*Challenge 28 - Snappy's Portraits

snapapple

I'm practicing on dogs right now. Hope to get some people by the end of this challenge. This is my daughters yellow lab. He has a serious overbite, so his nose seems long. It does get in his way. Anyway, profile is not his best angle. But, he was standing in the kitchen and the light from the window was hitting him just right so I grabbed a shot. If I can get a human shot in as good light, I'll be happy.
Any thoughts, comments?



This is my dog, Roxy. Caught the glint in her eye and she looks kind of happy. She often looks soooo somber. I'll have to take her on a hike to get a smile.

Head in the Clouds

Hi Snapapple.
Nice shot.
I dont' think i would have noticed about the dogs nose, but since you mentioned it it does look a little funny! poor bugger!
He looks like a lovely dog though. and very nice lighting too. !
good luck finding some human volunteers!

snapapple

Hi Kate,

AussieKate wrote:

Hi Snapapple.
Nice shot.
I dont' think i would have noticed about the dogs nose, but since you mentioned it it does look a little funny! poor bugger!
He looks like a lovely dog though. and very nice lighting too. !
good luck finding some human volunteers!

Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned his nose. He is a sweet dog, a real baby. Thanks for dropping in and commenting. I'll keep looking for some people. Maybe I can catch my husband in a silly pose like Ginger did.

Head in the Clouds

Yeah! that sure is a great shot that ginger got.
if I could get my husband to sit still for two seconds i might have a chance too!
i think i might have to try to pull some favours from some friends and see if they want some free portraits of themselves!

Sandy

I like the portraits of your beautiful dogs.

ginger_55

Good dog portraits, Snappy. I would frame those. And of whats his name, you know, the generic dog. Some day you will be very glad to have those.

I am so happy when I find a picture of the dogs I had before these three now.

Not a sad thing, sorry, I am just happy about mine, that is all.

ginger

lambad

I really LOVE those two dog portraits -- they make me smile!

lynnma

Lovely doggie pics snappy...maybe you don't need a human?

snapapple

Hi Sandy and Ginger
Looks like the two of you were up late last night. Thanks for the nice comments. Funny, I havn't taken a portrait of Red, the generic dog. It's hard to get him to hold still long enough for a portrait. I have to get him on the run. Roxy, the Rotweiler (sp?) is very well trained and sits and stays well.

snapapple

Hi Lambad and Lynn
Thanks for the nice comments. If I were to use one of these, which do you like the best and why?
Do you think they show personality?

Maybe I should shoot Red. He usually shows lots of personality.

dugmar

snapapple wrote:

Thanks for the nice comments. If I were to use one of these, which do you like the best and why?
Do you think they show personality?

Maybe I should shoot Red. He usually shows lots of personality.

I like the lighting on the second one.

Doug

snapapple

Deep in thought
I had an appointment at the doctor's office today. This young lady was sitting in the waiting room across from me. I had my camera on my lap and took this shot with no flash. She was completely unaware. The picture was a little grainy because of the light situation, but I think I cleaned it up pretty well. What do you think? Any good?

ginger_55

I love that photo, Snappy.

really I do.

ginger

lynnma

I really love the look snap... I wish it was'nt quite so soft on her face... but I'm not sure it matters.. I'd be interested to hear what the experts have to say... I think you catured a moment there.. that really comes through...

p.s. what were your settings

winger

I LOVE THE ROTTIE, but I might be biased. But for a dog that some people think are "big and mean" he looks so sweet and gentle (like they really are, I miss my pit who is a big whimp!).

The photos from the doctors office is great in that you captured her natural expression, which is kind of fun. The grainy quality can be ok if that is what you are looking for (kind of like newsprint ish). But to be honest I think the quality of the rottie photo is proably better than of the girl.

Then again what do I know?

snapapple

Hi Ginger and Lynn,
Thank you both for your comments. The settings for that shot were: RAW format, aperture priority, ISO 200, 1/15sec, f2.6. That aperture is the max at that focal length, which was 21.33mm, equivelent to 105mm on a 35mm camera. The problem here was that I had the lens zoomed to the max because I was about 25 ft. away from her. Then I still had to crop it way down. I cropped it about 5 times in small increments to help preserve the resolution. I had it in PSD format. I just noticed that my final version does not have the EXIF info. even though PSD is supposed to preserve it. But I got the information off the original file.

snapapple

Hi Winger,

winger wrote:

I LOVE THE ROTTIE, but I might be biased. But for a dog that some people think are "big and mean" he looks so sweet and gentle (like they really are, I miss my pit who is a big whimp!).

The photos from the doctors office is great in that you captured her natural expression, which is kind of fun. The grainy quality can be ok if that is what you are looking for (kind of like newsprint ish). But to be honest I think the quality of the rottie photo is proably better than of the girl.

Then again what do I know?

I may try to process that girl again. But, it might be a waste of time. I do like it myself, even if it is soft. I love the expression.

I like the Rottie shot too. She is a real sweetheart. She's very selfish and growles at Red if she has a bone or something. She also won't let him get close to me when she is there. She wants *all* the affection and petting. She is very affectionate. She loves women, growles at strange men.

ginger_55

Yesterday




I do love this portrait, so I messed with it. I mean that kind of literally, don't know if I could retrace my steps. I was in layers a lot, wanted to make it more high key, but that wasn't going to happen. I used the fog with soft light, I think, and the blur with hard light, and I don't know what all, oh yes, I toned it.

g (I titled it "Yesterday" because it has a timeless look to me. Very arty.) Yet a complete portrait. I wallow in her eyes.

ginger_55

snapapple

A cheerful smile
This is a lady I met at the doctors office yesterday. We talked about cameras and photography because she was interested in buying a digital camera. I asked if I could try to take her picture without a flash. She was very glad to oblige. She was stiff for the first shot, but I got her to relax finally and this is what I got. The background was not good nor was her hair, so I cropped it tight. Any comments on this?

snapapple

Wow! That's great Ginger

ginger_55 wrote:

Now how can I duplicate that? It's looks really wonderful. I don't have fog and all that stuff because I don't have Photoshop. I've been working on it, but I can't seem to get it smoother without losing the detail. I really want to get it looking good because I love her expression too.

snapapple

Another try...
I tried adding some noise to this with a few minor touch ups.
Does it look better, or worse?

landrum

snapapple wrote:

I tried adding some noise to this with a few minor touch ups.
Does it look better, or worse?

I think better. This works well for a portrait. I also the one of Roxy!

ginger_55

Madonna, as in "The"





Done really fast, but a lot of steps here and there. Elements basically had everything I had in CS, I just had to find it, and I got it a bit dark which my husband likes. The whole thing is a matter of taste anyway. But I couldn't resist getting my old Elements out and trying to give it a shot.

The basic thing we are doing differently is that you are trying to keep detail, I am trying to get rid of it. I didn't want skin tones, even took a brush to darken the shadow area oily and flat a bit. Then I took the blur tool to try to make sure there were no sneaky pores in the skin.

Had fun. Grey here. Feel just like I could go to the studio and photo Bill, but to what purpose, and it could be the decongestants and advil talking. This cold is going to get me out of a party this weekend, smile. Other than that, there is a lot I would like to do.

ginger

ginger_55

I know I used gradient, luminosity, Gaussein Blur, Screen (great setting, makes things lighter) Lots of this under the tab on the top left of the layers screen. And something, or two, in the contrast part, such as soft light or hard light.

Used hue/sat/color checked/light down

blur, dark brush, brightnes and contrast, a very small tad

bill wants to talk,

g


And, without knowing anything, Bill liked yours best........ I really think it is just a matter of preference, so............The weekend beckons as safer territory.

snapapple

I think this is it!
I'm happy with this one, but welcome all comments.
Thanks for your help everyone, especially Ginger. (I didn't use your method, but I did spend some time exploring Photoshop Elements.)

lynnma

snapapple wrote:

I'm happy with this one, but welcome all comments.
Thanks for your help everyone, especially Ginger. (I didn't use your method, but I did spend some time exploring Photoshop Elements.)

I love it snappy but I'm afraid I don't like the shadow accross her neck..it just distracts me too much... love the rest of it tho.. it's a great shot..:D

ginger_55

That is either an imposter for Santa, or Santa has taken over our Lynn.


Snappy, I love what you did. In essence you did what I did, got rid of the pesky details that detracted from the soul of the girl. (Skin, pores, noise, etc)

I kind of agree with Lynn that you are going to run into comments on the gradient thing that runs across the girl, I assume it is a gradient thing. I don't know how I feel about it, I am just so pleased on the rest of it, but enough people will not like it that I would get rid of it, If you can. It is the soul of the girl that we want. Anything else is either a design factor, such as her arms, how she is placed on the page, etc. Those eyes, and that mouth, wow!

All of the design elements come together to meet at her eyes, except the gradient line. I would ditch it.

Just took a long nap. Bill had a schedule today, so I could not have gone to the studio if I wanted to, or had felt like it.

Do you suppose she went home and put her head in the oven after her portrait? She sure looks forlorn, or something. (I hope she used an electric oven, if she did: that was in a movie, funny.)

ginger

snapapple

One last try...
Thanks Ginger and Lynn,
You guys are probably right. I hate having to create for the judges. Ginger, I believe you have said the same thing in the past.

Personally, I like the shadows across the portrait. It's as if you are looking through bars of some sort or these bars are casting shadows across her face. The light is just highlighting her eyes and mouth. To me it adds more mystery to the picture. When you take the shadows away, it becomes an ordinary picture. As the photographer/artist, I see this as unique and creative. As you said though, it's all very individual and subjective. If you enter something "different", you take a very big chance.

I reworked it with only a little shadow on the bottom. I hope this works. It's a more traditional portrait now.

I think I'm going to try to get another picture. I won't have much time with Christmas upon us and guests coming. But, I'm tired of working on this picture and I need something fresh.

Thank you both for your input. You have been a big help. I wish I had some other opinions too. I guess if anyone else looked at the thread, they thought the same as you or didn't like it enough to comment. I always think "no comments" means "bad". Oh well, back to the drawing board....er camera.:D

gus

She has a very interesting look on her face SA. I like it !

snapapple

Oh wow!

Humungus wrote:

She has a very interesting look on her face SA. I like it !

I'm so happy someone stopped by to look. Thanks Humungus. I'm so tired tonight and I wanted to get this posted so I can be free tomorrow to clean my house and wait for the plumber and all that awful stuff. Gee, it feels good to have a friend say they like it. Especially when I'm tired and tired of looking at this picture. I really did like it when I started out. I'll probably like it again after getting away from this 'puter for a while.

It's a busy week to be trying to enter photos in a challenge. I still have so much to do before Christmas and all the festivities. Thanks for taking the time to comment. I really, really appreciate it.

Merry Christmas!