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Archive 2017 · Mary-Catherine

  
 
DianeinCR
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Mary-Catherine


Looking for C & C please.

Diane



© gdgood Photography 2017


The Painter




Jun 19, 2017 at 02:40 PM
MikeMancil
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Mary-Catherine


Unique and eye catching portrait. Good stuff... Mike


Jun 19, 2017 at 04:44 PM
stevez32
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Mary-Catherine


Not a fan of the cropping, but objectively it seems like the left side is soft, mainly the hand is what jumps out as sharp. At F11 it shouldn't be a DOF issue, so maybe it is from motion blur?

Also, the flash shadow is a bit distracting, seems like they have more fingers than they really do. Unless that multi-finger effect was on purpose?



Jun 19, 2017 at 11:05 PM
DianeinCR
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Mary-Catherine


MikeMancil - Thanks for comments. When I met Mary-Catherine she commented on how she doesn't like her eyes. She feels they are too small and show up as slits in photos. That comment floored me as I saw her eyes as an asset. Mary-Catherine is also an artist, so my intent for this photo was to capture her beautiful and unique self. To me this composition works well to showcase this young woman's inner goddess.

stevez32 - Thank you also for your comments. The flash shadow bothers me as well. I see the motion blur too. I think I can clear some of that up if I reprocess it.

I'll post a few other images from this shoot below.

As always, C & C welcomed...







1







2







3







4







5




Jun 22, 2017 at 10:24 AM
Brev00
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Mary-Catherine


I really like that you added these to the original picture. I greatly enjoy seeing how a photographer works a scene. Your many different versions of this one model are inspiring in their quality and diversity. I am a fan of the full length body portrait and find the first of your newly posted image really hits that sweet spot. The second image fits into what I call the 'concentration on an object' motif. Okay, not a catchy title but I will keep working on it. I do like the sensitivity you captured: a hallmark of this approach. The high key approach and cropping of the next two are not my cup of tea as some of the flowers are blown in the second one and her shoulders are affected by that issue in the first. Just my perspective. The last I like a lot as you definitely put an artistic stamp on the image and she seems to be enjoying herself under your layers.


Jun 22, 2017 at 11:24 AM
dmacmillan
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Mary-Catherine


Tell me about your lighting scheme. On the head shots, it looks like your main is an umbrella and your fill is on camera flash.

Traditional wisdom on lighting (going back to the Renaissance) is to have your fill light source softer (bigger) than your key light source, or exactly backwards of what I see here.

This isn't just modifier size, it's placement as well. If you have a 27" soft box 36" from the subject as key and a 72" umbrella 20 feet away as fill, the fill is still smaller than the key.

I suggest in this instance that you get your key (umbrella) a LOT closer to the subject to take advantage of the wrap around effect of the source. Use large reflectors for fill instead of another flash source, especially an on camera (ugh) flash .



Jun 22, 2017 at 12:10 PM
Karlchen
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Mary-Catherine


There is absolutely nothing wrong with this woman’s eyes! Her eyes are lovely. Pass it on.


Jun 22, 2017 at 11:09 PM
DianeinCR
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Mary-Catherine


Brev00 - I'm glad you enjoyed the added images. I am working on having several different scenes for each of my sessions. As I've mentioned before, I am developing a goddess shoot and I'm working on bringing out the various aspects of each woman's personality. It also makes it far more difficult for her to choose just one or two images.

I actually pushed the post processing quiet a bit in the third and fourth images in order to get that high key look that so many young people are looking for right now. I'm not sure I did it as well as I could have however, so hearing what doesn't work for people is always helpful. Thank you for taking your time to comment. It's most appreciated.

dmacmillian - Thank you for your comments. I was using a 60 inch octobox and an 18 inch beauty dish as fill. I did a shoot last night and reversed things. I pushed my 18 in forward and pulled the octo way back. I had both at the same power but found that to be better. Still have tweaking to do. I haven't worked much with reflectors yet but I'm thinking I need to. I appreciate your comments and advice. It's the biggest reason I post here!

Karlchen - I totally agree!!! And, I will pass it on for sure.

Thank you for taking the time to comment!



Jun 23, 2017 at 09:06 AM
dmacmillan
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Mary-Catherine


DianeinCR wrote:
dmacmillian - Thank you for your comments. I was using a 60 inch octobox and an 18 inch beauty dish as fill. I did a shoot last night and reversed things. I pushed my 18 in forward and pulled the octo way back. I had both at the same power but found that to be better. Still have tweaking to do. I haven't worked much with reflectors yet but I'm thinking I need to. I appreciate your comments and advice. It's the biggest reason I post here!

I'm glad you found my post helpful In the end, you'll have to work out what works for you. I'd love to see the results of using the beauty dish as main and the octobox as fill. I suggest you keep your octobox. close as well, you want it to serve as a big soft fill.

Also, the common placement of the fill is on the camera axis. I prefer to place the fill on the axis of the subject's nose. If they are facing the camera straight on, then by default it is also on camera axis, but if they are turned to the side, the fill light should move as well. Sometimes this looks funny since you end up with key and fill close to each other.

Keep in mind that a beauty dish focuses the light and like a lens, it has a focal length. That's the distance from the subject it should be placed. If placed too close, it just becomes another relatively soft light source. If placed to far, then it's just another small and relatively harsh light source. I'm hoping you are using the beauty dish with a flash with a modeling light. It takes pretty precise placement which is hard to do unless you can see what's going on. It made me think about using a hot light spot in my camera classes to demonstrate proper Rembrandt lighting. The students were amazed to see that if the model turned their head just slightly, the lighting went from Rembrandt to (usually bad) loop lighting.




Jun 23, 2017 at 09:58 AM
Brev00
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Mary-Catherine


My sense about the high key concept is that it would help if the process began during your set up for the shoot. Here, the blue dress is glaring, her pose is static, and the background lacks any hint of texture. The flowers offer too much distracting details-too complex. I might suggest trying a more relaxed, languorous pose with arms flowing. An example would be her on a bed lying on her side with arms forming a diagonal from the right corner down to her right hip. Maybe a black top to match her hair and white sheets with some shadowy folds. Then, the high key treatment would emphasize the dark elements against a lightly textured background with some light grays along with the whites. Just my one imagined scenario. Instead of the treatment appearing applied, it would have more of an organic feeling. I am just trying to convey a feeling and am not suggesting you duplicate the content of my vision.


Jun 23, 2017 at 10:02 AM
MikeMancil
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Mary-Catherine


Thanks for the added pictures. #1 and #4 are my favorites, that is, after the original post... Mike


Jun 24, 2017 at 09:08 AM
DianeinCR
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Mary-Catherine


dmacmillan - After reading and re-reading your last comments I am fairly embarrassed to post a shot from my last session. However because I desire to learn more than I desire to save face, I will do so. I don't have a technical bone in my body...well perhaps my left little toe, but eventually I'll get this!

common placement of the fill is on the camera axis. I prefer to place the fill on the axis of the subject's nose. If they are facing the camera straight on, then by default it is also on camera axis, but if they are turned to the side, the fill light should move as well.

You saying this makes things so much simpler for me!

Sometimes this looks funny since you end up with key and fill close to each other.

Is this what I ended up with? I had the Octo/fill behind me R and the dish/key just off L. Both show as catch lights in my subject's eyes (with the octo being larger and soft, and the dish hard and small close by) which I really don't like at all. I had my dish brighter than my octo. Should I have pulled the octo forward much closer and dialed the dish back a fair amount? Or pulled it in a fair amount and dialed it back? I see very bright, harsh light in my shot.

No there wasn't a model light in the dish, but there can be. How would I use it if I put one in?

Again, thank you for your time and comments.









Edited on Jun 24, 2017 at 10:48 AM · View previous versions



Jun 24, 2017 at 10:26 AM
dmacmillan
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Mary-Catherine


More later, but for right now, go to Flickr and search for "beauty dish portraits". You'll see a wonderful variety, but you should start to get a feel for what a good beauty dish lit portrait should look like.

Also, tell us what types of flash heads you are using. Also tell us the brand of beauty dish. There are some cheap modifiers sold as beauty dishes which only resemble beauty dishes. They don't have the true parabolic shape that gives beauty dishes their characteristic light pattern.



Jun 24, 2017 at 10:45 AM
DianeinCR
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Mary-Catherine


Brev00 - it would help if the process began during your set up for the shoot. Here, the blue dress is glaring, her pose is static, and the background lacks any hint of texture. The flowers offer too much distracting details-too complex.

All great to keep in mind as I plan for better images in the future! Recently I have had three women all choose to be photographed in that same bright blue. I have struggled with ALL of them. The blue just dominates the image Any suggestions on how to handle that color, other than suggesting they not wear it? I am asking the women to choose a color that makes them feel beautiful. I'm also asking them to image a place where they feel at peace...they are choosing nature, which of course doesn't offer up much in the way of this shade of blue!



Jun 24, 2017 at 10:47 AM
DianeinCR
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Mary-Catherine


dmacmillian - Thank you! I'll start there.

Diane



Jun 24, 2017 at 10:50 AM
DianeinCR
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Mary-Catherine


MikeMancill - Thanks again for your feedback. I'm looking forward to learning her favorites.


Jun 24, 2017 at 10:56 AM
Brev00
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Mary-Catherine


I suggest you not be so specific with your clothing suggestion. People often want to dress in a color they simply like not what looks best for them. Instead, ask for a few different items with a variety of colors with one definitely black and both bold and pastel shades. You are the artist with keen aesthetic perception. Most people do not have that subtle appreciation of how colors work. Have them change wardrobes. Good to match both the green setting but most important is to match their own hues and tones.

For example, I am winter (check out the four seasons color types). I look best in blacks, reds, and winter whites. I like browns and blues. Browns are decidedly wrong for me. Greens are the worst as they reinforce my olive skin tones.

Green backgrounds are not so limiting. Yellows for spring types, reds for winter types. Can bring out light eye colors. Tones are as important as hues. Dark background light clothing. But blacks are almost always good--for all season types.

You can show your subjects how they look in different palettes. Point out the benefits of what you deem the best.

If they suggest green settings and you think red barns will be better, make that choice seem so exciting that they will think they thought of it themselves. They might find it appealing to explore very different scenarios than they used in the past. Once you get a portfolio with varied set ups, your clients may be easily persuaded to try one outside their comfort zone.

To simplify my advice, just make sure they bring a black top with them along with that mistaken favorite color.



Jun 24, 2017 at 11:51 AM
DianeinCR
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Mary-Catherine


dmacmillan - I did go to flicker and wasn't able to grasp what I am supposed to be looking for. As for my lighting, I'm using a RPS studios 250WS monolights. The beauty dish was a gift and I don't see a name on it.

Brev00 - I will definitely have to begin asking my subjects to bring a black top/dress for a back up. I get the seasons concept very well and am a trained color consultant from back in the day with Color 1. I have begun working ahead of time with the last few clients talking about how various colors look on different color types and also in different locations. Hopefully this will help prevent future bright blue dresses in woodland scenes.



Jun 26, 2017 at 08:54 PM
Evan Baines
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Mary-Catherine


I really like the painting image and then the overlay. Both are very nice!


Jun 26, 2017 at 08:56 PM
DianeinCR
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Mary-Catherine


Thank you Evan. I'd really like to do a retake on the painting image, but this time I'd like to be more conscious of my lighting. I'd us a boom with my camera mounted on it over her if I had one too. Here I was on a ladder with the 1 DX with the 70-200 mm at arms reach trying to focus and frame my shot blindly with a 10 sec delay. All things considered I like the concept very well but am somewhat disappointed in my results. I learned a lot and look forward to trying this type of shot again in the future. I also really like the overlay image. It's perfect for this young artist.

Diane



Jun 28, 2017 at 02:00 PM





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