping in as mentioned above.

Jan 12, 2013 at 02:22 PM

dmacmillan
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · First bodyscaping

Nice in monochrome as well.

Jan 12, 2013 at 02:50 PM

AuntiPode

Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · First bodyscaping

Quite nice as it is, but when considering Photoshop, there are some minor tweaks that could be applied:

With Tweaks

Tweaked Areas Marked

Accentuated Changes

Jan 12, 2013 at 03:34 PM

cgardner
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · First bodyscaping

The lighting is is well done with regard to both creating the illusion of 3D and a strong leading line to follow.

Composition of body scapes are similar to landscapes in that they work best for me when my eye follows the leading line and arrives at a focal point and dwells, completing the story the photo is telling. Here my eye travels left > right and is attracted by the lighting gradient up to the shoulder, but it's just a shoulder and not nearly as interesting as a final destination as a face would be. The crop just below the buttocks and at the neck are similar to how side of beef is cut (i.e. headless) making it seem like an image of an object vs. a person, which I'm sure is not the message you had in mind.

Please don't take that negatively. I like the shot as is, I'm just suggesting you explore other possiblities showing more of the legs and the head, with face as the focal point instead of the trip ending on the shoulder.

When I compose any shot the first thing I ask is what the main focal point is. Do I want the viewer to see it first and wander off to less interesting content, or scan over the context first then come to rest on the focal point. The answers to those questions drive the decisions of how to position the focal point in the frame and how to light it so the gradient created by the lighting provides a clue to the viewer which way to go.

With the crop as is consider the eye path and how the contrast of brighter shoulder is attracting attention there. What do you think the eye path would be if you flipped it so the buttocks were on the right and brighter than the shoulder creating the same left > right eye movement dynamic in the frame. Would the viewer's eye wind up at a more interestiing focal point? I think so

Jan 12, 2013 at 06:03 PM

ffab
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · First bodyscaping

All,

Thanks a lot for the great feedback.

@AuntiePode, nice subtle changes. Could one achieve the same kind of result with just LightRoom ?

@cgardner, the crop / framing is done also to preserve the privacy of the partner. She is not a professional model and doesn't want to have a bunch of naked pictures of her floating online.

As for the legs, the other shots do have a fair bit of those.

@rustybug, I am always amazed how people can think in color channels. Is there a way to quickly identify those for beginners like me ?

Jan 14, 2013 at 07:01 AM

RustyBug

Offline
• • • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · First bodyscaping

+1 @ think in color channels doesn't come naturally.

I thought I'd NEVER get it ... still working on it, but it is mostly like anything that takes time and repetition to learn.

In PS, there is the channels tab next to the layers tab. By turning on/off the view of the different channels, you can view the different aspects of what each channel contributes to the image.

I'd recommend looking at an image with easily defined reds and blues ... along with white. An image of the American Flag would fit the bill well here. You will be able to see the areas that are reflecting mostly red, mostly blue and both red and blue. You'll also be able to see where the green channel is / isn't relative to the red, blue and white areas.

The aspect that you'll notice that in the white portions of the flag, there are essentially equal amounts of light being reflected in all three R,G & B channels.

Again, it doesn't come naturally at first, but if you've got a Sherlock Holmes mindset as to "who dunnit" ... you'll come to figure out who the culprits are for virtually any crime scene.

Also, if you are in Channels (before you add layers, etc), you can click on the panel and an option for "Split Channels" is available (grays out once you add layers). This will create three new files ... one of each channel, but you'll have to reopen your original file if you want to have 1 color and 3 channel files open at the same time.

I find it helpful for analysis, but even more so for mask creation. Dan Margulis books on LAB or PS are both helpful, but the book Channel Chops really built upon Dan's books to where it started to "click" for me.

Jan 14, 2013 at 10:20 AM

AuntiPode

Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · First bodyscaping

Specifically, I used the Liquify tool in PS to reshape her hip and the Clone Stamp to retouch a crease and some trivial skin irregularities. If there ways to make similar retouching changes in Lightroom, I don't know what they might be.

I'm not a good source to ask about using Lightroom. I have it installed on my computer for a couple of years, but I've never used it. Although PS is expensive and more difficult to learn, it has capabilities Lightroom does not have. I learned Photoshop before there was a Lightroom product. Had I started after the introduction of Lightroom, I'd have probably learned it first. However, so far PS does what I need to do, therefore my motivation to learn a different tool is low.

Jan 14, 2013 at 03:02 PM

cgardner
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · First bodyscaping

ffab wrote:
@cgardner, the crop / framing is done also to preserve the privacy of the partner. She is not a professional model and doesn't want to have a bunch of naked pictures of her floating online.

I understood that, but you also don't need to post every photo you take on the Internet and one incluiding the head would, all other things considered, improve the journey of the eye by ending it an a more interesting focal point. Consider that even a face totally hidden in shadows would be a more interesting final focal point than the shoulder and at the same time deliver the same "I want to remain anonymous" message as the "side of beef" crop

Jan 15, 2013 at 09:35 PM

RustyBug

Offline
• • • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · First bodyscaping

I disagree that the head/face is needed to provide for an interesting focal point.

Imo, the interesting focal point IS the "terrain" of the shapes, lines, textures, rise & fall of elevations (way diggin' the small of the back), etc. The lack of an obvious "destination" allows for an exploration and study of the nuance as well as compare & contrast of the various areas, as well as how the shadows vs. highlights work to push/pull the viewers eye. To me, this is an image to explore/study/think/embrace/bask in rather than to look at to arrive at a specific focal point.

"What's the point?" or "What's the message that you want to convey to your viewer?" I think the message here is "Look at how the lighting has revealed the multitude of nuance in form." Adding in an "interesting (destination) focal point" will detract from the exploration of the numerous interesting "study" points that already exist.

My .02

BTW, I just opened the RAW file ... yowsa, what a difference between the RAW and the "auto" and your rendition. Clearly illustrative of the powerful difference between what the camera captures and what PP can produce for either "correct" or "rendered" to your creative/dynamic vision. I'd post to illustrate, but out of respect (a bit more revealing) I'll refrain (although I suggest others download the RAW to see for themselves).

Jan 15, 2013 at 10:18 PM

AuntiPode

Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · First bodyscaping

BTW, showing the curve of a back without including a head/face or other parts of a body is a classic photographic theme and not a negative at all. The principle issue is avoiding the associated cliché.

Jan 15, 2013 at 11:48 PM

dmacmillan
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · First bodyscaping

AuntiPode wrote:
BTW, showing the curve of a back without including a head/face or other parts of a body is a classic photographic theme and not a negative at all.
Actually, it's a classic theme that far pre-dates photography.

Jan 16, 2013 at 06:19 AM

xopowo
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · First bodyscaping

I think this is really great, I'd love to see it in monochrome with the large character in the lower right removed. For me this begs for B&W. The only processing I would do it to soften the line on the upper right shoulder, it's a distraction.

Jan 16, 2013 at 04:59 PM

WalterF

Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · First bodyscaping

I had to try my hand at this in BW. Makes me want the 600 Nikon.

The photo was great as is just wanted to see BW

Thanks
Walt

Jan 17, 2013 at 10:24 AM


FM Forums \| Photo Critique \| Join Upload & Sell

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.