Greaps, that's a pretty good job, man. Dunno if you meant to, but you got very even lighting. I do agree that the first shot is a wee bit tight. In the second one, seems like maybe there's a bit of yellow in her face?
That's a really good frst effort. Have you tried messing with creating a bit more shadow on one side?
I like the photos and you show a lot of abilities that most of us don't have. But sinced you asked us to critique the photos, this is what I would do to make them even better.
I like the composition and the overall lighting, but like Waxy, I notice a colour cast. Without using the colour checker, you can see a big difference in the teeth between the first picture and the next two. I am guessing that she's wearing a white undershirt. In the third photo, I checked it in photoshop and it was pretty blue. So first check the colours.
I would do a lot of little retouching in the first photo. Get rid of the hot spots on her eyebrow and cheek, remove the second catch light in her eye, get rid of stray hairs on her forehead, and generally retouch the little blemishes. I would even slightly soften the wrinkles around her mouth. Here are the areas I would try to retouch:
In the second photo I would try to do something about the stray hair on her right shoulder.
The third I liked the best but would still soften the wrinkle on the the right side of her mouth.
I like the photos and you show a lot of abilities that most of us don't have. But sinced you asked us to critique the photos, this is what I would do to make them even better.
I like the composition and the overall lighting, but like Waxy, I notice a colour cast. Without using the colour checker, you can see a big difference in the teeth between the first picture and the next two. I am guessing that she's wearing a white undershirt. In the third photo, I checked it in photoshop and it was pretty blue. So first check the colours.
I would do a lot of little retouching in the first photo. Get rid of the hot spots on her eyebrow and cheek, remove the second catch light in her eye, get rid of stray hairs on her forehead, and generally retouch the little blemishes. I would even slightly soften the wrinkles around her mouth. Here are the areas I would try to retouch:
In the second photo I would try to do something about the stray hair on her right shoulder.
The third I liked the best but would still soften the wrinkle on the the right side of her mouth.
Just my thoughts, but good job just the same!
Brad
Thx for the help folks. I didnt even notice what looks to be an eyelash on her right cheek (now gone) I darkened the spot on her eyebrow, removed the extra catch lights in her eyes (If you look real close there were actually three) and adjusted the colour (spelled for Humungus). I didnt remove the moles because she didn't ask me to. Some people call them beauty marks and removing them might make the pictures not look normal to her. If she askes me to I will remove them.
I attempted to correct the colour (for Humungus) in the second one but do not quite understand the finer points of colour correction. I need to pick up that book. When you are working with the shots one at a time the differences in them is not as apparent as when you look at them side by side. I will work on improving in that area.
Thanks for the comment on the lighting. I wanted just a little more light on one side of her face than the other to help give is shape and keep it from looking flat. I didn't want the difference to be so much that it made harsh shadows. I was pretty happy with it, but I think I can improve a bit.
I didnt remove the moles because she didn't ask me to. Some people call them beauty marks and removing them might make the pictures not look normal to her. If she askes me to I will remove them.
Greaper,
I learned an amazing technique from Scott Kelby's book "Adobe Photoshop CS for Digital Photographers" to remove blemishes and moles.
It goes like this:
Apply a Gaussian Blur directly to your original layer, making the blur big enough so that the blemishes disapear. Your image will be very blurry.
Next you go to the History palette, and click on the previous state, prior to blurring the image, and select the history brush icon on the blurred layer.
From the tool palette, choose the History brush and select an appropriately sized soft-edged brush, and set the mode to "lighten".
If you then go over all the skin with that brush, go up and change the mode to "darken" and go over it again, you'll get a highly retouched look:
Which you can then blend with the version that has only the moles removed, in order to reduce the plastic-y look of it, but still reduce the pores in the skin.
Thx for the help folks. I didnt even notice what looks to be an eyelash on her right cheek (now gone) I darkened the spot on her eyebrow, removed the extra catch lights in her eyes (If you look real close there were actually three) and adjusted the colour (spelled for Humungus). I didnt remove the moles because she didn't ask me to. Some people call them beauty marks and removing them might make the pictures not look normal to her. If she askes me to I will remove them.
I think those small changes really improved the photo. As to the beauty marks, I agree, if the client doesn't want it changed, don't. I wasn't sure if this was just practice for you or a real life photo shoot!
Brad
P.S. What kind of lighting did you use? Approx. distances?
A 5000 watt hot lightning studio strobe set at 2/3 power for the main light to her right aimed into a reflective umbrella and another set at 1/3 power for the second light to her left also into an umbrella. There was also a 500 watt strobe behind her aimed at the back drop to eliminate shadows. and last and least my Nikon SB-800 speedlight aimed at the ceiling primarily to triger the other strobes but also to bounce some light in from the top.
The same setup as the little boy I posted in another thread. I shot the boy setting up the lights to do this shoot for the girls senior pictures. Calling her a client is a bit of a strech as I was doing it for the experience, not for money.
I played with them some more using your end result as a goal and figured out a way to get an effect I think s better than what i had before. I have yet to try it the way you describe, but I intend to.
Comments
That's a really good frst effort. Have you tried messing with creating a bit more shadow on one side?
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
I like the photos and you show a lot of abilities that most of us don't have. But sinced you asked us to critique the photos, this is what I would do to make them even better.
I like the composition and the overall lighting, but like Waxy, I notice a colour cast. Without using the colour checker, you can see a big difference in the teeth between the first picture and the next two. I am guessing that she's wearing a white undershirt. In the third photo, I checked it in photoshop and it was pretty blue. So first check the colours.
I would do a lot of little retouching in the first photo. Get rid of the hot spots on her eyebrow and cheek, remove the second catch light in her eye, get rid of stray hairs on her forehead, and generally retouch the little blemishes. I would even slightly soften the wrinkles around her mouth. Here are the areas I would try to retouch:
In the second photo I would try to do something about the stray hair on her right shoulder.
The third I liked the best but would still soften the wrinkle on the the right side of her mouth.
Just my thoughts, but good job just the same!
Brad
www.digismile.ca
I attempted to correct the colour (for Humungus) in the second one but do not quite understand the finer points of colour correction. I need to pick up that book. When you are working with the shots one at a time the differences in them is not as apparent as when you look at them side by side. I will work on improving in that area.
Thanks for the comment on the lighting. I wanted just a little more light on one side of her face than the other to help give is shape and keep it from looking flat. I didn't want the difference to be so much that it made harsh shadows. I was pretty happy with it, but I think I can improve a bit.
Greaper,
I learned an amazing technique from Scott Kelby's book "Adobe Photoshop CS for Digital Photographers" to remove blemishes and moles.
It goes like this:
Apply a Gaussian Blur directly to your original layer, making the blur big enough so that the blemishes disapear. Your image will be very blurry.
Next you go to the History palette, and click on the previous state, prior to blurring the image, and select the history brush icon on the blurred layer.
From the tool palette, choose the History brush and select an appropriately sized soft-edged brush, and set the mode to "lighten".
Now, when you paint with the history brush, the blemishes/freckles/moles magically disapear!
[IMGl]http://davidrosenthal.smugmug.com/photos/4928048-M.jpg[/IMG]
If you then go over all the skin with that brush, go up and change the mode to "darken" and go over it again, you'll get a highly retouched look:
Which you can then blend with the version that has only the moles removed, in order to reduce the plastic-y look of it, but still reduce the pores in the skin.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
Brad
P.S. What kind of lighting did you use? Approx. distances?
www.digismile.ca
The same setup as the little boy I posted in another thread. I shot the boy setting up the lights to do this shoot for the girls senior pictures. Calling her a client is a bit of a strech as I was doing it for the experience, not for money.
I played with them some more using your end result as a goal and figured out a way to get an effect I think s better than what i had before. I have yet to try it the way you describe, but I intend to.
Here is one using the method I figured out.