Hello,

I'm new to the site and even newer to photography. This is my very first glamour shot, and was told this site had some very good photographers with good tips to share.

My intent with this shot was to have a very soft, very bright look, with only subtle shadow to define her bone structure and facial features.

I'm quite happy with the results and so is my client, but I'm always curious to hear others opinions and any criticism/tips from the pros.

It looks a bit too bright on my screen but it might look great on print. Do you wat to share your lighting setup?

The stray hairs are quite distracting. Best to prevent them, but fixable in post.

Oaa, i love the catch light in the eyes. It does look a little bright on my monitor also

definitely hot - the light and the girl. I reckon you achieved the brightness you were looking for but I think you also dipped into the 'blown-zone', too.

Hello Brad,

Welcome to this forum. I truly hope you enjoy your time here and post more photos in the future.

I have put together some tips that may help you have a better experience here. Follow this link to the topic and then follow the directions in that post.

Newbies or New to FM?
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/825552

Have fun, shoot more, post more, learn more!

didn't know you were on this forum too, as i posted on beyond.ca...



agreeing with everyone saying it's too hot, kinda looks like a ring-flash type look...

i just ran it through LR really quickly to give it a more contrasty look and to tone down the exposure, couldnt do much about the blown out highlights on her cheeks and forhead, perhaps a raw would've helped out..but here's my 2 mins worth of PP.

removed

The last two edits here are extraodrinarily bad. Seriously.

Liked the original a lot better.

Overexposure can work sometimes. Skin looks better when its bright, the dirt is in the shadows etc. But I think the origian could be taken down a little bit. Not much but a little.

Overexposure is a problem here, but even more so is the flat lighting. The nose gets lost in the face due to lack of shadows. Rather than hitting the model with two lights of equal power on the sides, try a clamshell setup with one light directly above and another (or reflector) below but less power.

victorXT wrote:
It looks a bit too bright on my screen but it might look great on print. Do you wat to share your lighting setup?

The stray hairs are quite distracting. Best to prevent them, but fixable in post.


Yeh I agree, the stray hairs need to be touched up.

I used two Elinchrom BX 500 Ri's, with two softboxes situated about 45° on either side of her about 4' away. My camera is a 50D and my EF70-200mm f/4L IS lens at 70mm.

soupey wrote:


agreeing with everyone saying it's too hot, kinda looks like a ring-flash type look...

i just ran it through LR really quickly to give it a more contrasty look and to tone down the exposure, couldnt do much about the blown out highlights on her cheeks and forhead, perhaps a raw would've helped out..but here's my 2 mins worth of PP.




I don't mind you commenting on my photo, but please don't butcher them and then post them on the internet. I would appreciate if you remove them.

Thanks

Brad,

I like the pic, I also use the same light set-up you mentioned. As others have mentioned perhaps a bit overexposed but if that was the look your were going for well done.

This is a great start, but your lights were equal in power and too low, resulting in unattractive upward nose shadows on both sides of her face. I agree that clamshell would have been best, but you could also try to get the key up higher and the fill more on axis.

Exposure is a matter of taste, depending on the look you were going for.

her face is pretty shiny and is a bit paler than the rest of her skin. Just something that caught my eye.

I find the eyes overly processed ... I would have backed off on the opacity some more when doing that touch-up. just my $0.02.

Yes - highlights while not blown are very close to pure white. But for a first glamour shot - could have been a whole lot worse.

It is generally regarded as bad form by the way to post edits (even ones that actually improve an image ) unless you know that the person who took the shot either does not mind (as I don't) or has asked for help in the processing area or has given permission for the posting of an edit.

Welcome to the site.

I agree with Paul, for a newb you've done a stellar job. She's got a great look, well done.

What is this clam shell you guys are talking about?

BradTaylor wrote:
What is this clam shell you guys are talking about?

Basically two lights, one above and one below the model on the camera axis.

See

http://www.photoflexlightingschool.com/Equipment_Lessons/Soft_Boxes___Strobe/OctoDome3/Clamshell_Portrait_3/index.html

and

http://blog.ajmartinez.com/2009/05/17/clamshell-lighting/

She looks just a little bit alien. The strings from the pink top are distracting. She's turned slightly, I would prefer her to be directly facing the cam.

Hi Brad,

Welcome to the forum!

I would agree with the other comments that the image looks too washed out and flat. The beauty high key that you are talking about (bright, even light but maintaining the contours of the face) is not that easy to attain as it seems. Still, you did a great job considering this was your first glamour shot.

The "clamshell" suggestion (I didn't know that light scheme had this name) is a good start, you can also use three softboxes in front of the model, one larger one on the center and two smaller ones tilted inside a bit, something like this \__/ I guess this would be the "inverted clamshell"?

If you shot RAW, you can probably go back and reprocess the photo and tone down a bit on the highlights and recover the detail there.

Hope this helps!

Daschund