Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

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Archive 2009 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

skibum5
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p.4 #1 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

Matt Leitholt wrote:
. Also on your skin retouching, you blurred some parts and not the others so there is a patch of sharpness where there shouldn't be (no, this wasn't DOF).

Just helping

I'm mighty envious of your skill and gear lineup.

that explains it then because i jsut couldnt figure out how the DOF could make certain parts of one of the faces blurred and others sharp in such a way

Jul 11, 2009 at 06:32 AM

m_appeal
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p.4 #2 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

lorriman wrote:
Some of these kids look computer generated

I had the same thought. I don't want to offend, but the people in these pictures look very plasticky.

Jul 11, 2009 at 06:54 AM

bobmiller
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p.4 #3 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

Beautiful work jh-
But I have the feeling you'd do fine work with a Holga.

Very inspirational. Thank You.

Bob

Jul 11, 2009 at 07:36 AM

brainiac
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p.4 #4 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

skibum5 wrote:
very, very nice

that lens sure creates BG separation!
ina couple cases so much it almost looks like a fake cutout pasted onto a backdrop...

I think it's the rim-shot and soft-box flash that achieves that effect. Studio-style lighting in vernacular environments often has that effect because the light on the person is incongruous with the light on the background. But these are very skilful and technically accomplished images, regardless of whether you like that style.

Jul 11, 2009 at 09:17 AM

rhorta
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p.4 #5 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

Great work, but one thing I'm curious about.
Did you PP the whites in the eye in some of these?

Ruy

Jul 11, 2009 at 10:51 AM

Napalm
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p.4 #6 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

Matt Leitholt wrote:
Great photos you have there, but I do have to say, some things are distracting like bra straps and chairs in front of the person.

Just helping

I'd say thats more pedantic than helping.

Great shots, awesome set.

Jul 11, 2009 at 10:56 AM

jhartman
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p.4 #7 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

"Did you PP the whites in the eye in some of these?"

Yep. Contact lenses wreak havoc with kids' eyes these days. Regarding the bra straps, Matt, the girls choose in advance whether it's important to have them show or not - that's not my call. (Most don't care, as evidenced by any brief foray into your local mall.)

Regarding the 'cutout' look, it's perhaps much more evident on these tiny Web images that it is on a 16x24 or 20x30 print. Once enlarged, there's no question that it's the real deal.

jh

Jul 11, 2009 at 02:51 PM

skibum5
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p.4 #8 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

brainiac wrote:
skibum5 wrote:
very, very nice

that lens sure creates BG separation!
ina couple cases so much it almost looks like a fake cutout pasted onto a backdrop...

I think it's the rim-shot and soft-box flash that achieves that effect. Studio-style lighting in vernacular environments often has that effect because the light on the person is incongruous with the light on the background. But these are very skilful and technically accomplished images, regardless of whether you like that style.

yeah you are probably right, hat sort of lighting probably accentuates the background separation

yeah, very well carried out

Jul 11, 2009 at 06:31 PM

mortyb
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p.4 #9 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

Awesome photos. Wow.

Jul 11, 2009 at 06:36 PM

WmPat
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p.4 #10 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

jhartman wrote:
"Why have you chosen to use the 200F2 wide open?"

Because I can. ;-) Actually, I want a look that is not easily duplicated. No plug-in can create this look. It's not easy, and it's not cheap, which helps keep my style unique. Also, my clients really like this look. And since beauty is in the eye of the checkbook holder, I like it, too.

"What do you use to fire your 580s?"

I use an ST-E2 with RadioPoppers.

Thank you.

Your images are truly stunning, almost shocking. I'm afraid that my head was stuck inside the box. To me, the term "senior portraits" conjures up formal studio type shooting with greater depth of field so that more of the subject's head is in focus.

I understand how that lens could produce the so-called "cut out look" when the subject is so sharp in the areas that you have choosen to be in focus, and the backgrounds have such creamy bokeh. I have seen that effect, to a lesser degree, in some of my sports shooting when the subject is far removed from the bg.

Jul 11, 2009 at 08:28 PM

irish-george
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p.4 #11 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

Great work! Gives me something to strive towards (and I'm not referring to the lens, though it looks like a real winner, too).

Jul 11, 2009 at 10:51 PM

R. Eisenberg
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p.4 #12 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

Let me join in the praise of these accomplished, admirable and creatively personalized portraits. Alas, the lens is more accessible (if it can be so-called) than the skills needed to attain this level of achievement. To paraphrase a previous poster, if you get bored with the skills, i'll pick them up so sending them won't be necessary.

Jul 12, 2009 at 04:08 PM

chris78cpr
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p.4 #13 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

Thats a real nice bunch of shots. Good stuff

Jul 12, 2009 at 05:58 PM

dancam
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p.4 #14 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

Amazing shots, excellent work

Oh yeah, the lens is kinda nice too

Jul 12, 2009 at 11:39 PM

AbramG
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p.4 #15 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

Most excellent series! You really make that combo sing! I'm still convinced that the 1DsmkIII gives a slightly different look to the images vs the 5DmkII. But everything I've ever seen from that lens is nothing short of incredible! I've shot with the older model before (the f/1.8) and it was just AMAZING. I wish I owned it.

great work!

Jul 13, 2009 at 01:27 AM

aeast
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p.4 #16 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

add me to the crowd of amazed!!! Simply stunning. I also appreciate the explanations and answers to questions you have provided. Not only did I get to view master class pictures I was also able to learn a great deal. Thank you for both.

Best,
Aaron

Jul 13, 2009 at 02:28 AM

Nick Nishizaka
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p.4 #17 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

Just friggin' amazing stuff.

Love my 200L...but dang...these are just off the hook!

Jul 13, 2009 at 05:22 AM

maiaibing
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p.4 #18 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

WebDog, the 135 and 200/2.8 are great lenses, don't get me wrong. Where the 200/2 shines is in the AF, in my opinion. I use spot focus, and move the focus point around with the joystick, so I don't focus and recompose.

First your pictures are great and your set-up just delivers. I am sure it helps you be more productive than most other players.

I am double impressed that you can get such a high keeper rate hand held. I cannot get a pronounced difference between the 200L 2.0 and the 135L hand held. Of course the dismal close and few AF points on the 5Dii may be part of my problem. And the D's are just too big and heavy for me.

Additionally, the bokeh on the 200/2 is visually better than the others.

Compared to the 135L as I find the bokeh quality equal - of course you can get more blur with the 200 2.0L, but that's another story.

Good luck with your work!

Jul 13, 2009 at 10:35 AM

BobnJake
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p.4 #19 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

WOW, you do NICE WORK

Bob

Jul 13, 2009 at 11:46 AM

bigv616
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p.4 #20 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

nice series, great control of ETTL on wireless mode. I have questions for you:

You mentioned you set ambient light underexpose by 1-2 stops, FEC 1/3 to 2/3 up, using HSS. As I assumed you use AV mode:

1. how far do you place your main light and kicker from subject?
2. how do you measure ambient exposure? Spot metering on some 18% grey subject? Do you have to lock the exposure since you will move the focus point to eyes and shoot?

Your answer will be very helpful.

Jul 14, 2009 at 05:19 AM

martsmith42
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p.4 #21 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

Man, these are excellent - and a real temptation to spend loads of money (again!) Nice work.

Jul 14, 2009 at 09:46 AM

kenyee
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p.4 #22 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

jhartman: could you post a few of the pictures w/o any postprocessing? I'm curious how much of the 3D "pop" is from the processing and how much is the lens' smooth bokeh...

Jul 15, 2009 at 02:20 AM

Tony Brown
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p.4 #23 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

GEEEEEESH makes me want to get one NOW.

at f2...it seems you get the perfect dof for portraits.

great work.

Jul 15, 2009 at 03:02 AM

jhartman
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p.4 #24 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

" As I assumed you use AV mode"

Correct.

"1. how far do you place your main light and kicker from subject?"

As close as I can get them without either being in the picture or causing lens flare.. Obviously with a longer lens, that means the lights can be pretty close to avoid both. On the closeups the main softbox can be as close as two or three feet away from the subject's face. This both softens the light and gives many additional exposures on a charge of batteries (at f/2 the flash is just a tiny wink, anyway).

"2. how do you measure ambient exposure? Spot metering on some 18% grey subject? Do you have to lock the exposure since you will move the focus point to eyes and shoot?'

Spot meter. But on a 1Ds when using ETTL the metering mode goes to Evaluative even if it's set to Spot (what's up with that, Canon?). I bump up the flash exposure to +1/3 to +2/3 with because Caucasian skin is lighter than 18% gray. If they have a very light colored top I will bump it up even more. Darker outfits require a reducing of the flash EC. Experiment to taste.
Regarding the exposure lock, I use the Custom Function I: 7 (Spot metering link to AF point) which moves the metering along with the focus point.

jh

Jul 15, 2009 at 04:18 AM

bigv616
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p.4 #25 · Senior Portraits with 200/2 wide open.

Thanks for the reply, John.

Still unclear how do you do ambient exposure measurement?

1. My understanding is flash measurement ties to where your focus point is, in other words, flash is measured just before shutter is clicked, no flash lock used in your case.
2. Do you measure ambient with center point on some 18% grey subject, lock it, then move focus point to the one you will use, focus and take the picture?
3. Or you seperate shutter and focus, take a read of ambient and hold shutter half pressed, move focus point to right one, focus and take the picture?
4. One thing I found, if some diffuser is used and flash left not very close, say full body shoot, ETTL will always underexpose the subject, no matter how much FEC added. In this case, best way to do will shoot it in manual flash mode. Did you see this happened?

Jul 15, 2009 at 04:32 AM


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