p.11 #2 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
AGeoJO wrote:
The color rendition of skin tones is highly subjective. And it is really tough to be consistent in our workflow. Plus, some editors would like to see certain skin tone that better fits a certain color scheme for magazines and books or in other ways of publishing. What one considers natural skin tones on the monitor may not necessarily the way the human skin renders and tend to be more vibrant/vivid on the monitor. I am not saying one way or the other regarding the colors on the images you referred to but for sure, there are different ways to display the human skin tone. Keep up the good work and please post more images!
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I am relying on just my eyes to render the skin tone here the best I could, and it may not necessarily the most accurate but as long as it is pleasing to my eyes... ...Show more →
That one looks just beautiful, I find black skin specially complicated with Sony and you got a very nice result there, and I love the back-lit.
p.11 #3 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
AGeoJO wrote:
I am relying on just my eyes to render the skin tone here the best I could, and it may not necessarily the most accurate but as long as it is pleasing to my eyes...
Your skin tones are pleasing to me as well. Just keep doing what you are doing.
p.11 #4 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
A7RIII with Sigma 40mm f1.4 ART. I mostly use 85/105/135mm lenses for portraits, but when space is limited, and for certain perspectives, the Sigma 40mm f1.4 lens is killer. My new favorite combination is the GM 135 or 105 ART, combined with this lens... Jeff www.jefftitteringtonphoto.com
p.11 #5 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
numbertwo wrote:
That one looks just beautiful, I find black skin specially complicated with Sony and you got a very nice result there, and I love the back-lit.
Thank you very much!
1bwana1 wrote:
Your skin tones are pleasing to me as well. Just keep doing what you are doing.
Thank you very much, Steve!
InFocus2014 wrote:
A7RIII with Sigma 40mm f1.4 ART. I mostly use 85/105/135mm lenses for portraits, but when space is limited, and for certain perspectives, the Sigma 40mm f1.4 lens is killer. My new favorite combination is the GM 135 or 105 ART, combined with this lens... Jeff www.jefftitteringtonphoto.com
Jeff, great work! Our lens lineup for portraits is very similar to each other. I have been enjoying my new to me Sigma 40mm f/1.4 Art as well. Luis @GabrielPhoto twisted my arm to get that lens . I used it last weekend quite a bit. In addition to that, I used 2 other marvelous lenses; each one of them showed their strength: Sigma 105 Art and the GM 24mm.
p.11 #6 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
AGeoJO wrote:
Thank you very much!
Thank you very much, Steve!
Jeff, great work! Our lens lineup for portraits is very similar to each other. I have been enjoying my new to me Sigma 40mm f/1.4 Art as well. Luis @GabrielPhoto@ twisted my arm to get that lens . I used it last weekend quite a bit. In addition to that, I used 2 other marvelous lenses; each one of them showed their strength: Sigma 105 Art and the GM 24mm.
hahahah yes, it took me "sooooo much" effort to convince you
p.11 #7 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
Here are 3 of Gabrielle taken in the last few weeks. First one is with the Batis 135mm @f4, the others with the FE85mm. Interior shot with Godox AD200 and 24" Glow box.
p.11 #10 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
GabrielPhoto wrote:
hahahah yes, it took me "sooooo much" effort to convince you
My arm is still hurting.... not from the twisting but more from using that monster lens - just kidding, just kidding. Yes, I am happy with the lens and I will keep on using it albeit selectively.
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I just used a single lens for about 3 hours at this location at wide open some 90% of the time and it delivered without whims. What a lens that was!
p.11 #11 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
Just looked up how much the Sigma 40 f1.4 weighs, 1,200Gr! That is 3 1/3 times what my new Batis 40mm f2 weighs! I don't think you were kidding at all about being tired after using it. Heck my entire portrait kit consisting of the 24mm GM, Batis 40, FE 85 f1.8 and Batis 135mm f2.8 only weights 1490Gr or 290Gr more than that Monster!! For someone who travels as much as you do this has got to be a big issue.
p.11 #13 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
SpecFoto wrote:
Just looked up how much the Sigma 40 f1.4 weighs, 1,200Gr! That is 3 1/3 times what my new Batis 40mm f2 weighs! I don't think you were kidding at all about being tired after using it. Heck my entire portrait kit consisting of the 24mm GM, Batis 40, FE 85 f1.8 and Batis 135mm f2.8 only weights 1490Gr or 290Gr more than that Monster!! For someone who travels as much as you do this has got to be a big issue.
Yes, you are absolutely correct about the weight; it is really heavy and of course, the size is also ginormous. I put that Sigma lens next to my GM 24-70mm and the GM lens looks smallish. That lens basically depicts Sigma’s no-compromise approach of designing that lens, which is actually a cine lens. If the optical performance of this lens is not that good, folks would drop this lens like a hot potato. You are also correct, I would not take that lens with me, unless there is a specific application that calls for that and I cannot think of anything at this point. Instead, I would take the Voigtlander 40mm f/1.2 Norton with me on trips. But for local usage, I wouldn’t mind putting up with both the weight and bulk.
p.11 #14 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
AGeoJO wrote:
Yes, you are absolutely correct about the weight; it is really heavy and of course, the size is also ginormous. I put that Sigma lens next to my GM 24-70mm and the GM lens looks smallish. That lens basically depicts Sigma’s no-compromise approach of designing that lens, which is actually a cine lens. If the optical performance of this lens is not that good, folks would drop this lens like a hot potato. You are also correct, I would not take that lens with me, unless there is a specific application that calls for that and I cannot think of anything at this point. Instead, I would take the Voigtlander 40mm f/1.2 Norton with me on trips. But for local usage, I wouldn’t mind putting up with both the weight and bulk. ...Show more →
Fully understand about having no compromise photo gear and you have now a fantastic lens kit for your Sony's, very envious. For me Sony is replacing my Olympus M4/3 gear that I have shot with for the last 6 years along side my Nikon FF kit. My Nikon gear is still my no compromise system where I have the f1.4 portrait lenses, tilt/shift landscape and the fast tele sports/action lenses. But with buying my first Sony FF, my priority was to keep it smaller and less bulky like the M4/3 system was, because it works out so well when traveling or in my desert/mountain portrait photoshoots where I carry everything, including lights, modifiers and a lightstand, on my back. It has proved to be excellent at that, extremely happy with the results, even if they are at f1.8 or f2 (or @135mm f2.8) instead of f1.4 (or f1.8), as the Sony FF sensor is simple stops above what I was getting with M4/3 without much of a size/weight penalty at all.
The Voigtlander 40mm f1.2 is a beautiful, well made lens. It was my first choice for a 40mm lens, replacing the 35 f2.8 and 55mm f1.8 I first bought with the Sony body 6 months ago, in my attempt to get my A73 standard portrait/travel/street kit down to 4 lenses. I got one about 5 weeks ago and put it thru 3 portrait photoshoots and just found that I could not get the manual focus to work for me in the type of shooting I was doing (where the subject is moving around a lot). I wanted it to work out, but in the end I returned it because compared to my 24GM, 85FE and 135mm Batis, where I was using the excellent Sony eye AF, I was getting a much lower keeper rate. So when the Batis 40mm went on sale 2 weeks ago I got one and just love it. Also being a 67mm filter thread like the 3 other lenses makes my life easier too.
p.11 #15 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
SpecFoto wrote:
Fully understand about having no compromise photo gear and you have now a fantastic lens kit for your Sony's, very envious. For me Sony is replacing my Olympus M4/3 gear that I have shot with for the last 6 years along side my Nikon FF kit. My Nikon gear is still my no compromise system where I have the f1.4 portrait lenses, tilt/shift landscape and the fast tele sports/action lenses. But with buying my first Sony FF, my priority was to keep it smaller and less bulky like the M4/3 system was, because it works out so well when traveling or in my desert/mountain portrait photoshoots where I carry everything, including lights, modifiers and a lightstand, on my back. It has proved to be excellent at that, extremely happy with the results, even if they are at f1.8 or f2 (or @135mm f2.8) instead of f1.4 (or f1.8), as the Sony FF sensor is simple stops above what I was getting with M4/3 without much of a size/weight penalty at all.
The Voigtlander 40mm f1.2 is a beautiful, well made lens. It was my first choice for a 40mm lens, replacing the 35 f2.8 and 55mm f1.8 I first bought with the Sony body 6 months ago, in my attempt to get my A73 standard portrait/travel/street kit down to 4 lenses. I got one about 5 weeks ago and put it thru 3 portrait photoshoots and just found that I could not get the manual focus to work for me in the type of shooting I was doing (where the subject is moving around a lot). I wanted it to work out, but in the end I returned it because compared to my 24GM, 85FE and 135mm Batis, where I was using the excellent Sony eye AF, I was getting a much lower keeper rate. So when the Batis 40mm went on sale 2 weeks ago I got one and just love it. Also being a 67mm filter thread like the 3 other lenses makes my life easier too.
Yes, like you, I wouldn’t use the Voigtlander 40mm for a serious session; I love the Eye-AF too much to shoot without . I will be going on a trip a week from today and I will be taking 3 light prime lenses with me, GM 24mm, FE 55mm and FE 85mm, in addition to 2 zoom lenses. The monstrous Art 40mm will stay home .
Talking about the Sigma lens, here is image from that ginormous lens at wide open. The web sized image here does not do justice of the full size view on the monitor but here it is nonetheless...
p.11 #16 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
AGeoJO wrote:
Yes, like you, I wouldn’t use the Voigtlander 40mm for a serious session; I love the Eye-AF too much to shoot without . I will be going on a trip a week from today and I will be taking 3 light prime lenses with me, GM 24mm, FE 55mm and FE 85mm, in addition to 2 zoom lenses. The monstrous Art 40mm will stay home .
Talking about the Sigma lens, here is image from that ginormous lens at wide open. The web sized image here does not do justice of the full size view on the monitor but here it is nonetheless... ...Show more →
p.11 #18 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
I'm loving the look of SpecFoto, you're getting really nice and right colors. Any tip on how you do it?
Fred rdr, your portrait is also amazing!
I'll share now a couple already posted in the Samyang 85 1.4 thread I took of two friends a few days ago. These are color graded, so please don't be too bad to me because my skintone fidelity is really lacking here xD.
p.11 #19 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
SpecFoto wrote:
Beautiful Image!
Curious, what zooms do you use when traveling?
Thank you very much! I will be taking the FE 24-105mm and 100-400mm zoom lenses on that trip next week, which is not photography oriented. The 24-105mm can be used for impromptu portraits, like what I posted previously on a trip to Italy recently. And here are two more images of that "bride" at Val d'Orcia captured using that lens...
p.11 #20 · Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
numbertwo wrote:
I'm loving the look of SpecFoto, you're getting really nice and right colors. Any tip on how you do it?
Thank you. My processing is nothing special, I use Lightroom Classic on my Mac, but I do use 1 tip I learned about 9 years ago when shooting with my Nikons, as the Nikon raw files were pretty “muted”, i.e dull. For Sony, I shoot AWB raw and fine jpeg, the jpeg processing is set to Portrait. The jpegs are just for quick file transfers on location if needed, 95% of the time I work with the raw files. I find the Sony raw files are better than the Nikon, but still somewhat muted.
In Lightroom I go the the Develop module (not Quick Develop) where you can adjust with sliders. 1st thing is adjusting exposure if needed, then the highlight/shadows. For the Whites/Black sliders, here is the tip, hold down the option key (Mac) and move the Whites slider to the right, the screen goes black and as you slide to the right some bright spots (almost like focus peaking) will show up. Stop you have set the Whites to their fullest potential without losing highlights. Now do the same for Blacks, hold the Option key but slide to the left this time until some colors start to appear then stop. Now the Blacks are set to their fullest potential without muting. I do adjust some other items in the Presence and Sharpening tab, but nothing special, just as needed. Then I copy these settings and apply them to like photos in the Library module to save some time. If you need to make minor adjustments for any of the copies, usually it can be done in the Quick Develop module.
Usually I won’t adjust the WB or Tone settings unless the photo was taken during the Golden Hour, as I find the Sony, like the Nikon, makes the skin too warm (orange).
Here is a photo taken just minutes before the sun was gone with the Batis 135mm @f2.8. Coxy had beautiful tan skin, she just came back from a month in Australia shooting on the beaches there. The Sony made her skin a bit too golden, so I dialed it back a bit and you will have to take my word for it, her skin looked like this.
Edit-2nd photos added, taken about 45 minutes earlier with 85mm @f2.5. Here you can see the skin is not quite as warm as the 1st photo where the sun is so low in the horizon and coming to the subject thru more atmosphere, which always warms up the skin, but it is way less warm (orange) than the raw file out of the Sony.
. I used it last weekend quite a bit. In addition to that, I used 2 other marvelous lenses; each one of them showed their strength: Sigma 105 Art and the GM 24mm.
