Some recent work

dlscott56

Just read Diva's post so it motivated me to post some photos. Unfortunately I've been taking a lot more out of this forum than contributing. I read it often and occasionally post but rarely comment. Still not quote so confident to critique in the people forum. I'll try to do more.

Anyway, here's a couple from some recent work I've done. One is for lobby photos used in a local community theatre I volunteer for. It's a great arrangement. I shoot for them and they let me use the building when no scheduled events are taking place. This allows me to shoot studio work and the grounds are not bad for shooting outdoors.



The second is for a client looking for a business portrait to use with Linked In, publications, etc. The client picked the first but I preferred the second.





I'd love to hear your comments on these. Particularly about processing. I'm never sure how far to go with it so usually try to be conservative and not over do it.

Hackbone

I think you did a terrific job on these, processing and lighting. On the first one I would clean up the messy hair on her right side. The backward lean bothers me a bit but that is just my personal taste

I agree with her on #1, more professional with the second one being more of a friendly neighbor.

divamum

Yay - love to see you posting again!

Tell me how you processed number 1, particularly skin work....

dlscott56

My current skin workflow is based on a Scott Kelby procedure.

1 - spot healing and healing brush minor blemishes and imperfections
2 - on a separate layer use healing brush to completely remove ALL wrinkles, crows feet, etc. When completed it looks kind of weird. Then I lower the opacity of this layer to about 35%-40%. The intent is to minimize, not eliminate, these wrinkles.
3 - ctrl+alt+shift+e to stamp visible layers. On this layer I start by opening the Gaussion blur filter and move the slider until the skin tones begin to blend. Then DON'T blur. Just remember the pixel value (in this case around 9) and cancel out of this. Next apply the high pass filter at the number of pixels noted in the previous step. Then apply a gaussion blur to this layer at 1/3 the number of pixels used in the high pass filter. Now invert the layer. Next set the layer blend to linear light. Reduce the opacity to 40%-50%. Now add a black layer mask and paint in the skin areas.

The black and white image I left at a higher percentage opacity than the other 2.

I'd be interested to know what others do for skin.

Qarik

*shrugs* these look pretty darn good.

zoomer

Skin work needs to be somewhere in the middle, 1 is plastic and the others are not enough.
Light looks a bit flat and all just a bit underexposed.
Ok....looks like you are on the right track but work to do still. Look at anonymouscubans 360 day project....that is what studio portraits should look like.

divamum

^^ That was pretty much what I was thinking - the first one was just a bit too much, which is why I wondered how you were doing it. I'll admit, that Kelby method is one I have NEVER been able to master - I've been much happier with a couple of little actions I have (used very lightly) and also doing it manually through cloning and/or frequency separation (the VERY best results I've found - I'm amazed what I can achieve with that method and, even though it can be time-consuming for a full fashion look, for a more "realistic" appearance I don't find it takes that long at all)

I like the pose/expression and general vib in 1, and I think the colours in 2/3 are really nice; I think the light i 2/3 might have been better raised up every so slighly - see how the catclight is at about 3 o'clock? Usually 1/2 o'clock is more flattering. This is a mistake I often make myself, so I know how easy it is to "miss" that magic spot while shooting with a light!

dlscott56

Thanks for looking and commenting everyone. I would mostly agree with all nits listed. After looking at quite a number of skin techniques and actions I've settled for the time being on this one. Only in order to work with it enough to feel as though I am proficient with it. I do still struggle with how far to go. Lighting height is a good point.

Thanks again for the comments as they are very much appreciated.