Blake-Senior

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Archive 2010 · Blake-Senior

teppy1
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p.1 #1 · Blake-Senior

I had a chance yesterday to go out and attempt more portraits. This time it was overcast with no sun. I used my speedlight on a bracket again along with another speedlight on a stand. i chose to use the flash on the stand this time because i did not think that there was enough sun for my reflector to be very effective and it was windy out. My own critique so far for myself is my aperture. I meant to stop down my lens on some of these, but still used f2.8 on some of these. I did stop down on most of them though. So, i realize that some of these could definitely be sharper. I'm mostly wanting feedback on my lighting, composition(such as backgrounds), and anything else that might help me next time. thanks. Here goes.

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Feb 08, 2010 at 12:17 AM

brucem48
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p.1 #2 · Blake-Senior

Imake it a practise on males to tip the top of the head towards the far shoulder. In 1,4,6,7, and 8 he has whats known as a feminine head tilt. The girls can tip the top of their heads in either direction..Males only to the far shoulder. Try to visuilize the top of the head tilts in this set. Number 10 in the car has the right tilt. Good soft light as a fill ..maybe add a little diffused flash as a main whould add a little dimensionat about 45 degrees...good color and ambition to shoot outdoors these days

Feb 08, 2010 at 12:38 AM

ButterflySis
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p.1 #3 · Blake-Senior

My first impression is that he's unhappy and/or uncomfortable. Overall they aren't too bad, but they could use some tweaking as said above. The light also seems harsh as his skin seems overexposed on my laptop.

Feb 08, 2010 at 01:15 AM

bigbee
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p.1 #4 · Blake-Senior

There are a few decent shots here, but you really need to raise your keeper threshold. Number 5 should have been permanently deleted from your hard drive and certainly not posted on the forum. Your next step is to try to get consistent exposures, and if you can't do that at the time of capture, then try to do something in post to ensure consistent skin tones that aren't blown out.

Also, try to invest more time in background selection, posing, and subject interaction. Practice and practice, and spend time checking out the shots from some of the top senior photographers on the forum or the internet.

Good luck.

Feb 08, 2010 at 01:15 AM

teppy1
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p.1 #5 · Blake-Senior

I was waiting for the "he's uncomfortable or unhappy" comment. Uncomfortable-not accurtate. Unhappy about doing this-very accurate. This is my son, and i had to put up with all kinds of b***s***. I didn't even process the ugly looks thrown at me. He even has some where he's playing like he's eating earthworms.

Lighting-maybe my flash was powered too high, or too close in distance. we drove to three shooting locations. Even though it was overcast, the lighting was different in all three locations. i will have to work on trying for consistent exposures.

bigbee-as this guys mom, i kind of liked #5. blake didn't care for it, but to me it was a classic blake kind of 'get the heck outta my face' after i was cracking stupid jokes to try to get him to loosen up and give me a smile.

i was hoping to get some feedback on the railroad shot. I've never done one like this before, but thought that the way the track curves in the background was interesting. i searched around for awhile to find one that does this and was accessible. He was not in any danger either by the way. Believe it or not, this is an abandoned part of another track. It is cut off about 20 ft in front of where blake is facing.

thanks for the comments so far. I try to take every one of them out with me the next time in hopes of improvement.

Feb 08, 2010 at 01:55 AM

ButterflySis
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p.1 #6 · Blake-Senior

In my minimal experience, guys are the hardest to shoot and dread every minute of it....which makes me not quite as thrilled to shoot them. I'm guessing it was even harder to shoot your son since kids are not as willing for a parent, I'm sure.

Of them all, the RR is my fave. Maybe a little more dof to keep the curve more visible.

My advice, and don't take this the wrong way, is to see if you can find one or a couple willing participants to practice on. Maybe some kids of friends or something. I think a willing participant would more likely be patient with you which will put you more at ease and will help you to focus on everything you need to remember....lighting, posing, etc.

Feb 08, 2010 at 02:39 AM

teppy1
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p.1 #7 · Blake-Senior

ButterflySis wrote:

My advice, and don't take this the wrong way, is to see if you can find one or a couple willing participants to practice on. Maybe some kids of friends or something. I think a willing participant would more likely be patient with you which will put you more at ease and will help you to focus on everything you need to remember....lighting, posing, etc.

oh believe me, i don't take that the wrong way. i told him on the way home that i am going to have to try to find someone and pay them to do this for me. I got his attention then. he had the nerve to tell me, 'well, if i knew that you would pay....." he's my son though, and i gotta love him.

Feb 08, 2010 at 02:52 AM

ButterflySis
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p.1 #8 · Blake-Senior

, sounds like a kid.

I wouldn't pay anyone. Girls love "playing model" and I'm sure you can easily find some that would be willing. Just offer them a print or two and they'll be tickled pink.

Feb 08, 2010 at 02:56 AM

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p.1 #9 · Blake-Senior

Something about the first picture makes him look a lot heavier then he actually is. I was actually surprised when I saw the rest of the images.. I can't quite pinpoint what exactly it is though.

Feb 08, 2010 at 04:39 AM

rodrickreidsma
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p.1 #10 · Blake-Senior

jdl1527 wrote:
Something about the first picture makes him look a lot heavier then he actually is. I was actually surprised when I saw the rest of the images.. I can't quite pinpoint what exactly it is though.

Flat frontal light + slightly turned head = extra weight

If you'd use the light to sculpt more (rather than just illuminate from the front), he'd appear much slimmer and far more athletic (kill the on-camera flash).

I would agree with the others though, boys can be (are) tough. Really tough.

If you can find the right girl, you're golden, cuz they'll pose and be pretty all day long. If there's a girl who's got the drooly-ga-ga for your son...

-r

p.s. go easy on that burn tool, eh. number 12 is a trainwreck.

Feb 08, 2010 at 07:10 AM

Garvo
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p.1 #11 · Blake-Senior

9 y 10 great photos.

Feb 08, 2010 at 07:27 AM

teppy1
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p.1 #12 · Blake-Senior

rodrickreidsma-i do use the burn tool along with alot of other things in PSC4. i'm not sure how much i used it in this pic though.(#12). i had to go back and look, but i did not save the psd file. here is the original from the camera. Its only been cropped to match the first processed one posted here. could you please elaborate where it looks like the burn tool was overused? I know that i had a pic last night that i had to re-do after i was done initially because i realized i had gone overboard. thanks for your input and "eye".

This image is copyrighted by the owner

I have two shots here that i would like opinions on also. one he's not looking at the camera. does this work? i like it, but most portrait shots show eye contact? I have the other one with him looking at the camera. which one is better? Or, are they both throw aways? thanks.

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and theres this one too.

This image is copyrighted by the owner

Feb 08, 2010 at 01:34 PM

rodrickreidsma
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p.1 #13 · Blake-Senior

There is an obvious demarcation of tone in this image between where there is a full range of tones to where the highlights have been blocked. I first noticed it in the jacket, but if you look at the front seat in the car you can clearly see the line from the brush of the burn tool set to "highlights". It's pretty easy to follow the line through the frame and across the front of your son's jacket.

Changing the opacity of the burn tool would help (I usually roll at 3-6 percent, but I'm sure others work differently), as would softening the brush a bit.

It really doesn't matter if you use Photoshop 4 or Photoshop CS4, such a hatchet job will lose you work even before you have any to lose. Not trying to be a jerk, just trying to point out the obvious.

-r

Feb 08, 2010 at 07:16 PM

teppy1
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p.1 #14 · Blake-Senior

r,
thanks for pointing that out. i do see it on the seat. i also know exactly what happened here as well, atleast the large circular area where the seat is darker anyway. sometimes when i'm changing brushes, my software might be running slowly and it takes it a second or so to catch up to what i'm clicking on. i changed brush size and clicked in my screen to see what i had after zooming. clearly this was an extremely large brush that was previously had been on burn. i didn't notice it had actually left anything. you have great eyes. i have noticed that sometimes when changing brush sizes that my brush setting goes all the way up and maxes out. My computer gets bogged down at times when i need to shut down some programs or windows that are open. thanks again.

Feb 08, 2010 at 08:32 PM

ValerieUSA
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p.1 #15 · Blake-Senior

sorry, but I don't see any keepers here

Feb 08, 2010 at 09:32 PM

rodrickreidsma
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p.1 #16 · Blake-Senior

If you are working with the brushes set to the little crosshairs (precise), you may want to change your PS preferences for the painting cursors to "normal brush tip" or "full size brush tip". That way you can at least see the size of your brush.

Also, PS typically reverts to the last brush used, so if you choose the burn/dodge tool and the last time you used it the setting was 1000-pixel-burn-highlights, it will simply revert to that setting.

Personally, I'm more of a lasso and/or history brush kinda guy. The burn tool (almost never dodge) seems to be solely reserved for pants-pissing deadline work for me. Maybe I'm strange that way, dunno.

As for the new pics.... at least for the poses, the first one is fine by me, but the crop is kinda tough. It is neither tight enough to be definitive, nor wide enough to give you many framing options.

In the second one I'd have him raise his head a tad.

Number three, head tilt forward (masculine), not back (feminine). He doesn't need a lot of tilt, just a tad. I'd probably have his bring the guitar up a bit too. Truth be told I'm not a posing master, so you'd have to ask the others on this one to get the real skinny.

As for the light, you're hitting him across the broad side of his face and it needs to be from the narrow side (hit him in the face, not in the ear). Of course your exposure needs to be tweaked a bit all over (ambient + flash), take the guitar strap off, etc., etc...

Don't waste too much time in Photoshop with these. The real work needs to happen when you're standing behind the camera.

-r

Feb 08, 2010 at 09:56 PM

ButterflySis
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p.1 #17 · Blake-Senior

In regards to the latest photos...

I have to agree with Rodrick about the guitar strap. It either needs to be off or worn, not just dangling. I think I would prefer the shot without the jacket. Also, the background doesn't work for me. Since he's standing in front of the wagon it doesn't feel like the wagon is part of the shot, instead, just some 'random' thing behind him. Try to make everything work together in the image

In the first, be careful of cutting off his feet.

Feb 08, 2010 at 11:25 PM

rodrickreidsma
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p.1 #18 · Blake-Senior

ValerieUSA wrote:
sorry, but I don't see any keepers here

I'm sure there's a lot of folks here who feel the same, but a flat declaratory statement really doesn't help the OP, now does it?

What do you see that needs fixing? What would you do differently?

ButterflySis wrote:
...Try to make everything work together in the image....

+1 If you're thinking of using your son again as a model you may consider doing two things. One, pay him. Two, take him to a spot he would enjoy being photographed or shoot him in a way that brings out his interests (football?) and personality. For some reason I'm guessing he's not really into wagon wheels and Model T's.

-r

Feb 09, 2010 at 12:49 AM

ValerieUSA
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p.1 #19 · Blake-Senior

I did post a thread with a photo of my son as an example of working with a male subject outdoors and an explanation.
It's called "outdoor lighting"

Feb 09, 2010 at 04:16 AM

teppy1
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p.1 #20 · Blake-Senior

rodrickreidsma wrote:
ValerieUSA wrote:

+1 If you're thinking of using your son again as a model you may consider doing two things. One, pay him. Two, take him to a spot he would enjoy being photographed or shoot him in a way that brings out his interests (football?) and personality. For some reason I'm guessing he's not really into wagon wheels and Model T's.

-r

LMAO!!
r-you really are so intuitive!! How in the heck could someone know that blake is not into wagon wheels or antique cars that does not know him is beyond me. I know that he does not look happy in these, but my son is really anal that way. the only time he gets a kick out of anything is when he's picking on me to the point where my screaming at him is something thats entertaining.

I brought him, i mean dragged him to these locations just because i like the backgrounds or props. He does like the guitar shots though. He likes to play his music and Eric Clapton does not exactly remind me of wagon wheels. But, if he liked hank williams it would fit.

Really and truly though, all joking aside, some people (probably guys as has been pointed out), just are not interested in taking pictures ever. I can show you professional studio portraits of him from the time he was able to walk where he always has the same look on his face. Its either sad looking or "i just don't want to do this look". I don't need to put him through this again. I will find other victims. I am actually doing another shoot this saturday of a senior, another guy. He wants some on a nearby river. its really a beautiful location in the middle of town with lots of restaurants on the water and piers or docks with lots of walking area over the water. And for anyone's info who might be saying to themselves "what is she doing charging people", the people who i am doing shoots for have seen my work and have sought me out. I have made it clear that i am starting out and am basically charging them for print and ink.

thanks again for your feedback and dialogue. i really want to expand my skills. i feel fortunate to have resources available which enable me to keep the company that i do here on this forum. I appreciate the pros who are willing to let me.

Feb 09, 2010 at 04:42 AM

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