Portraits of Yvonne

briandelion

These are window lit using white reflector. I was experimenting with keeping the room dark while still trying to maintain a dimensional feel. Any feedback as always, greatly appreciated.

1.


2. B&W more effective?


3.

VayCayMom

Does she wear contacts? I am too distracted by the odd lines around her left eyeball in 1 and 2 to go much beyond that.

reyvee61

I would have never noticed had Trudy not pointed it out but for this close of a portrait I see what she means.
The lighting is wonderful I must say.....

briandelion

Trudy, I think you're right. Is this any better? (quick fix).

jiro

Very nice shot and a very lovely model if I may say. I'm not a portrait photographer but I would love to see a better separation of the hair outline from the dark background. Maybe add a little light spill on the b/g? Really, a very nice portrait image.

TenThirteen

HaHa Trudy, that's exactly what I saw too!!! The edit is much better.

briandelion

reyvee61 wrote: »

I would have never noticed had Trudy not pointed it out but for this close of a portrait I see what she means.
The lighting is wonderful I must say.....

This forum keeps you on your toes! Never saw it, but of course now it's the only thing I see! :puke1

briandelion

jiro wrote: »

Very nice shot and a very lovely model if I may say. I'm not a portrait photographer but I would love to see a better separation of the hair outline from the dark background. Maybe add a little light spill on the b/g? Really, a very nice portrait image.

Thanks, Jiro for your comments. Yes, it's always a matter of degree, taste, and judgement. The devil is in the details.

TenThirteen wrote: »

The edit is much better.

Thanks! That's good to hear!

reyvee61

The edit is fabulous!

Nikolai

To keep things "dimensional" you do need to have a concept of depth. As it was suggested, a light spill on a (distant) b/g would help.

briandelion

Nikolai wrote: »

To keep things "dimensional" you do need to have a concept of depth. As it was suggested, a light spill on a (distant) b/g would help.

Nik, maybe you can help me understand this more clearly. I often see portraits with black backgrounds where the subject seems to emerge from darkness and this is what I was going for. Since it was a tight shot on her face with minimal background area I thought the highlights on the hair would be enough to frame her face and give the picture dimension.
What changes would have improved this, in keeping with the black background idea, from a natural light standpoint? I don't yet have lights.

Your comments always appreciated.

Nikolai

briandelion wrote: »

Nik, maybe you can help me understand this more clearly. I often see portraits with black backgrounds where the subject seems to emerge from darkness and this is what I was going for. Since it was a tight shot on her face with minimal background area I thought the highlights on the hair would be enough to frame her face and give the picture dimension.
What changes would have improved this, in keeping with the black background idea, from a natural light standpoint? I don't yet have lights.

Your comments always appreciated.

Uhm, you're in a literally tight spot. You have no extra lights, have a relatively small/flat target (face) and a black hair that blends with BG. Besides, you DO want to keep the BG black, YET you want the image to have "depth". I must say that even you add a hair light it wouldn't help much, since the distance to hair would be similar to the distance to face.
Under these circumstances the only way to add depth to the image is to ensure a very steep light fall-off on her face.. This can be tricky since you can't control the daylight power the way one can control an artificial light source. Still, what you can do is to move her as close to the window as humanly possible and meter off the face point that is closest to the window. To get some control over that I would put a diffusing fabric over the window (anything white), thus making sure that the light source is literally where I want it, not at some distant cloud or sky point.
Of course it would eat a stop or two, but that's OK. I would also block most of the window with a dark opaque material, thus controlling the "size" of your light source. This way you have at least some chance to create a steep gradient over a distance of her face length and thus bring a concept of "depth" to the picture.
HTH

Icebear

I understand why you might be interested in separating the model from the BG as an academic exercise. Fine. Do it if you want, but IMO that would not "improve" this image one iota. It is wonderful as is (well, with the contacts gone.) Very well done.

briandelion

Very helpful! Thanks for taking the time to explain and clarify. I will try this.