More snow means... more portraits :)

divamum

It's cold. It's snowing. So what better than to stay inside and shoot more pictures? I'm so hooked it's not even funny.... :rofl

C&C absolutely welcomed (begged for! It's the only way I'll improve

The in-house model graciously agreed to do one more batch for me (I think I'm probably running out of my 9 lives here, but I'll take what I can get while I can). More on that in a moment.

Before that, I decided to slap on what looked like Kabuki makeup in regular light and try for a sort of 40's movie star look. Not the greatest, but fun. And you bet this has had everything Photoshop can throw at it slathered on an inch thick - no attempt for "natural" skin in this one! (And on looking at it again as I link it, I think I may redo with a surface blur instead of Gaussian, but here it is, as is, for the moment.)

1.



And on to the junior division. This time, I was the stylist, and decided to play around with something totally different (y'all inspired me with your talk of high key and pure white!). We had the dress from a dressup box, and the wreath was from a concert she did last year with the children's choir and they just happened to go together perfectly I can't manage pure white for all sorts of reasons, but I did decide to go for pale and pretty in contrast to yesterday's cheetah silliness. She wasn't totally convinced about this (to be fair, it IS a bit Little Girly when you're a sophisticated old lady of 101/2 :giggle), but we did get a few fun ones.

PLEASE feel free to rip these apart technically (the above as well) - I'm simply trying to see what different styles I can create with my ultra-simple 1 gelled-flash + 2 small clamp lamps setup. This is exploration to LEARN, so bring it on!

2.


3.


4. I love the disjunct between "mood" of the styling and her expression in this one - cracks me up

darkdragon

I think all these shots are great! On #1 the only thing that bothers me is that the right side (your left) is a bit too shadowed for my liking. I can't even pick a favorite because they are all so great.

ilbcnu

watching your progression is motivating me to get my camera and try some different ideas!!
take this all with a grain of salt as I am noobie!
Your pic has something on your left cheek and above your left side of mouth? Looks like you started to dodge? or unusual shadow?
Enjoy the modeling at 10 1/2 because my 12yr old has very limited time for me to use her as a model!!
Your daughter pics are beautiful my only thing would be to see her other arm.

Tango

wow those are gooood! no, wait... awesome!

Matt S

Love the shots of your daughter. In fact I like the fact that you went off white and pastel instead of white. It adds an innocent quality to them. I don't know what you have in the way of lighting, but a small kicker light camera right and about 20 to 30 degrees behind the subject would set these off with a nice rim on her hair and shoulders.

Take care, Matt

Ed911

Very nice...especially the first one. I like the shadows and the post processing.

dlplumer

I like that shot of you Diva

Scott_Quier

I guess I'll just comment on the first two so I don't repeat myself too much. I find it amazing how much you've grown and what you've been able to accomplish with the limited gear you have. Just one more example of "it's not the camera, it's the photographer!"

#!1 - I SERIOUSLY love this shot thumbbow. The shadows are deep - yes, and I think I might bring them up just a bit (if it's there) to give the left eye some grounding. Love the lighting on your right side and on the hair. The skin smooting is working for me as well.

#2 - Did you photoshop the background behind her to blur it a bit? If so, it looks like you caught some of her hair in the blur. Aside from that, this is awesome!

divamum

darkdragon wrote:

I think all these shots are great! On #1 the only thing that bothers me is that the right side (your left) is a bit too shadowed for my liking. I can't even pick a favorite because they are all so great.

Thanks Lisa! This was a case of "great expression, debatable light" so that IS overshadowed on that side... but I liked the kind of film noir look to it so decided to go with it anyway and in fact darkened it further... except for the eye itself whic I brightened.

Appreciate the comments!

divamum

ilbcnu wrote:

watching your progression is motivating me to get my camera and try some different ideas!!
take this all with a grain of salt as I am noobie!
Your pic has something on your left cheek and above your left side of mouth? Looks like you started to dodge? or unusual shadow?
Enjoy the modeling at 10 1/2 because my 12yr old has very limited time for me to use her as a model!!
Your daughter pics are beautiful my only thing would be to see her other arm.

Yeah, I'm missing that arm as well lol. There are some others I have to go through yet -t hese were the first keepers to jump out at me, and I was so excited I posted these as soon as I'd done my first attempts on them Of course, part of the problem is the lack of space for her to sit nicely and that the dress is too small and was safety-pinned closed!

Definitely press ahead if you're excited by this - I'm living proof that it IS possible to learn... no matter how late. I credit dgrin with my growth in these last months - I never EVER would have had the courage to try this stuff without the encouragement first from the challenges, and now that I'm getting braver from the patient folks in here continuing to both *teach* me... and inspire me with their own awesome work. I totally heart dgrin

divamum

AaronNelson wrote:

wow those are gooood! no, wait... awesome!

Ed911 wrote:

Very nice...especially the first one. I like the shadows and the post processing.

dlplumer wrote:

I like that shot of you Diva

You guys are very VERY good for my ego - thank you!!

richtersl

I love #1 and #3!

I do agree about the comment regarding the shadow on #1. I'd lighten up just a tad on the shadows on that one.

divamum

Thanks for the kind words, Matt - appreciate the comments.

Matt S wrote:

Love the shots of your daughter. In fact I like the fact that you went off white and pastel instead of white.It adds an innocent quality to them.

Necessity - neither space nor gear to do any thing else! It's simply what I had around, so I just went with what I had on hand.

I don't know what you have in the way of lighting, but a small kicker light camera right and about 20 to 30 degrees behind the subject would set these off with a nice rim on her hair and shoulders.

What I have in way of lighting? One 420ex speedlite and 2 clamp lamps from Home Depot. Seriously. (Also, dumb question 101: "kicker" light... meaning a low one pointed at the background, or below the subject or...? Yeah, that's my total ignorance and inexperience showing

Fwiw, here's a very quick (and bad) stitch-together shot of my music room, which is where I'm taking these shots. It's about 8.5x9.5 - 9ft ceilings, but it is a SMALL space made to feel more so due to the piano and bookcases (there are three more big bookcases out of shot to the left and behind). However, it's the only place I have - necessity is the mother of invention. I share this in case anybody else is, like I was, completely intimidated by the idea of trying "studio shots" with incredibly limited resources. If you're determined enough - or crazy enough :crazy! - I guess it's possible to make anything work if you're willing to put up with the inconveniences... My lights are as described, the backdrops are cheap curtains and/or tablecloths and/or material I have lying around, the floor cloth for my daughter's pix was some old curtains... You get the idea. I'm pretty much making it up as I go along



Thanks again for the comments! All further lighting suggestions welcomed - the more I know, the closer I can get to achieving what I want

divamum

Scott_Quier wrote:

I guess I'll just comment on the first two so I don't repeat myself too much. I find it amazing how much you've grown and what you've been able to accomplish with the limited gear you have. Just one more example of "it's not the camera, it's the photographer!"

~blush~ If that's the case, it's because I've had awesome teachers - you guys in here are the best!!

#!1 - I SERIOUSLY love this shot thumbbow. The shadows are deep - yes, and I think I might bring them up just a bit (if it's there) to give the left eye some grounding. Love the lighting on your right side and on the hair. The skin smooting is working for me as well.

I think I'll have another crack at this one in due course, but I'm glad it's working for folks - it was fun to do ueber glamourous one a whim and - because this is so NOT the "everyday" me - I can actually be more objective as I work on it (it's almost like working on somebody else's image, if that makes sense). Thanks!

#2 - Did you photoshop the background behind her to blur it a bit? If so, it looks like you caught some of her hair in the blur. Aside from that, this is awesome!

Heeheee... well spotted. Yes, I did indeed blur it (quite a lot, in fact) and yes, it did catch her hair - need to fix that

As always, thanks!

lisap

Divamum!!!! I absolutely LOVE that shot of you. Lighting is . Really am lovin' the look of that. The shots of your daughter are really nice too, but the first one is my definite fav! (Love those lips!)

I can't wait until I can spend some more time behind (and in front) of the camera to get more practice in. Maybe this weekend coming up (famous last words...).

Well done!

-- Lisa P.

Matt S

Divamum sorry if I was unclear. By "kicker" I mean a light behind her and to the side that shines back at the model to create a rim light effect on her hair and her shoulder that is opposite the main light.

Here is a link to give you a quick tutorial on what I mean.

And here is one of my wife that is an extreme example. The kicker on camera right is stronger than I would do for most shots but in this one it was an effect I was going for, like a window shining down on her.

divamum

Matt S wrote:

Divamum sorry if I was unclear. By "kicker" I mean a light behind her and to the side that shines back at the model to create a rim light effect on her hair and her shoulder that is opposite the main light.

Here is a link to give you a quick tutorial on what I mean.

And here is one of my wife that is an extreme example. The kicker on camera right is stronger than I would do for most shots but in this one it was an effect I was going for, like a window shining down on her.

Brilliant, Matt - thanks for that clear explanation! I had something like that on camera left (clipped to the bookcases), sort of intending it to light up the bg a little but it might be better deployed on the other side - next time I'll reverse it (if I can figure out how to site it... maybe I can sit it on the piano.....)

divamum

lisap wrote:

Divamum!!!! I absolutely LOVE that shot of you. Lighting is . Really am lovin' the look of that. The shots of your daughter are really nice too, but the first one is my definite fav! (Love those lips!)

I can't wait until I can spend some more time behind (and in front) of the camera to get more practice in. Maybe this weekend coming up (famous last words...).

Well done!

-- Lisa P.

The lips are easy: just make sure you apply the colour with a decent brush (I like Plaid #2 shaders, which were given to me by a makeup artist - they are GREAT for liner and lips). Since I was going for that Max Factor 40's look I lined outside my natural lip line, filled in very thickly so it looked really dense and made sure it was as close to that period "Revlon Red" as I had in the house. That's it!

richtersl wrote:

I love #1 and #3!

I do agree about the comment regarding the shadow on #1. I'd lighten up just a tad on the shadows on that one.

Thanks for the kind words, L. I want to rework that one and lose the artefacting on the left cheek as well as try to dig out of the shadows, but I'm pretty happy with it -it's proving that I can start to move beyond basics into trying to find a style. I'll get there in the end

kombi1

Pics
Nice quality.

Scott_Quier

divamum wrote:

Necessity - neither space nor gear to do any thing else! It's simply what I had around, so I just went with what I had on hand.

Fwiw, here's a very quick (and bad) stitch-together shot of my music room, which is where I'm taking these shots. It's about 8.5x9.5 - 9ft ceilings, but it is a SMALL space made to feel more so due to the piano and bookcases (there are three more big bookcases out of shot to the left and behind). However, it's the only place I have - necessity is the mother of invention. I share this in case anybody else is, like I was, completely intimidated by the idea of trying "studio shots" with incredibly limited resources. If you're determined enough - or crazy enough :crazy! - I guess it's possible to make anything work if you're willing to put up with the inconveniences... My lights are as described, the backdrops are cheap curtains and/or tablecloths and/or material I have lying around, the floor cloth for my daughter's pix was some old curtains... You get the idea. I'm pretty much making it up as I go along



Thanks again for the comments! All further lighting suggestions welcomed - the more I know, the closer I can get to achieving what I want

I have only a couple of comments to make about this:

1. OMG! I can not believe you are producing the quality you are with these materials and equipment. That is insane - or :crazy WOW. - This further shows, it's not the equipement, but the photographer!
2. When my DW saw that shot (she was looking over my shoulder as I was reading your post), she had one comment to make, "See, you're spoiled!"

divamum

Scott_Quier wrote:

I have only a couple of comments to make about this:

1. OMG! I can not believe you are producing the quality you are with these materials and equipment. That is insane - or :crazy WOW. - This further shows, it's not the equipement, but the photographer!
2. When my DW saw that shot (she was looking over my shoulder as I was reading your post), she had one comment to make, "See, you're spoiled!"

Ha - well, that studio space of yours you posted looks like amazing luxury to me!!

Thanks for the props. The biggest problem is that it pretty much limits me to headshots - even with Litttl'un there's just not enough space to move around or spread out. Our basement might, someday, be rejigged into useable space, but given my husband's collection of over 2000 CDs (and countless books), it may take me a while to negotiate that one (not to mention move everything!! )

Oh, and I"ll tell you what - that daft home made soft box is really what has made all this stuff possible. It may only be a seltzer box, but that thing WORKS - without that to modify the light I think these attempts would all have been a total fiasco. And now that I can gel the flash, I'm not limited to just the one light, so it's all falling into place, even with no equipment and no space :giggle

shniks

I LOVE #2 and #3... Very VERY nice....



Cheers,

mpaulie

Great SP, your eyes glow like a cat about to pounce!:D

divamum

Thanks Shniks and Michael!

I'm not quite sure how the eyes came out like that... I had to brighten the left one (camera right) quite a lot which made it a little alien/demonic, but I kind of liked it - good to know it reads convincingly!

divamum

Annnddd... one more as I've been continuing to process these.

Not 100% convinced about the angle (and I'm so annoyed that I managed to cut that tiny bit of wreath off on the right, darnit!), but I'm pretty pleased with the way the background and processing came out and am wondering how it looks on other monitors?