Today I made some portraits of a poor guy who lost his job in the financial crisis. The client is very happy with the results, I personally am not quite sure.
Does anybody has some input on improvements or obvious mistakes I made?
Regarding the light: I had an umbrellla on the left with the 420EX (45 degrees) and a small softbox behind me right with the 430EX, triggered with the st-e2. The softbox made that horrible reflexion in the glasses that I have to get rid of tonight Any techniques regarding glasses?
Regarding glasses a nice trick is to have several frames without the lenses in them. Have the subject pick one that looks good on them and shoot that way. A lot of portrait studios where I live do it all the time.
Not to bash you and I'm by no means a pro but that's kind of a poor solution
Adjust your lights accordingly, in the first shot there's a small reflection of the umbrella in the far right/top corner of the glass. In the second shot it's gone. Why? Cause the subject ever so slightly turned his head. Read "Light, Science and Magic"
Your pose could have been more dynamic if he had turned away from the camera, and away from the key light, to create a classic short lighting situation. See Chuck Gardner's portrait and flash tutorials at http://super.nova.org/DPR/
If he insisted on a white shirt, I would have posed him in front of a darker background, so the background doesn't attract attention from his face. His face needs to be the center of attention.
You can eliminate the catch lights in the glasses by tilting them down just slightly. That way the subject isn't looking down his nose, but the reflection goes away.
cwebster wrote:
Your pose could have been more dynamic if he had turned away from the camera, and away from the key light, to create a classic short lighting situation. See Chuck Gardner's portrait and flash tutorials at http://super.nova.org/DPR/
If he insisted on a white shirt, I would have posed him in front of a darker background, so the background doesn't attract attention from his face. His face needs to be the center of attention.
You can eliminate the catch lights in the glasses by tilting them down just slightly. That way the subject isn't looking down his nose, but the reflection goes away.
This is a response to what Chas wrote above. Remember this is offered in a friendly tone of voice. It is a response and not said with any disrespect or ill will.
Specifically he wrote to pose the man in front of a darker background if he insisted on wearing a white shirt. Reason: so that the background does not attract attention from face.
Ummm....there is another....way...to look at that situation (white shirt).
And...this is an opinion...just take it as that...not intended as a "rule" but offered as a bit of "visual" "logic."
IF the subject is in a white shirt, and you put him in front of a darker background (as suggested by Chas above), the SHIRT then becomes the lightest part of the image and then gets the attention from the viewer's eyes. That is because the white shirt will be the brightest part of the image (brighter than the face).
inSTEAD (I like the last part of that word ) ....
With the subject in front of a light background, the FACE/head/hair is the darkest (or darker) part of the image and hence gets the focused attention of the viewer's eyes. That is the basic principle behind "high key" photography. But....of course no two photographers really agree about "high key."
Anyway....my Simple Suggestion: Take the glasses off.
the image would be better if the camera were higher. It looks like the lens axis was about at his nose or even a bit below.
It would be more pleasing if the lens axis was at his forehead, and looking down just a bit. With the fill light just above the camera that would also eliminate, at least minimize the reflection in the glasses since the reflection would be below the lens. Remember angle of incidence is what determines reflection.
I agree that white shirt and white background work together to Highlight face which is darker. Your light ratio is very flat. Increasing it to at least 1:3 will also help make the face pop out of the higher key background.
Thanks a lot to all for your comments, I wasn't aware of the trick to position the camera slightly above the model (perhaps I didn't have this problem because I'm rather tall and all my former clients were rather small )
Tomorrow's the next shooting and I will try these suggestions out.
Any techniques regarding glasses?
