Portraits from a New Guy

mtbparker

Hello,

I want to introduce myself. I'm Tom. Being that this is an introduction, this post will probably be a little more long-winded than most. I'm fairly new to photography and even newer to these DGrin forums. I've been reading a lot of the rules and guidelines threads that are scattered about as well as several of the C&C threads to get a general feel for the way this place operates. Quite honestly, the lines between these forums and the refinery are a bit blurry. I'm sure I'll gain a better understanding over time, but for my first post, I figured I'd try here.

I was playing around with some portrait shots this weekend with my wife as the ever cooperative (and patient) subject. My original goal was to experiment with B&W low-key. I saw it, I liked it, I needed to try it. As I went through the post processing, I found myself backing off of the B&W and leaving the color in. It just seemed like some of the pix were better left with color.

Personally, I like these shots. But I showed them to a friend of mine and he made the single comment, "You might want to lay off the cross lighting. That creates harder shadows and tends to be more for masculine shots" His comments make sense at the logical level, but I still like these shots. However, his comment made me acutely aware that there is SOOO much I don't know about photography. I've been reading photography books like a fiend. But I need practice and verification. So, I'm looking for C&C. I'm putting my best foot foward and hoping to get better from here.

If you're so inclined, the whole gallery can be found >>> here <<<

#1) This shot is closest to my original intent


#2) This is my favorite B&W of the group


#3 & #4) This one and the next are my favorites colored shots.




I understand these forums are about give and take, especially when it comes to C&C. Being new to photography, I don't feel at all qualified to make comments. But, after some time, I hope to change that.

Thanks for your inputs.
Tom

MissB

first of all welcome and good for you for sticking your neck out there and posting some photos. If you like the way it looks and the client likes it then you have win win results... now if your asking for technical feedback... IMHO... they are all very uinderexposed... #4 seems to be the better of the series as far as lighting but looking at that image i still feel like i want to reach over an turn another light source on to see her better. I also appreciate what you are trying to do with #1 ... i like how her dark clothes blend her body in with the background making her kind of mysterious... but I still find myself straining to see her... not sure what the definition of "low key" really is.. off to google.. haha.. but i know with "high key" you punch up the exposure but hold on to all important details.. i think you could play up the high lights on her face AND still keep it lowkey... I dunno... tempted to play with the edit.. do you mind if I try?

mtbparker

MissB wrote:

first of all welcome and good for you for sticking your neck out there and posting some photos. If you like the way it looks and the client likes it then you have win win results... now if your asking for technical feedback... IMHO... they are all very uinderexposed... #4 seems to be the better of the series as far as lighting but looking at that image i still feel like i want to reach over an turn another light source on to see her better. I also appreciate what you are trying to do with #1 ... i like how her dark clothes blend her body in with the background making her kind of mysterious... but I still find myself straining to see her... not sure what the definition of "low key" really is.. off to google.. haha.. but i know with "high key" you punch up the exposure but hold on to all important details.. i think you could play up the high lights on her face AND still keep it lowkey... I dunno... tempted to play with the edit.. do you mind if I try?

Please feel free to try. Greatly appreciated.

You're comment about underexposure confirms one of my fears. They look great on my monitor. But my monitor is unusually bright. I'll have to find ways to re-calibrate myself and monitor. This one looks unusually bright to me.

MissB

okay.. then what im going to do will blow your pupils out.. get your sunglasses on ..lol.

mtbparker

MissB wrote:

okay.. then what im going to do will blow your pupils out.. get your sunglasses on ..lol.

I've got my shades sitting here at the ready.

In the mean time, I went back to the source file and cranked up the brightness / contrast layer.

MissB

those look MUCH better on my screen!! here is my edit.. i tried to keep it as low key as possible.. I guess low key and high key are all about contrast that are opposites of eachother... I make the sheen of her eyes lips and ring the light end.. I could be shooting from the hip.. this is what i had in mind.

VayCayMom

WELCOME TOM! You are in great company here, I identify with your story, I'm just a lot older. This is a wonderful place to learn EVERYTHING.
Trudy

mtbparker

MissB wrote:

those look MUCH better on my screen!! here is my edit.. i tried to keep it as low key as possible.. I guess low key and high key are all about contrast that are opposites of eachother... I make the sheen of her eyes lips and ring the light end.. I could be shooting from the hip.. this is what i had in mind.

Very nice. Thank you. You've done something there that I'm not sure how to do yet. You brightened up the midtones and highlights and kept the shadows as shadows. (You can bet I'll be digging into my manuals. ) I on the other hand went to my brightness & contrast controls and slid them to the right. The downside to my approach is that it reveals more of the body -- something I didn't really want to do.

Thanks much for your help. Continued C&C welcome. For now though, it's bed time.

And Trudy -- thanks for the welcome. I'm excited to be here.

Tom

MissB

I didn't want to affect the over all image by messing with the levels or brightness.. I work with PSE (photoshop elements v7) I added an extra layer set to "soft light" and grabbed a soft paint brush with white. Painted that layer on the areas I wanted to high light leaving the darker areas dark. "flattened" the layers and amped the contrast a tad. then i used an urban grit effect on her eyes, lips and ring to add more focal contrast.

I hope that helps... I don't believe my way to be right or wrong.. just different you'll figure out what works for you good night

WingsOfLovePhoto

Not going to give any c/c(most has been said already) but just wanted to say welcome to Dgrin Tom!

thoth

Welcome to DGrin, Tom!

You can adjust the gamma on your system for free visually and it will make a world of difference. It won't correct any color differences between what you see and what we see but it will allow you to be on par with the most important thing -- the exposure. I've used this site in the past and it worked well.

And, I really like the coffee photo. The composition is great and your reworked version has a good balance of light and dark.

Lastly, many of your images seem very soft. Is it me or do you see that as well?

mtbparker

Thanks both of you for the warm welcome. And thanks for the critiques. They're much appreciated.

As far as the softness, I'll spend some time to take a closer look. I may not see it as much as you do. I have had problems before in other situations and I think I'm only starting to get a handle on that. I'm using a Nikon D40 the stock lens and 3 zone AF. That isn't such a problem. I think what's more the problem is that I'm left handed and use my left eye to look through the view finder. Most of the time, I end up missing the AF-lock button and stick my thumb up my nose instead. As a result, I tend to forget about it.

The other solution is, of course, manual focus. In static, slow-moving situations like portraits, it's a very easy solution.

If neither of those work, then I need to update the prescription on my glasses.

Tom

thoth

mtbparker wrote:

...I end up missing the AF-lock button and stick my thumb up my nose instead. ...

I know this feeling all too well. I don't know of a single instance of uploading photos from a session and not thinking, "oh crap, I forgot to ...insert the most obvious thing in the world here...' We live and we learn!