First True Studio shoot

bipock

First time I have posted pics here, but no need to take it easy on me. I'm a big boy and have had my work abused at other sites, so have at.

Needing some fresh pics for my portfolio, I turned to my local university to provide me some talent. This is the first of 4 students to respond. Weather was supposed to be rainy, so rather than go outside, I decided to make the call to do a studio type shoot - something I have never done (of course, it didn't rain a bit). The goal, in addition to getting some new pics, was to work with someone whom I didn't know and try to get used to some posing and directions. Christy had never done professional style pictures and, all said, she did amazing given the ineptness of her photog.

ISO 100, 1/160, 6.3, main light camera right @1/4 power and hair light 1/32 power camera left. I wish I had a reflector to kick some light back in from the main light, but alas, part of learning and I did not.

C&C more than welcomed.

Hackbone

You need to check your exposures, they are hot and you have lost detail. It looks like you shot them too dark and then tried to pull them back up.

bipock

I actually had to pull the highlights back a little and lift ssome shadows. Histogram never showed any clipping on either end so I didn't catch it until PP. Still learning and thanks for the feedback.

divamum

Nice model! The poses and expressions aren't bad at all

They do look quite orange to me - did you shoot jpg or raw, and did you boost contrast or crush the blacks when you processed?

bipock

Always shoot RAW. I did do a contrast boost and a selective exposure adjustment on the background in LR to make the black backdrop, well, black. I don't remember doing any thing with the Black slider as it hit her hair and the shadows too hard.

divamum

"selective exposure adjustment"? Unless you did it with a gradient or the brush, it probably affected the whole image.... The shadows are really orange (flame orange) which is what usually happens when the black point is dipped too far. Are you working on a calibrated monitor?

bipock

I am working on a calibrated monitor. For the adjustment, I used the adjustment brush in LR5 and painted over the area that the exposure adjustment affected. I am certain it did not affect the entire image.

I'll have to check the images and see if I changed the black point. I didn't think I used it on these as it did affect the entire image and I wasn't liking the results.

divamum

Qarik

lets see the shots before editing. I see way too much orange and red fringing as well as some unatural looking light patterns (the brushed exposure I suppose).

bipock

Divamum got me thinking when he mentioned the orange tint. I had inadvertently applied a landscape camera profile to the pictures. I have changed it to portrait (I'm sure you guys don't these profiles, but they can be useful). Same four pictures, profile change only.

Qarik

it's better but still not quite right. I'd like to see RAWS

bipock

Tell me how to post RAWs and I'll get them up at lunch for you.

divamum

Just upload the sooc shots to Smugmug - they won't officially be "raw" by the time we see them, but they will be entirely unedited, which is what I think Qarik is getting at.

Agree with him that your rework is better, but still a ton of red in the shadows when I looked at them on my calibrated IPS monitor. However, I am currently looking at them on my UNcalibrated laptop screen - they look much better on this. Perhaps you should recalibrate, just in case that's what's not quite accurate and is misleading your eye?

bipock

Convert them to jpeg first or literally straight out of camera?

divamum

Literally SOOC - smug should do the conversion for you, IIRC (apologies if I have misremembered)

Qarik

yeah...don't do any edits and post those. You can link to RAWs fro us to play with if you want/can as well. btw do you have red walls or dark red/brown colored furniture in the studio?

bipock

Smug won't let me upload the CR2 files. Any I missing a step or doing something wrong? Other ideas?

bipock

Got it figured out. I'll have them up shortly.

bipock

RAWS in the same order as the pictures.

bipock

Qarik wrote: »

yeah...don't do any edits and post those. You can link to RAWs fro us to play with if you want/can as well. btw do you have red walls or dark red/brown colored furniture in the studio?

Walls are white with about 1 foot of brick around the base - most of it covered by stuff. I did have to put up a red towel to block out some light from a window. I guess that could be causing the problem, but the towel completely blocked it out and was behind the main flash. I would have thought 1/160 was getting high enough that only a very little of the ambient was getting in the images.

Feel free to download and edit away - just make sure your edits can be done in LR as that is my only editing software.

divamum

Ok, it is definintely something in your editing workflow - the colours on these are fine. I'm not at home now (read: no editing software), but if I get a chance I'll have a crack at them - hopefully somebody else will have a go in the meantime....

bipock

It could very well be my monitor isn't calibrated correctly - that will be fixed professionally early next week.

Qarik

bipock wrote: »

Walls are white with about 1 foot of brick around the base - most of it covered by stuff. I did have to put up a red towel to block out some light from a window. I guess that could be causing the problem, but the towel completely blocked it out and was behind the main flash. I would have thought 1/160 was getting high enough that only a very little of the ambient was getting in the images.

Feel free to download and edit away - just make sure your edits can be done in LR as that is my only editing software.

it was your editing that is causing most of the issue but part of THAT was due to the fact that you have specular highlights all over her face and you were trying to clean that up. specular highlights are due to small light sources in general. Can you describe your light setup? umbrella (w/backing?), softbox? bare flash? how far was it away? etc

divamum

Quick down and dirty edit in LR - nothing special. I took the white balance off her teeth; using white of the eyes (which is where I usually start) either wouldn't read (blown highlights) or turned it too orange. Possibly took too much out with desat -6 might have been better - but on my machine this is a much more natural skintone. Have screencapped so you can see the settings...

I think the light in general was just a little too hot, which is what's making it tricky to edit.

bipock

An 1600 with 24*36 sb camera right about 4-5 feet. Hair light boomed 5ft away also with a ab1600. Hair light was at least a stop under main. I believe main was around 1/8-1/16 power.

Qarik

bipock wrote: »

An 1600 with 24*36 sb camera right about 4-5 feet. Hair light boomed 5ft away also with a ab1600. Hair light was at least a stop under main. I believe main was around 1/8-1/16 power.

okay so one reason you are getting the spec highlights..the softbox is just too far away. You want to soften the light? Move the sb so it is like 18 inches away from subject (or just out of camera frame)! your apparent light source size will roughly quadruple in size going from 5 feet to 18 in. (you will have to reduce power though)

bipock

divamum wrote: »

Quick down and dirty edit in LR - nothing special. I took the white balance off her teeth; using white of the eyes (which is where I usually start) either wouldn't read (blown highlights) or turned it too orange. Possibly took too much out with desat -6 might have been better - but on my machine this is a much more natural skintone. Have screencapped so you can see the settings...

I think the light in general was just a little too hot, which is what's making it tricky to edit.

Take no offense here, but that skin tone is way off from her actual skin tone. She is Latino and her skin was much more "tan" colored than that.

divamum

Well without knowing she was Latina... Now that I do, here's another one. Tweaked the WB to +5/-24, and tinkered with the exposure/highlights/whites a little to bring her skin tone down, bumped vibrance and saturation up a little. No claim is made for perfection, just showing you what looks about right on my screen.

In point of fact, on my (typically accurate) monitor, the S00C has a marked magenta cast to her skin - very pink cheeks, not the olive-y tan I associate with Latina coloring. I think Qarik may be on to something with reflected reds.

Do you have a 2nd monitor (even a smartphone) you can look at? I think you'll see what we're talking about.

bipock

After recalibrating my monitor, I went back and re-edit her set. I do see the red/orange tint you guys are talking about. Most of that is reduced when I remove the camera profile. So, same picture as you edited. I'm seeing very little red, and maybe a very slight orange - enough to tone her skin correctly. Still a little hot on her face but much better I think. Your thoughts?

divamum

^^ no image

bipock

divamum wrote: »

^^ no image

That's strange I see it.