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Archive 2017 · Hope

  
 
Todd
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Hope


A portrait from this weekend. Nikon D810 with the sigma 135mm F/1.8 @F/4. The lighting main source was a Westcott 7 foot silver umbrella with diffuser. That is one fantastic light modifier.










Setup




May 08, 2017 at 11:08 AM
Steve Wylie
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Hope


In a recent post, someone described his experience with portraiture as a "rookie mistake" because there are two catchlights in one of the eyes, and only one in the other. Several folks said not to worry about it. In this case, your lighting approach was very good, and the highlight-to-shadow ratio is very well chosen and managed. My eyes go directly to hers;I like this portrait a lot. However, I think the second catchlight from the reflector in her left eye is a distraction that is easily removed, and the result would be measurably improved. One final offering; I think judicious cloning of five or so stray hairs on the left side of the portrait would also improve the final result. Overall, however, this is a winner.


May 08, 2017 at 01:27 PM
Todd
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Hope



Steve Wylie wrote:
In a recent post, someone described his experience with portraiture as a "rookie mistake" because there are two catchlights in one of the eyes, and only one in the other. Several folks said not to worry about it. In this case, your lighting approach was very good, and the highlight-to-shadow ratio is very well chosen and managed. My eyes go directly to hers;I like this portrait a lot. However, I think the second catchlight from the reflector in her left eye is a distraction that is easily removed, and the result would be measurably improved. One final offering; I
...Show more

Thank you. I appreciate and like your comments about my photo. This at least was not a paid client, it was a family member and I was practicing and trying to get the best out of the new lights that I have. I understand what you're talking about with the catch lights. I was watching some YouTube videos with Joel Grimes using his beauty dish and the big umbrella etc. and in his images the round reflector shows up as a catch light also but it's closer to her face where mine was much further away because I was using a longer lens. I will definitely try to remove that and see what the image looks like afterwards. Again, thank you for your comments as this was my first time ever to use a 7 foot umbrella with a reflector card, in this case a silver reflector. My wife was holding it and she probably was standing a little bit too far in front of her to where that would show up in her eye. I think if she would've stood back a little bit further, it would not be visible so I will keep that in mind for my next photo shoot portrait.



May 08, 2017 at 01:35 PM
Steve Wylie
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Hope


Actually, I suspect that she was holding it too far to the rear to clear the nose; otherwise, the reflector would have showed up in the other eye as well. Moving it farther to the rear might have resulted in no second catchlight, but it also might have affected your shadow strategy. So I'd simply remove the second catchlight. Having said that, there's nothing inherently wrong with multiple catchlights in the eyes. Personally, however, I think they should be identical in both eyes, which would be my recommendation here. Again, nice job on this.


May 08, 2017 at 01:41 PM
01Ryan10
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Hope


Overall...I am leaning to not liking the shot.

Reasons I do like it...Overall, the lighting is great. The girl's face seems to be completely sharp, so focus is spot on.


With that said, here is why I don't like the image overall...

I feel like you're going for a "moody" look; however, her contemporary clothes and bracelet just don't fit the feeling I feel she's portraying. I did say the lighting is great, just not for this image. I'd like to see a little darker shadows to fit her expression. The one thing I do find distracting is the focal plane. Although her face is completely sharp, her hands clearly are not. I feel that if her hands are going to be placed as an extension of her face in the picture, they too should be sharp.



May 08, 2017 at 01:43 PM
Todd
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Hope




01Ryan10 wrote:
Overall...I am leaning to not liking the shot.

Reasons I do like it...Overall, the lighting is great. The girl's face seems to be completely sharp, so focus is spot on.

With that said, here is why I don't like the image overall...

I feel like you're going for a "moody" look; however, her contemporary clothes and bracelet just don't fit the feeling I feel she's portraying. I did say the lighting is great, just not for this image. I'd like to see a little darker shadows to fit her expression. The one thing I do find distracting is the focal plane. Although her
...Show more

Ok... I'll keep that in mind. F/8 may have been a better choice. As an artist and photographer each one of us I guess has their own technique on how they want the image to look. This was simply practice for me, but I didn't think of it as practice, I actually tried making a really good image. I usually take landscape photos and Astro photos, it has been a while since I've done studio lighting, so I'm trying to get back into that. Thank you for your suggestions. Lately there have been a lot of photographers out there that like to shoot with their lenses wide open for portraits and everything else. Sometimes I like that and sometimes I don't, but I figured f/4 for the shot was deep enough. I did not find that the hands being slightly out of focus and issue for me.... but I can see how some of you guys may not like that that much. That's kind of why I like this forum, I get lots of opinions and constructive criticism.

T



May 08, 2017 at 02:10 PM
Steve Wylie
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Hope


I wasn't going to mention it, but I do agree with Ryan above regarding the out of focus hands. I don't think it's a deal breaker for this image, but my preference would be for the hands to be sharp for the same reason as Ryan mentions; they're right next to the face.

In general, I think you'll find that studio portraiture generally uses a more extensive depth of field than natural light portraiture. Not a rule, but my own observation.



May 08, 2017 at 07:37 PM
Todd
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Hope



Steve Wylie wrote:
I wasn't going to mention it, but I do agree with Ryan above regarding the out of focus hands. I don't think it's a deal breaker for this image, but my preference would be for the hands to be sharp for the same reason as Ryan mentions; they're right next to the face.

In general, I think you'll find that studio portraiture generally uses a more extensive depth of field than natural light portraiture. Not a rule, but my own observation.


I see.
Well my main goal was to draw attention to the face. I think if everything was in focus, your eyes would wander all over and not land where you intended. I'll experiment with it and see what works best for me. I'll check other portrait photography online to see what the trend is. I realize Portraiture is different for each photographer and opinions vary, but I'm still honing my skills. Haven't had studio lighting since my old Novatron set. Thanks for your honesty...

Todd



May 08, 2017 at 08:25 PM
Jeffrey
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Hope


Nice lighting. Nice work.


May 08, 2017 at 10:11 PM
unclechuck
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Hope


Todd,

This is a lovely portrait, and for the young woman, memorable.

Great job ... hope to see more of your work

Charles



May 09, 2017 at 09:02 PM
Todd
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Hope


Another image of Hope....





I love the Sigma 135mm f/1.8! Love this lighting too!




May 09, 2017 at 10:50 PM
01Ryan10
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Hope


Wow...crop makes a huge difference because her eyes are screaming to be the subject of attention. Because of the crop, everything I said previously does not apply. Being nitpicky though...I would like the framing to be a little more to her left shoulder.


May 10, 2017 at 01:26 AM
unclechuck
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Hope


Todd

This is Superb. You are on a solid course with these; look forward to more of your work.

All the Best

Charles



May 10, 2017 at 05:42 AM





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