First post, I'll throw some portraits on the floor

mweber

I've been lurking here and other forums for a while and decided to post here because the knowledge base here is very good. Also, in reading over the postings it seems that the criticism in the forum (people in particular) is constructive and also the criticism is recieved in a positive way. No sign of flame wars so I think that speaks a lot about the people on the fourm.

With that said, based on what I've read and samples I've seen I decided to try photographing my Mom and Aunt. They are very close but don't see each other much anymore. I did a simple two light setup but also used a reflector in some of the shots to fill in the background from the key light. The key was a 60" softliter with an sb900 and the fill is a 46" softliter with an sb600. I'm thinking I might be better served using the second speedlight to light the background directly shielded by a gobo and leave the fill to the reflector.

Here they....

The hand on this one bugged me

1.


A little plinking with photoshop on that image

2.



3.


This is the only one where I was using the reflector and you can tell. I had to swicth the key light and fll to accomodate some stitches but forgot to move the reflector..doh!
4.


The rest are at:
http://weberphotographics.com/gallery/7538428_jEtt9/1/486913864_C2kQY

I'd appreciate the feedback and thanks for the help.

Flyinggina

A nice set of portraits. The lighting looks alright to me, but I will leave it to the lighting gurus to comment on that. I do like the catchlights though.

The hand doesn't bother me in #1. Not only does it help convey the affection between your mother and aunt, but it supports a diagonal line from lower left to upper right that pulls my eye right to the faces and their wonderful expressions.

The vignetting in #2 doesn't work for me. The sharp background in the corners distracts and calls attention to the blurry area around the subjects instead of to the subjects and their wonderful, warm expressions.

The man in #4 looks slight uncomfortable with his pose, but the expressions are nice.

Altogether a good set that I'm sure they will love and treasure.

Virginia

Scott_Quier

- Welcome!

What she said - very nice series and the lighting looks very good.

I really like the pose in #3 - that is nice and relaxed. I think the seated lady would be better served if she didn't smile quite so hard. Like some people her eyes close up with a strong smile. I also like the hand contact between them - very nice connection!

The only thing I would change (aside from what Virginia has already noted) is to move the pose a bit further from the background. This will further throw it OOF and will help reduce the shadows cast on the background.

Edit: Another change I would have made - Pose #3, I would have reversed their positions - stand the seated lady and seat the standing lady while, at the same time, having the standing lady at an angle to the camera. I do believe the seated lady would appreciate that pose a bit more.

mweber

Flyinggina wrote:

A nice set of portraits. The lighting looks alright to me, but I will leave it to the lighting gurus to comment on that. I do like the catchlights though.

The hand doesn't bother me in #1. Not only does it help convey the affection between your mother and aunt, but it supports a diagonal line from lower left to upper right that pulls my eye right to the faces and their wonderful expressions.

The vignetting in #2 doesn't work for me. The sharp background in the corners distracts and calls attention to the blurry area around the subjects instead of to the subjects and their wonderful, warm expressions.

The man in #4 looks slight uncomfortable with his pose, but the expressions are nice.

Altogether a good set that I'm sure they will love and treasure.

Virginia

I thought the hand distracted from the faces in the center, I wasn't really thinking in terms of a diagonal perspective. It is something I'll have to consider. I wasn't sure about the vignetting, I thought it would be something fun to try but I probably won't be printing that one.

You are right about my Uncle. I think he was uncomfortable with the whole thing but was a good sport.

Thanks

mweber

Scott_Quier wrote:

- Welcome!

What she said - very nice series and the lighting looks very good.

I really like the pose in #3 - that is nice and relaxed. I think the seated lady would be better served if she didn't smile quite so hard. Like some people her eyes close up with a strong smile. I also like the hand contact between them - very nice connection!

The only thing I would change (aside from what Virginia has already noted) is to move the pose a bit further from the background. This will further throw it OOF and will help reduce the shadows cast on the background.

Edit: Another change I would have made - Pose #3, I would have reversed their positions - stand the seated lady and seat the standing lady while, at the same time, having the standing lady at an angle to the camera. I do believe the seated lady would appreciate that pose a bit more.

You are right about the shadows, I had them about 3 feet from the background but that shadow was still significant. I like the lighting better on shot number 4. That one had the reflecter in place to throw some light on the background.

Thanks for the feedback.

Hackbone

I think they will be tickled with these. You are off to a great start.
You have the clothing set up for a low key effect but I think you bkg is too bright for the clothing choice. I would add a pretty hefty vignetting to tone that down and get attention back to the subjects. Bright areas come forward to the eye so the faces compete with the hands.

They have such great character facial lines how about a really close up, possibly cutting off a little of the top of the heads and watch the light to get those character lines to come out.

mweber

Hackbone wrote:

I think they will be tickled with these. You are off to a great start.
You have the clothing set up for a low key effect but I think you bkg is too bright for the clothing choice. I would add a pretty hefty vignetting to tone that down and get attention back to the subjects. Bright areas come forward to the eye so the faces compete with the hands.

They have such great character facial lines how about a really close up, possibly cutting off a little of the top of the heads and watch the light to get those character lines to come out.

I thought the black worked but I was concerned about the hand and the inconsistancy of the background because of the shadowing. I tried to address this in PP with #2 by cloning the dark background to the left and cloning out the hand. This has had mixed reviews. I have a friend coming over to do some kid shots and I am planning on mixing up the angles and colors a bit. With this being the first time using some this setup and having no chance to reshoot this pair I was playing it safe.

What would you suggest with the light? Moving the key light farther off center? Lowering the power of the fill? I was only running it at 1/80 or 1/100. I could always just move the fill back but I'd be concerned about losing detail on the side opposite the key light. Is there a special name for that? I'm thinking the leeward side of the face, sounds better than the dark side of the moon.

Hackbone

Put the subject at the far side of the light and have the subject walk toward the front of the light and watch the difference in the light fall off. The shadows will be softer when they are at the rear of the light and become harsher as they walk forward.

If the light is close to them the shadows will be less delinated and the further away from the light they become harsh.

joshhuntnm

nice work. Not so fired up about the Photoshoping the background in 2