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I haven't posted new material in a while, so I wanted to offer these images from a recent project my wife and I have been working on... sort of a "trash-the-dress" idea by the sea. We found a nice site to shoot, but there were a lot of variables to juggle, including the weather, tides, and our daughter's moods. The good news is that my daughter has almost overcome her reflexive fear of the sea, and that our clothes are actually salvageable.
Both were shot using a D800 and 24-70 f/2.8G lens and tripod. I shot my wife and she shot me. I processed both images, with a little help from my wife on her shot.
I like both of these a lot. It seems hard to come up with something original for portraits, but you've done that here. Love the little bit of motion blur in the water.
I like these alot. I like the second one more because of your daughter's expression and it doesn't have the posts.
Since this pair seem to naturally go together as a set, I wonder if you had taken a photo of just yourself without the posts, facing to the left. Then you could display the pair together as a diptych with you facing toward your wife+daughter.
Agree with the above comments about #2 being the stand-out because of the relaxed & content expression on your daughter (beautiful) combined with the serious & serene expression on your wife. But really, both images are perfection in my eyes.
I'm interested in how you get this subtle tonal separation to give it that slightly painterly look, yet not crazily overdone. The processing is stunning and unique.
Agree with the above comments about #2 being the stand-out because of the relaxed & content expression on your daughter (beautiful) combined with the serious & serene expression on your wife. But really, both images are perfection in my eyes.
I'm interested in how you get this subtle tonal separation to give it that slightly painterly look, yet not crazily overdone. The processing is stunning and unique.
Thanks! The tonal separation was achieved by adding a haze layer, which is basically a light-colored fill with selective painting done in a layer mask. I ultimately applied it at a low opacity in both of these images to amplify the existing haze.
arguna wrote:
Really nice picture. Could you please tell how info on how you took the shot
Thanks! Images were shot on a tripod, with water slowed down using a quarter or eighth second shutter and a variable ND filter. We shot as many images as our daughter’s moods would permit, since the water level and patterns varied quite a bit. The experience of standing in the water (while trying to reduce motion blur) with our daughter was really therapeutic for both of us, even when she started to worry about the crashing waves.
gshawus wrote:
Both very nice with the second one being my favorite
Share your processing technique on these
Thanks for your kind words! With respect to processing, the techniques used here are a mixed bag without a distinct recipe. What I found most helpful on this project was pre-visualization. I drew thumbnails in a sketchbook (attached herein), which gave me a plan of where I wanted to go re: site selection, wardrobe, desired weather conditions, and the angles to capture. I drew five such thumbnails here in a three-value color scheme, and shared them with my wife (who was both model and shooter) to ensure effective coordination. I do this a lot with shoots involving models as well, and have found it really helpful towards getting a result that I want (or at least providing a framework for improvisation in case things don’t work out exactly according to plan, which happened a few times during this shoot). I didn't know about the posts before visiting the site, but decided I liked them for my own picture so incorporated them here. Looks like they weren't that popular though.
