... and another self portrait

sarah kruger

Tomorrow a photographer friend and I are taking photos of each other so we have new ones for our websites and today when I was setting up my background and lights ready for the morning, I started playing around and I'm really happy with the results. I'd love your comments.

Qarik

I like the lighting on you. well done. But maybe it is just me but the background seems to black to me..it feels detached from the subject.

Scott_Quier

- Hi Sara ... nice to see. And, you jumped in with a great post!

This portrait seems to be, predominatly, low-key: the black background, the focused light, etc. However, the light on your face and the hair/rim light are so bright as to strongly hint at high-key ... especially the extensive smoothing of facial features (cheeks, forehead, chin). For me, the photo seems to be conflicted.

The key-light ... is that gridded or are you using a snoot. Either way, aside from a touch too hot (for my taste), I think it achieves a wonderful effect.

Were it me, I would:

• Dail down the power on both the key-light and the hair/rim light
• Turn your face just a touch from the key-light to add some dimension to your facial feature
• And, since this is for your web-site, maybe assume a more friendly expression?

sarah kruger

Scott_Quier wrote:

- Hi Sara ... nice to see. And, you jumped in with a great post!

This portrait seems to be, predominatly, low-key: the black background, the focused light, etc. However, the light on your face and the hair/rim light are so bright as to strongly hint at high-key ... especially the extensive smoothing of facial features (cheeks, forehead, chin). For me, the photo seems to be conflicted.

The key-light ... is that gridded or are you using a snoot. Either way, aside from a touch too hot (for my taste), I think it achieves a wonderful effect.

Were it me, I would:

• Dail down the power on both the key-light and the hair/rim light
• Turn your face just a touch from the key-light to add some dimension to your facial feature
• And, since this is for your web-site, maybe assume a more friendly expression?

Thanks for the comments. I know the highlights are a bit hot, but I guess I never thought I was doing a low-key / high-key contradiction, but it makes sense now that you say it. The reason for the more serious look is that I don't like my smile in photos, so I prefer not to. Also, I was flooding my face a bit to hide a few of the ol' wrinkles :-) I'm a woman, give me the luxury of hiding what I can :-) I didn't do a lot of softening though - that's what I look like, I'm afraid.

Thanks so much for the comments. I really do appreciate them.

Sarah

Qarik

I hate my smiles as well lol..my eyes crinkle up.:cry