This was an interesting challenge for me: the subject is completely blind. She's an amazing and inspiring lady, and she needed these photos both for competition, and as a document of her achievement for her family to enjoy. There is a greater variety of poses in the overall set, but these are a few I've keyed in on for various reasons. Lightroom PP.... I may go for more depending on the client's taste (or actually, her trainer's taste in this case).

Obviously, her disability added a layer of challenge to this shoot. There are a great many things we take for granted when working with models in the studio that her blindness didn't allow... She took direction wonderfully, however. I was proud that she chose me for this and was pleased with the results.

What an interesting twist.

Nice work. Thanks for sharing.

All are nice but my eyes are drawn to 1&2

nice play of black and white with the light.

must be odd to take pictures and not be able to show her the results
you did some fine workl.


thanks for sharing

steve

Hey, I'm glad you posted up the photos since you had asked for tips about this shoot a while back. Looks good to me.

I think she will be happy with the feedback she gets from others who see these.

Evan these are really nice. And kudos to you for being able to *give* the direction that she needed to make it completely impossible to know that she is blind. The only nitpick that I have it that black line in 2.

I like them, especially the first 2. Just don't forget to edit out the seams in #2 and #4.

Good shooting and eye-pleasing images. Not sure if they are what bodybuilder would be looking for though. She looks beautiful and relaxed anyway (normally bodybuilders do not want to look that relaxed ).

Couple of suggestions. On my calibrated display the pictures look better when you adjust the reds down in the Photo Shop color balance dialog. On a couple of images it looks like the red on the face have been blown. Maybe a little bit highlight recovery would improve this? You could also try some micro-contrast to make her a tad more edgy and fit looking.

nice sett of images. Like the natural poses.

nice sett of images. Like the natural poses.

nice Evan
I would get rid of the line in #2 it just messes with my eye.
you showed her hard work well
Doug

Nice work Evan, great that you could direct for this shoot.

The images are beautiful and suitable for family and perhaps competition application images, perhaps you took others for portfolio? Have to agree with Capguy if these are for her bodybuilder's portfolio though, they usually want to show as much muscle as possible

The pictures are well done. Her muscle's are not unnaturally inflated but I could point out a couple of things that aren't quite natural.

Wow, just thinking about verbalizing everything seems like a great challenge to me. Glad to see such good results here E. I agree with others about 1 and 2 being the best here. Both her and the trainer should be proud, that's quite an accomplishment.

Personally, I would clone out the wall seam in #2. Doesn't add anything, and just takes the eye away from an otherwise great photo.

Nice set of pictures and an attractive model. Nice job on these.
I noticed the slight whitening of the skin in a few of these. (Capguy pointed this out already). It's a minor blowing out of the red channel, but it is easily seen as unrealistic white of the skin, so worth fixing/avoiding.

In #1 the hair hanging down has the unfortunate look of a bushy armpit. Few will notice this so don't fret about it. Something to notice next time maybe.

Nice set of images. But on a technical note, open those you posted in Levels, hold down the alt/opt key and click the highlight slider. That will reveal all the areas where channels are clipping. You'll see that you've clipped the red channel in the skin highlights and completely blown out the backgrounds.

Clipping the red in skin kills the subtle detail in the highlights which is part of what creates the illusion of 3D in a 2D photo. It gives skin a flat, burned out look.

Blowing out a white background is an easy way to light it evenly, but perception of tonality in a photo, and the illusion of 3D the contrast creates is done by comparison with the background. Nuking a white background makes all the other light tones seem darker by comparison and any edge detail highlighted with rim light instead erodes and causes a loss of definition because the edges merge into the background. A background which is lit evenly at a value of 250 (i.e. "paper" white) will still be perceived as white, but still allow the 255 specular highlights to sparkle like diamonds. Those 255 values are just as valuable because they create the contrast which enhances the illusion of 3D and shouldn't be wasted "paving" the background with them.

Often the clipping of highlights occurs at the 16>8 bit PSD > JPG conversion stage. If you go back to the RAW you should be able give the highlights enough "headroom" to anticipate the clipping at that final stage.

Chuck

The cleavage looks odd due to shadowing/angle.

In #3 and especially #4 her left breast/cleavage area almost looks bruised due to the uneven brownish shadow, shading

cgardner wrote:

Often the clipping of highlights occurs at the 16>8 bit PSD > JPG conversion stage.

Chuck

Exactly what happened here.... I was busy and didn't check after JPG'ing them down. No clipping (red or lum) in the 16 bit files except for one small hotspot in the BG on 3.

Good catch on the "armpit" hair. Will be fixed if she selects that image.

Thanks all else for the comments and critiques.

There are some other more "pumped" images, but I posted the ones where I was happiest with her expression/pose, again noting the limitations of this particular situation.

what an amazing story of courage and determination, well done on the execution of this shoot, just fix the seams on the backdrop (already mentioned i see) and tone down the hot spots out on her face. enjoyed looking at your website and loved the bride in the red chair shot.

nice shots, nice lighting - she has an amazing figure.

The real act of courage is being blind and going to get a tattoo

Evan - First, how did she find you? I'm just asking because most clients look at our work and admire our style and then choose a photographer based one what they have seen. I'm impressed first and foremost by the fact that she chose you as the photographer based on what I assume she has heard about you - obviously not what she has seen.

I would never have guessed that she was blind from these shots. The posing was done really well and the lighting is fantastic. Were you primarily directing her verbally, or did you and/or Amanda get in there and help her figure out what you were asking for? Lighting on something like this can be a challenge just because you want to bring out her muscle shape and tone, while simultaneously flattering her. I find it's easier with guys - strong contrast is often more flattering for men than women. The lighting on these is really superb.

As a note - I didn't find these NSFW, but I'm glad you noted it that way regardless. Better safe than sorry.

cgardner wrote:
The real act of courage is being blind and going to get a tattoo

I don't get it. A tat? Breast enhancements?

Snap shots of a model with a great body. Good journeyman shots that lack artistic value.

That said, having that disability with the heart and resolve to achieve is truly inspirational.

Rags

Rags Hef wrote:
cgardner wrote:
The real act of courage is being blind and going to get a tattoo

I don't get it. A tat? Breast enhancements?

Snap shots of a model with a great body. Good journeyman shots that lack artistic value.

That said, having that disability with the heart and resolve to achieve is truly inspirational.

Rags




You have managed to produce one of the most pedantically glib comments I have read in a long time. Congrats.

This looks as if the photographer and model achieved some beautiful photographs,

wow! i'll leave the crits on the lighting to those who know way more than me.

but what strikes me most about these images is WHO YOU ARE. these are remarkable considering the fact that she is blind! the comfort level you must have set up here is tremendous. great expressions, great eye contact. she picked the right guy. congrats.

Weiyang Liu wrote:
I like them, especially the first 2. Just don't forget to edit out the seams in #2 and #4.

This.