Great lighting overall mel, and I like 6, 7, 8, and 9 best. These definitely look the most flattering to me.
The first few make me think that the subject would've benefited from your grabbing a step ladder to get a little higher angle and a little more extension of her neck. She's also pretty square to the camera in a few, making her body appear bigger.
Nit-picky, but I figured I'd try to offer something constructive. I'm sure the client loves them, and they are fine work.
You shouldn't be so hooked on a straight front shot of a heavy subject. And I see you fell for that horizontal claptrap I see so much of. I thought the object of a portrait was to see nothing but the subject in all her glory. Ah well.
pilles wrote:
You shouldn't be so hooked on a straight front shot of a heavy subject. And I see you fell for that horizontal claptrap I see so much of. I thought the object of a portrait was to see nothing but the subject in all her glory. Ah well.
It depends on the TYPE of overweight a subject is. This girl looked slimmer straight on. She's thicker from an angle. There' s no one-size-fits-all for larger subjects. You have to look at the body type of each person and decide what their best look is. As for having a lot of scenery... over-weight people can also look better when they DON'T fill the frame. This gives them a sense of smallness in comparison to the rest of the image.
Don't care for the first six at all. I like #7, nice expression and nice b&w. #9 & 10 has a feeling of seeing a glimpse of her true personality, very nice! The remaining ones are ok, they don't do too much for me.
These look incredible to me, I don't think she could look any better than you've already made her.
Your focus seems to be on the confidence in which she carries herself despite the popular world view of thin and you've highlighted her beautiful eye's greatly that for me draw me into her face, and wow what a smile.
I too would like to learn of your post work on these pictures especially your lighting techniques. Your last shot seem's like you used an 8' or higher light stand and some kind of snoot to minimize the spread around her pose.
It'd be nice to see the first few shots w/o the hat, but maybe the hat draws us into her beautiful eyes.
ScottR wrote:
Don't care for the first six at all. I like #7, nice expression and nice b&w. #9 & 10
has a feeling of seeing a glimpse of her true personality, very nice! The remaining
ones are ok, they don't do too much for me.
That's funny! Numbers 1 and 14 are the closest to her personality as any of these got. She's sarcastic, witty and has lots of attitude. Any of the ones that made her look "sweet" or "soft" were done so for her mother.
tutumon wrote:
I really like the pictures and your post-processing. Is this a PS action or something you created?
Thank you! I use Lightroom for 99% of my processing. I can't imagine needing PS
for anything other than the occasional NoiseWare fix or some soft glow when
necessary (like in the sunset images where she's hidden by the soy beans). My hope is to get is as close to what I want while it's in-camera (it used to grate my nerves when people said stuff like that... but it's true!). Then use Photoshop as an enhancement, rather than what actually ends up making the image "right". You know what I mean? I guess I spent enough time running filters in my early days, that it finally just got old to me. Give me strong contrast and high saturation and I'm a happy girl.
Ayden Nathan wrote:
These look incredible to me, I don't think she could look any better than you've already made her.
Your focus seems to be on the confidence in which she carries herself despite the popular world view of thin and you've highlighted her beautiful eye's greatly that for me draw me into her face, and wow what a smile.
I too would like to learn of your post work on these pictures especially your lighting techniques. Your last shot seem's like you used an 8' or higher light stand and some kind of snoot to minimize the spread around her pose.
It'd be nice to see the first few shots w/o the hat, but maybe the hat draws us into her beautiful eyes....Show more →
Thank you! Her eyes are my favorite part of her. I really do feel like the hat draws your attention to that part of her. In the ones just following the hat (green shirt), I felt like I lost them a bit. She is a VERY confident girl... I'm so glad you could see that!
The off-camera light is my bare flash on a stand with Pocket Wizzard
setting it off. Most of the time, I don't REALLY want it obvious that I
used it. But this girl is a home-grown actress and loves dramatic... thus
the final image. I wanted it to appear as though she were under an
outdoor stage light.
Well you nailed it for me, I've seen many beautiful models w/ enviable bodies and faces and very healthy children, it is wonderful to see someone find the beauty of a person and show it in a most pleasing way.
BTW I love the model shots, they teach me so much but it is difficult for me to discern whether or not the model made the picture or the lighting, composition, and angle.
I hope one day I can develop the awesome ability that many here have to show the beauty of the people I hope to shoot some day. Namely my own family and/or other people I know.
Right now I'm budgeting for a strobist poor wireless kit as it is cheaper than the synch cord kits hopefully I can render decent results and post them here one day.
Again Suzanne looks beautiful, her personality, attitude, eyes are huge in these images.
Apparently I'm the only one that doesn't like #9. I find the OOF foliage covering the majority of her torso distracting and obfuscating. Shift the camera slightly to the right to have more of her show through the grasses, and I'd say it's spot on. Maybe you were going for distracting (probably not) or obfuscating (probably), but it doesn't do it for me.
I am a much bigger fan of #2, #6, and #8. If I had to pick her shots, it would be those three.
John Patrick wrote:
Apparently I'm the only one that doesn't like #9. I find the OOF foliage covering the majority of her torso distracting and obfuscating. Shift the camera slightly to the right to have more of her show through the grasses, and I'd say it's spot on. Maybe you were going for distracting (probably not) or obfuscating (probably), but it doesn't do it for me.
I am a much bigger fan of #2, #6, and #8. If I had to pick her shots, it would be those three.
John
Thanks!
I was trying to hide the blue jeans a little so that I could keep the image in color but not have them detract from the amber feel.
