Pipe smokin Tom! [double trouble] [lifestyle]

michaelglenn

Took these shots in Double Trouble State Park . Awesome fall day too. Here are some of my favorites.

1.
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4.
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6.
7.
8.

The rest of the set is on my blog. Enjoy!

Bryce Wilson

Really nice stuff. I like four and seven the best. Four has a really cool 50's feel to it.

In number seven, I might be tempted to straighten the railing a bit so the picture doesn't look like its going downhill to the right. But, that just me being Mr. Monk.

christulk

Nice! #4 and #7 are my favourites. I like #5 but the placement of the pipe makes it blend in with his jacket, and initially I thought his jacket pocket was on fire:D

I think #4 is beautiful.

unique93

Really great photos

michaelglenn

Thanks guys! As for #5, I've been told by 3 or 4 people that they thought he was on fire from first sight I think it is because his pipe is perfectly parallel with the inside of his blazer.

lilmomma

Love. All of them.

Do you have a FB page?

hamster

These are fabulous. Love #4, 5, & 7.

divamum

These are absolutely wonderful. Light, vibe - the whole thing.

Any added flash, or 100% natural light? I'm really, really loving the light!!!

Dooginfif20

must know how you processed these! please tell!

michaelglenn

lilmomma wrote: »

Love. All of them.

Do you have a FB page?

Yes I do! You can check it out here. I'm actually a big fan of your work!

divamum wrote: »

These are absolutely wonderful. Light, vibe - the whole thing.

Any added flash, or 100% natural light? I'm really, really loving the light!!!

Thank you so much! This is all in natural light. I learned a lot from the last session I posted to this forum. These shots were taken around 4:00 pm.

michaelglenn

Dooginfif20 wrote: »

must know how you processed these! please tell!

If you know to read a histogram pretty well, then I suggest you try out the tonal curve bar in Light Room or Adobe Camera RAW. Keep practicing, and you can create some really appealing images. For my blog posts, I'll process them in ACR and then in PS for further tweaking (Levels, RGB channel curves, masking, etc).

divamum

michaelglenn wrote: »

Thank you so much! This is all in natural light. I learned a lot from the last session I posted to this forum. These shots were taken around 4:00 pm.

Tell me more - your turn to teach! I really am totally digging these - they're just wonderful. This look is something I've aspired to and never quite nailed, so educate me! Educate me!!!! How are you getting faces exposed without flash when backlit? How are you controlling the flare??

Did I say I loved these??!

michaelglenn

divamum wrote: »

Tell me more - your turn to teach! I really am totally digging these - they're just wonderful. This look is something I've aspired to and never quite nailed, so educate me! Educate me!!!! How are you getting faces exposed without flash when backlit? How are you controlling the flare??

Did I say I loved these??!

Haha! I'm flattered to say the least. In terms of style, I shoot to capture true emotion. I'm very laid back on shoots. I'll direct a client to move his/her body a certain way, but I'm more focused on capturing genuine feelings. It's what I feel lifestyle shoots are all about. If a client feels comfortable and confident, you can get incredible portraits.

In terms of exposure, remember a couple things. When you plan a shoot, pick out a time where the sun will benefit you. I actually have an app on my phone called "Sun Seeker" for the iPhone. You can punch in the location and it will tell you where the sun will be located for each hour! It's amazing for wedding locations or lifestyle shoots. Also remember, when the sun is higher, the harsher the light. The harsher the light means you won't get nice sun flare. Rather, the best times to get images where the sun backlights the subject is during sunrise or sunset. The light is softer and will create awesome backlit images. You'll have more control over sun flare this way.

I just want to say that I'm teaching you what I learned from the Dgrin community! It's no crazy secret. When I get critiqued, I take that shit seriously

divamum

michaelglenn wrote: »

Haha! I'm flattered to say the least. In terms of style, I shoot to capture true emotion. I'm very laid back on shoots. I'll direct a client to move his/her body a certain way, but I'm more focused on capturing genuine feelings. It's what I feel lifestyle shoots are all about. If a client feels comfortable and confident, you can get incredible portraits.

Oh absolutely - my shoots are a mixture of that (and boy do I love the "outtakes" i get!!), and more formal shots (since that's what my opera singer clients usually want and need)

In terms of exposure, remember a couple things. When you plan a shoot, pick out a time where the sun will benefit you. I actually have an app on my phone called "Sun Seeker" for the iPhone. You can punch in the location and it will tell you where the sun will be located for each hour! It's amazing for wedding locations or lifestyle shoots.

Also check out the PHotographer's Ephemeris - I use it all the time

I shoot flare when I have the light (although it's one of those things I don't quite seem to be able to get the way I want it, as you have here), but what I'm really driving out is how you've kept those faces lit WITHOUT blowing the backgrounds, even though you're brightly back- or sidelit in many of them. 4&5, for instance - SOMETHING should be blown out in those shots... but isn't What are you shooting - do you have crazy dynamic range you can recover in post, if you're not adding light at the time of capture (if not flash, are you using reflectors?).

michaelglenn

divamum wrote: »

Oh absolutely - my shoots are a mixture of that (and boy do I love the "outtakes" i get!!), and more formal shots (since that's what my opera singer clients usually want and need)



Also check out the PHotographer's Ephemeris - I use it all the time

I shoot flare when I have the light (although it's one of those things I don't quite seem to be able to get the way I want it, as you have here), but what I'm really driving out is how you've kept those faces lit WITHOUT blowing the backgrounds, even though you're brightly back- or sidelit in many of them. 4&5, for instance - SOMETHING should be blown out in those shots... but isn't What are you shooting - do you have crazy dynamic range you can recover in post, if you're not adding light at the time of capture (if not flash, are you using reflectors?).

Photographer's Ephemeris looks pretty legit, I'll have to check it out! Well first off, I know this will sound stupid, but are you shooting fully manual? I find that when I take backlit sun pictures, spot metering helps me get the best exposure. I usually go about one stop up on the subject to get a well exposed shot (this all depends on the intensity of sunlight). I don't think I had to do much in post to recover detail. I'll sometimes create a mask in photoshop to increase exposure if I feel the faces aren't lit enough. These shots were taken on my 5d mkii and 35L lens (my favorite lens, its BEAUTIFUL). I wasn't using a reflector either, just my 35L + lens hood. If you have more questions, feel free to shoot me a PM!

divamum

You know, I never thought of spot metering - that's a big ole duh on my part. Yes, I shoot fully manual (except for rare and self-defnining situations where Av or Tv will help me out because I need a constant shutter or aperture and don't have time to adjust it manually) I now have a 5dII (thank you, 5dIII and 6d pushing the price down!), although no wide prime; I may have to consider adding one now I have the full frame sensor to do it justice....

michaelglenn

divamum wrote: »

You know, I never thought of spot metering - that's a big ole duh on my part. Yes, I shoot fully manual (except for rare and self-defnining situations where Av or Tv will help me out because I need a constant shutter or aperture and don't have time to adjust it manually) I now have a 5dII (thank you, 5dIII and 6d pushing the price down!), although no wide prime; I may have to consider adding one now I have the full frame sensor to do it justice....

Definitely make the switch to spot metering, especially for sun flare. You'll notice a huge difference. And primes rule!

divamum

Yeah, I use it plenty for other things (like stage peformances etc), but stupidly didn't consider it for this scenario. Hence the big fat DUH!! Seriously, I'm beyond stupid sometimes

Hackbone

Watch out with a short lens for the distortion caused as in #1 with the hands.

You've got the 'INDIE' style down very well. Not my cup of tea but you nailed it very well.

6 seems to have exposure problems in the face and shirt on my laptop.

Congrats on some very nice work.

I really like #7 and would love to see 8 with a darker shirt.

michaelglenn

Hackbone wrote: »

Watch out with a short lens for the distortion caused as in #1 with the hands.

You've got the 'INDIE' style down very well. Not my cup of tea but you nailed it very well.

6 seems to have exposure problems in the face and shirt on my laptop.

Congrats on some very nice work.

I really like #7 and would love to see 8 with a darker shirt.

I'm glad you pointed out the lens distortion. I definitely shot too wide, as the blurred hands did bother me a bit. I also agree with your point on 6. On my laptop, it shows up fine, however, I feel the face + shirt highlights are a bit too bright, so I'll make the quick fix and tone it down a bit. Interesting point about #8. I'm not sure how I'd feel about using a dark shirt for this shot. It would probably have a cool vignetting type of feel from the dark shadows. Now you got me curious!

Thanks again for the critique!

divamum wrote: »

Yeah, I use it plenty for other things (like stage peformances etc), but stupidly didn't consider it for this scenario. Hence the big fat DUH!! Seriously, I'm beyond stupid sometimes

Haha no not stupid at all! I'm sure this will solve your problem, and then you'll never forget