Artistic Portrait Shooting

alaios

Hi there, I am sharing some portrait work I was trying the other day.


The main goal, of this, was to try to work with the available light by finding the right spot or using materials to reflect light or try to soften it up. Main ideas were coming from this book

http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/158428255X/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


I would like keep practicing and increase actually the complexity of the exercise by focusing on artistic shots for a portofolio of a classical singer (it could not be more precise work :P)

Before you see my selected ones these are the problems I have encountered.
-Did not know how to ask my wife to smile or not. How the face should be for an artistic picture? She is a classical singer.
-Did not know how to guide her on how to move her body as I needed (i.e turn left only for a half of a degree did not help much:P)
-How she should pose to give a portrait of an artist. I bought this book for that reason
http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/1584282118/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 that will be delivered next week,




The major problems I had on the technical domain:
-to find light that hides the black areas below the eyes. Model was very tired that day.
-Also I tried somehow to "hide" the nose but I am not sure if I have succeeded on that.


-I have used two lenses a minolta 50mm f1.7 and a minolta 45mm f2 both gave a very shallow depth of field one eye brow was in focus the second not:P. The main reason was to reduce iso settings and have a very nice bokeh. Shots were at our living room and I was "scared" to include backround. Those two lenses are considered sharp at f4


-how to work with color. I prefer the black and white version actually. Too hard to find the right color selections to ask the model to wear on


Please give your feedback and suggest if I can try improving some of those in photoshop. That would allow me in parallel to improve my photoshop skills. I would like to thank you in advance for your help
Regards

Alex
P.S remember that the photos should go on an artist web site (classical singing)
P.S2. Captions-numbering with letters below each image
A.




B.




C.




D.




E.




F.






G.





H.




I.




J.




K.




L.




M.




N.

divamum

Welcome! Wenn Sie Englisch ganz besser schreiben als ich Deutsch koennen, I wtill stick to English for now (but thank you for taking the extra time to write in English! )

My main interest as a photographer is actually headshots, and I shoot a LOT of classical singers because I am myself am a working opera singer I know that in German singer photos are typically rather less "glamorous" than is favored than here in the US, but even with more casual clothing and makeup, I think singer images can afford to be as elegant and vibrant as possible. Does she have a specialist genre? (zB opera, or concert, or early music, or....)

In general, I think the lighting is quite nice; you could possibly brighten them a little in post (what software do you use?), but natural and reflected light is almost always flattering to most people of any age. Great start!

Of this first batch, E, F and N are probably the best ones, but I'll go through and make comments on each. Let me know if anything isn't clear, or if you have any questions

alaios wrote: »

A.

Light is fine, but this is not a flattering angle. Her nose is breaking the line of her cheek (typically considered a "rule" which is best not broken). Also, while the subject doesn't need to look directly into the camera for every shot, her eyes are completely cut off from us here, we have no sense of what she's looking at, and thus feel disconnected form her, not engaged by her.

B.

This has potential, but the crop is rather tight, especially on the left hand side. I personally would prefer more neck/shoulders, and would be willing to cut off the top of her head - I always try to get the eyes at the upper intersection of thirds, or slightly above that; I find it the most pleasing composition for headshots/publicity shots.

C.

I like the soft light and expression very much in this shot, but it is too close to her chin at the bottom - I feel like she is squeeezzeeed into the fram. A bit more "airspace" around it and this would be a lovely shot. Also, be careful of your white balance - the green wall is adding a green cast to her face; this is easily adjusted in software, but be aware of it being necessary.

D.

Very nice light and very nice expression but, again, too close cropped. Her camera right cheek is nearly out of the picture.

E.

I would lose this one entirely, because the expression is weak. It looks like you caught her when she wasn't ready.

F.

Except for the crop (too tight on camera right), this one is lovely.

G.

Better crop, but I prefer the expression above. These are definitely the two best in the series.

H.

Great smile here! However, I'm confused by the white area - i can't tell if it's a window frame, or if you tilted the photo and ran out of room, so got white bands where there wasn't any picture. Either way, it still feels "squished"

I.

Ditto.

J.

This would actually make a neat website shot alongside others. Fun, a little different, and something to dress up a website.

K.

Nice smile, but i find a little too much of her face is hidden here. You may feel differently - just my opinion

L.

Try cropping more from the top so that it's a square image; the expression is ok (although not as good as some of the others), but it has potential.

M.

Good pose and crop, ok expression, WAY too dark. Brighten it up at least a stop, maybe more.

N.

Add some "artistic" processing to this one and it could be great for a website image. Think of the kind of artistic approach you see on "album covers" or other artist websites. Have some fun with this one!

As for those dark circles... those are fixed in software. You can minimize them with lighting, but they will almost always still be there without a little "help" in photoshop. There are many techniques for addressing this using the clone tool, the patch tool, a technique called "frequency separation", specialist "retouching software" and, often, a combination of several methods. It's actually quite easy to do, you just need to experiment to find the look you like the best. I personally try to make subjects look "real", so don't ever take things like that away completely - a light hand is always best!

Hope that helps!!

divamum

PS If you want specific details about photoshop, please ask - happy to explain what I can!!

alaios

great answer. i appreciate the time you have spent...
go on and help me understand how I can improve and what in photoshop.

All the shots here are very fast raw processing with defaults to get the jpegs, no other editing was done.

Alex

P.S I edited to thank you once more, is very hard to get some good feedback from professional hands these days and I appreciate as I am a new father of 9 month old baby and life is really busy.
P.S 2 I think the first experiment to discover soft light was kind of succesful. I have ordered reflectors to reduce contrast between sides of the face. Which one gold or silver as fill light?

divamum

yes, generally I think the lighting is fine. They're all a little bit dark, but you can improve that in Photoshop (increase exposure, brightness, whites, use the tone curve to change how contrast works etc etc). Very few portraits need NO adjustments, especially if you are shooting raw.

Undereye circles:

Two of the quickest and easiest methods I have found:

1. Patch tool. On a separate layer, use the patch tool to take some nearby skin without circles/blemishes and drag it over the area which is too dark. Reduce the opacity of the layer until it doesn't look fake.

2. Clone tool in "lighten" mode: Again, on a separate layer (so you can control it better), use the clone tool in "lighten" mode, at maybe 30-50% opacity (since it's on a separate layer you can reduce opacity later that way too). Clone from nearby brighter skin until it looks good.

If you do not yet know how to use layers, find a tutorial on youtube - there are some really good ones (and you can probably find one auf Deutsch which will make it even easier to follow )

Also, here is a great tutorial for "frequency separation" retouching. This is more time consuming, but can be VERY effective. http://blog.krisfulk.com/retouching-frequency-separation/

alaios

Great thanks... you are just wonderful.I promise to reply back with my new edits and new shots.. Just keep in mind that I might take even weeks to reply. My wife is still studying and is really demanding with our small one.

anonymouscuban

Not much to add on Diva's comments. She is spot on with all of them. Except.... that I absolutely love her expression/smile in I and K. If you can fix the cropping issues and replicate those two expressions, I think you have some winners. I also think the lighting in that batch is the best. Some very subtle post work and I think they'll be awesome.

Qarik

G and I have the best light and facial expressions. But the crop is too tight and I don't like the angle of her head and/or camera. The tilt is not good. I would also increase exposure by 1/2 stop.

D3Sshooter

OK, what I am about to say may come over hard, but is with good intentions. And you are German, so we can speak direct.

What I see is a set of photo-booth pictures. So I will give you a few tips that might help.

1.) Forget about all those books, it's business.
2.) Learn to see the light and get to know the characteristics.
3.) Play with it and exercise
4.) Give your model space in the frame
5.) Use light-shapers and reflectors to add to the already present light
6.) Decide what kind of mood you want your picture to have
7.) If you use a model, then have him or here prepared for the shoot. You were asking about the nose, well the first thing to do is to have the right make-up on. That will hide/correct already a lot .
If you then apply light so that the nose is not catching the highlights and is not casting hard shadows it will look ok. If the nose is real big (not in this case), do not take profiles, do not shoot up close.
8.) Play with the diaphragm to control the depth of field, and try shallow and deep DOF's.

But most of all learn to read the light, and that you can only do by observing it and understanding , Hard, Soft and diffuse light. Try to create it by using light sources such as lamps, bounce it of a white wall, shine directly on the model... At the end you will be able to see and understand the light.

Keep on trying and place fewer but larger pictures pleases.

alaios

Hi,
I would like to thanks again everyone that spent time to answer me. I promise to be back with a second round (that might come after few weeks as the 9 month old daughter does not give any me time)

Happy new year

zoomer

Didn't read all the responses so apologize if I rehash.
All the think you discussed in your op are not where your focus needs to be at this point in your photography.
Work on tones, colors, and exposure. Settings and angles and finding a nice scene to photograph.
Once you get to where your photos are looking technically sound then attention can be shifted to the other points you discussed.

alaios

Hi there,
I am back as I have promised but it will always take some time between my posts. As you might recall I do not have enough time for photography as the daily life with our 9 month old daughter is very very tough.
Last Sunday I went with a short walk with my wife and daughter, so without any preparations I grabbed my camera. "Better a small exercise that nothing I thought"

My idea was as we walking through the city to try to find quality light and ask my wife to pose (no more preparations were possible). I am presenting you three examples that you have to rate only for my ability on finding soft light

I.


II.


III.


Some more shots would come also in next days that fall under the same category "Finding good quality light outdoors with no any gear"

If you think that after the set would come soon I get the "certification" perhaps then we can move on the next mini exercises I want to pass.

I have divided the work in the following sections

A. Finding Light (work in progress)
B. Posing techniques (did not try yet but I am reading about it)
C. Make up for photograpgy (did not start yet)
D. Hair Styling for photography ( (did not start yet))
E. Gear, Lenses and reflector. (have few questions that will pop up soon)
F. Post processing (have not started yet altough had a look on the web).

Please provide my rating for today's homework A. Finding Light and will feed you with more questions in the next episode :P

Regards
Alex
P.S Response times would be still awkwards, I wake up 4:50 every morning, traveling 160km per day, having a 9 month baby.
P.S 2 Even though life is hard I am sure that I will make it improve my portraits

divamum

Alaios, I'd love you to step back and take slightly wider angle shots - these are all SO close that it's actually kinda hard to see whta light you had! Aim for a head and shoulders - or even waist up - for a while, and I think you'll be better able to see what you're working with

Also, I think you've got your order wrong - makeup and hair will come in time (and are your subject's responsibility as much as yours - YES I think photographers should know about this, but they can't be *entirely* responsible for it!!)

I'd say try this:

1. light (which includes the gear research to some extent)
2. posing
3. processing

Those are actually your "photography" techniques. Then you can start worrying about styling and the rest. Gear will define itself as you start to realise what you need to achieve 1 & 2

alaios

Hi divamum (real name?) and thanks for the reply. I thought that even that close the quality of light should be visible. Is it too contrasty? Is it soft? Regarding make up and hair styling that should go indeed at the very end. For now I want to keep exercising on understanding quality of light, turning my living room into a small studio (separate discussion will be done for that) and discussing about lenses!

Regards
Alex

divamum

I - soft but very flat (too straight on) - no shape to the face
II Underexposed - impossible to tell
III This is the prettiest light you have among these three

Next time, go ahead and start a new thread with images - it's getting hard to scroll down through this one

alaios

okay will do with my latest series. I will also start a lens thread tomorrow.

Alex