Sarah D

Dave Clee · September 26, 2009

Another frame from my shoot with Sarah. These were all shot in an abandoned building where I was trying to mix the portrait work with the texture of the building. Lighting was off camera right, SB900 shot thru umbrella, controlled using Nikon CLS.

Feel free critique..

Or maybe the black and white ??

Cheers

Dave

CyberSteak · September 26, 2009

great shot. but I'm bothered by the fact I can't see her other eye. Otherwise it really looks good.

Nikolai · September 26, 2009

I love the #1

Clixphoto · September 26, 2009

What process (if any) did you use to get the smooth, glowy skin?

Dave Clee · September 26, 2009

Appreciate the feedback !!

CyberSteak wrote:

great shot. but I'm bothered by the fact I can't see her other eye. Otherwise it really looks good.

Dave Clee · September 26, 2009

Thanks Nik, for some reason I am drawn to the b&w more...Its probably the landscape photographer coming out in me....lol...Thanks for the feedback..

Cheers

Dave

Nikolai wrote:

I love the #1

Dave Clee · September 26, 2009

Well as far as process, I try and make sure makeup is decent before shoot. I have actually began to work with a makeup artist for each of my shoots now. Its worth it. Plus I hate spending a ton of time in PS trying to fix what should of been done before the shutter was pressed.

My post work is pretty simple, there is always a levels, contrast and curves adjustment.

I also work the patch tool to remove any skin blemishes that make it past the makeup..

From there I employ the high pass skin softening technique, invert it with a mask and brush the softness back on cheeks, around the eyes and forehead, arms and legs..

Then its over the USM, again invert the mask and selectively brush the sharpness only areas I want sharpened, eyes, jewelry, hair etc.

Most of these layers are between 40 - 75 percent opacity, trial and error on finishing value.

In this case I also used the Nik color fx pro suite, using skin softening at low opacity and skin glow at low opacity.

Thats about it. I'll save it back to LR to make final crops etc.

Cheers

Dave

Clixphoto wrote:

What process (if any) did you use to get the smooth, glowy skin?

marikris · September 27, 2009

Looked at your fashion gallery. Very nice! I really like how you capture black tones. There was that yummy picture of Tina and that slightly desat of Olga in that equally yummy voluminous black cloak. I've been seriously thinking about renting/sharing a studio ever since I went to my first workshop (although all I have are 2 speedlights, a softbox and various Honl attachments ^_^). I enjoyed looking through your gallery.

(Hmm, I hadn't noticed her right eye the first time, but since it's been mentioned, I keep looking at it...

Still a good photo though.)

Dave Clee · September 27, 2009

Thanks for the comments, for me I am not to bothered about the right eye..

As far as studio rental, its worth having a space that you can consistenly work in. I converted my 1st floor into a pretty cool studio space. It doesnt have as much height as I would like but other than that it really is nice to have a place you can create in. I was looking to rent studio space here in Ottawa but thought I would lose alot of family time having to travel back and forth. So having it in my home is nice as my kids can hang out with me while I edit

Best of luck and thanks again.

Dave

marikris wrote:

Looked at your fashion gallery. Very nice! I really like how you capture black tones. There was that yummy picture of Tina and that slightly desat of Olga in that equally yummy voluminous black cloak. I've been seriously thinking about renting/sharing a studio ever since I went to my first workshop (although all I have are 2 speedlights, a softbox and various Honl attachments ^_^). I enjoyed looking through your gallery.

(Hmm, I hadn't noticed her right eye the first time, but since it's been mentioned, I keep looking at it... Still a good photo though.)

rwells · September 27, 2009

Drop dead gorgeous model!

Dave, your lighting, pose, choice of area for shot, and of course that PP are all top notch. Great work

RBrogen · September 27, 2009

Dave.....absolutely wonderful shot, composition, lighting and subject! I agree about the right eye though it doesn't bother me that much. My only nitpick, and it is a very small one, is that I think I was thrown a bit more by the softness of the block wall. perhaps a bit of the skin softening applied to that wall as well?

Regardless, very nice shot.

Dave Clee · September 27, 2009

Hey Randy, thanks for the feedback...the location really is an awesome place for this type of work..

As far as the softness. I did mask the effect and only brushed it back to the areas I wanted. When I checked the raw, the softness on the wall is related to shooting at f4 with my 50mm prime. I know I wanted to get a bit of isolation on her which is why I went with f4.

Thanks again.

Dave

RBrogen wrote:

Dave.....absolutely wonderful shot, composition, lighting and subject! I agree about the right eye though it doesn't bother me that much. My only nitpick, and it is a very small one, is that I think I was thrown a bit more by the softness of the block wall. perhaps a bit of the skin softening applied to that wall as well?

Regardless, very nice shot.

Dave Clee · September 27, 2009

Appreciate the feedback>>

Cheers

Dave

rwells wrote:

Drop dead gorgeous model!

Dave, your lighting, pose, choice of area for shot, and of course that PP are all top notch. Great work

RBrogen · September 27, 2009

Thanks for the info Dave...it is a great shot. I'm considering either a 50, 85 or the 135....decisions decisions lol

Dave Clee · September 28, 2009

No worries, I bought that 50mm 1.4 prime about 2 months ago and in the beginning I hated it. I was just to used to zoom lenses...But I forced myself to use it, on a couple of occasions only taking it with me and leaving all other lenses at home.

Well now, it has become my main lens for this sort of work. I love it. My D3 is so much lighter with it and it still allows me to be close enough to my subject to interact..At 1.4 its a tad soft, but f1.8 and up its awesome !!

Definitely worth the investment....

Cheers

Dave

RBrogen wrote:

Thanks for the info Dave...it is a great shot. I'm considering either a 50, 85 or the 135....decisions decisions lol

marikris · September 28, 2009

Dave Clee wrote:

Well now, it has become my main lens for this sort of work. I love it.

Well that's good to know! I just bought my 50 1.4 (Canon though) and I'm going to force myself to use it and not moan about not having zoom. I've got a shoot tomorrow indoors, so I'll stick it to my camera and shoot with it till I feel the urgent need to break out the 24-70.

Kinkajou · September 28, 2009

really like the color version, the skin softening looks just a step over done for my tastes, but that's just me. lovely shot with great light.

PhotosbyKW · September 28, 2009

I'm loving the B&W version. Nice job and thanks for sharing.

KAW.

Sarah D

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