Studio Virgin

PuppY_K1ck3R

Yup its my first studio session. I have alot of shots that I need to go through but this seems to be a keeper.

Nikolai

PuppY_K1ck3R wrote:

Yup its my first studio session. I have alot of shots that I need to go through but this seems to be a keeper.

Congrats on the new venture! Welcome to the People forum!
Here are a few things I noticed:

• nice girl
• one side light (on the camera left) is usually not enough, unless you're going for a strong artistic one side lighting. You may wanna move it to the front or use a reflector to fill the other side
• image looks very dark overall
• :cry cropping is very strange, lots of negative (i.e. empty) space on the right. Don't be afraid to crop 1:1 (or 3:4, or 8:10), nobody said you have to stick with 2:3
• it looks like you shot it at a very shallow DOF (f/1.8?, probably due to the lack of light) and at a very close distance (probably due to the space limitations). Her eyes and lips are sharp but nose is already *way*OOF (or it's a weird postprocessing). And the close distance makes for some non-flattering distortions.

Keep shooting, keep sharing!

dogwood

Nik makes great points. Also, something else to consider is the shadow along the right side of her face. Little bit of fill or moving your light would help eliminate that.

NeilL

Best wishes for your new phase!

Of course, you have to experiment, put aside for the moment all the orthodoxy, all the advice (but not forget about it), and just take a leap, several.

Also, that is the way you bring forward ideas that you can feel germinating back in your head.

That's how I see this shot, with its solemn intimacy, and lonesome black expanse.

Maybe too you were having to compensate for equipment that was not quite up to doing the job you had in mind? Beginners typically trail their established seniors in hardware level as well as the other things.

This is a difficult face to photograph, or should I say a great face to photograph once you find the key.

The image strikes me as flat, and that and the texture make me think of 3D graphic illustration. Detail, contrast, sharpness and a (conservatively) expanded palette might pop it.

It's a bit difficult to know the 'why' of this pic. There is no clear point to it, either as eye candy (very legitimate IMO) or emotion or personality or narrative.

I am struggling with this very issue, making a picture have an answer to the 'why' of it, with force.

Neil

Scott_Quier

I have to disagree with Nik and Pete about the lighting.

• I love the shadows, especially the one defining her left cheek.
• :cry I'm not liking the shadow falling across her face from the stray locke of hair
• The photo does look a little under-exposed
• I would love to see some light on her from behind and camera right to seperate her from the background just a touch.

ChatKat

Scott_Quier wrote:

I have to disagree with Nik and Pete about the lighting.

• I love the shadows, especially the one defining her left cheek.
• :cry I'm not liking the shadow falling across her face from the stray locke of hair
• The photo does look a little under-exposed
• I would love to see some light on her from behind and camera right to seperate her from the background just a touch.

Exactly what I would have posted....I like the image. Drama in portraits gives you an artisic look to your work.

PuppY_K1ck3R

Well thank you everyone for your honest opinions. I appreciate it very much. First off, this is my first time using studio equipment. But I quickly realized from this experience that I would need to master 1 studio light before I can move on to 2. Next, is the model, this is my GF. She was nice enough to help me out with this little project. She is not a prof. model by all means so not knowing how to pose her was kinda hard. As far as the image itself, I have reworked it and a simple levels adjustment has done it wonders. (will post up new pic later). As far as the texture, this is also my first attempt at skin smoothing. I hope to have these techniques locked down soon enough. But again thank you for your honest opinions.

PuppY_K1ck3R

Ok here it is all reworked for ya

Before


After

Nikolai

PuppY_K1ck3R wrote:

As far as the texture, this is also my first attempt at skin smoothing. I hope to have these techniques locked down soon enough.

Learning PS may take a long (*very long*) time.
Get Portrait Professional, and you'll be producing great skin in no time. They have trials, and such..

Hackbone

Very nice job for the first go around. When posing ladies try to keep the light coming over their shoulder and turn the head toward the light. This will create a pleasing light pattern and slims the face. Guys would be the opposite, hit them in the chest with the light. These are general rules and are often broken but if you try to remember them you lighting will get better.

PuppY_K1ck3R

Hackbone wrote:

Very nice job for the first go around. When posing ladies try to keep the light coming over their shoulder and turn the head toward the light. This will create a pleasing light pattern and slims the face. Guys would be the opposite, hit them in the chest with the light. These are general rules and are often broken but if you try to remember them you lighting will get better.

Thx Hackbone for the tip

Ed911

Here's my take on it. I removed the hair shadow and brightened the eyes...adjusted the exposure and brightened and adjusted the contrast in general...in CS3...about 15 minutes. I agree with the other comments about lighting...but from an artistic stand point...I think you did a very good job...just a little fix up in Photoshop. I am a big fan of shadows and nontraditional lighting...the kind you find in high end photo shoots. Not bad for one light.

Scott_Quier

The edit is pretty good - I think I would like to be able to do as well. However, I think you over-did the whitening of the eyes just a bit.

Art Scott

PuppY_K1ck3R wrote:

Well thank you everyone for your honest opinions. I appreciate it very much. First off, this is my first time using studio equipment. But I quickly realized from this experience that I would need to master 1 studio light before I can move on to 2. Next, is the model, this is my GF. She was nice enough to help me out with this little project. She is not a prof. model by all means so not knowing how to pose her was kinda hard.

I will have to agree with Scott Q. ..... I really dig odd (Artistic) lighting.....

As for her not being a Prof. model......well just remember that 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% of your clients will not be any thing resembling an ametuer let alone pro model:D..
so she did excellent........

As for using 1 light versus 2......well I do not know...... I started out with 4 studio lights......

davev

I think you did well for your first time in a studio.
Your "after shot looks better, but as others have said, the shadow from the loose hair makes it
look like she was crying and her mascara is running down her cheek.

I'm not sure if you've studied lighting or if you just winged this, but here's a link with some tips for one light lighting.

http://www.prophotolife.com/2008/06/02/video-episode-13-beautiful-portraits-with-just-one-light/

NeilL

davev wrote:

I think you did well for your first time in a studio.
Your "after shot looks better, but as others have said, the shadow from the loose hair makes it
look like she was crying and her mascara is running down her cheek.

I'm not sure if you've studied lighting or if you just winged this, but here's a link with some tips for one light lighting.

http://www.prophotolife.com/2008/06/02/video-episode-13-beautiful-portraits-with-just-one-light/

Thanks for the nice link, davev

Neil

Ed911

Scott_Quier wrote:

The edit is pretty good - I think I would like to be able to do as well. However, I think you over-did the whitening of the eyes just a bit.

Thanks Scott.

I didn't do the whites of the eyes...just the irises...that effect was left over from the original. Probably got pumped when I set up the light in the photo. I agree with you...they need to be adjusted...just a little. The same happens with over whitened teeth...too distracting...draws the eye away from the focal points. Something else that I did was to fix the pupil in her right eye...I found it a bit distracting to have the pupil distorted by the light source.

You have a good eye.

Corehead

"Nice girl", huh?

She's got an expression on her face that suggests, well (with apologies to whoever wrote the song with the lyrics "I like to move it move it"):

I'd like to smack your forehead.
I'd like to smack your forehead.
I'd like to smack your forehead.
And give you: RED MARKS!

Sing along if you know the words!

Sorry. I just couldn't resist!

:gone

Nikolai wrote:

Congrats on the new venture! Welcome to the People forum!
Here are a few things I noticed:

• nice girl
• one side light (on the camera left) is usually not enough, unless you're going for a strong artistic one side lighting. You may wanna move it to the front or use a reflector to fill the other side
• image looks very dark overall
• :cry cropping is very strange, lots of negative (i.e. empty) space on the right. Don't be afraid to crop 1:1 (or 3:4, or 8:10), nobody said you have to stick with 2:3
• it looks like you shot it at a very shallow DOF (f/1.8?, probably due to the lack of light) and at a very close distance (probably due to the space limitations). Her eyes and lips are sharp but nose is already *way*OOF (or it's a weird postprocessing). And the close distance makes for some non-flattering distortions.

Keep shooting, keep sharing!

Mike J

Nikolai wrote:

Learning PS may take a long (*very long*) time.
Get Portrait Professional, and you'll be producing great skin in no time. They have trials, and such..[/quote

]

I like the moodiness/drama of the original shot. The lighting works for me.
I agree that Portrait Professional is a very nice tool. You can make all kind of adjustments from very subtle to over-the-top. Very easy to use.

PuppY_K1ck3R

Thx for the tip ed. Im gonna try this out. I already brightened it up using levels but I will also use your exposure tip to see what i got. Did u just clone stamp the shadow of her face or was it the healing brush?

Ed911

PuppY_K1ck3R wrote:

Thx for the tip ed. I'm gonna try this out. I already brightened it up using levels but I will also use your exposure tip to see what i got. Did u just clone stamp the shadow of her face or was it the healing brush?

Yep, used the clone tool to remove the shadows, and the healing brush to clean up any artifacts.

Good luck. Thanks for sharing your picture...