just a plain, natural light portrait

Elaine

Haven't shot or posted a pic in awhile, and today I got the bug. I got a number of expressions out of my son and was thinking about doing one of those collections with a bunch of different facial expressions. I would crop it tighter for that, but here's one of them...

LiquidAir

Very nice. You have a good looking son. That's a great space you have for shooting portraits; the light is just right. Keep at it!

Elaine

Thank you! Yes, I think my living room has nice light...I need to make more use of it for photos! Keep at it, I must.

Ted Szukalski

For natual light this is simply brilliant lighting.

System

Ted Szukalski wrote:

For natual light this is simply brilliant lighting.

Pretty crazy. It looks like there are at least 3 lights on him: a main front right, a hair light and a background light.

Elaine

I'll say thanks for the compliments on the lighting, but since it took no skill from me to set it up, I guess I can only take credit for holding the camera, pushing the button and post processing! :ivar I want to improve my natural light photography, so it's good to hear that I've got a good spot to practice in.

Thanks for the look.

Elaine

gmonkeh

It really is a great use of natural lighting. Is this coming from a window light or a dome light?

gpphotos

yea...2 catchlights in the eyes and his hair is nice and bright...i would have guess 3 lights as well

Elaine

This was taken in a room with a vaulted ceiling (it's white and it slopes from 14 ft to 8 ft). He is sitting on a stool, facing west and a very large sliding glass door and window, and on that same wall there are three windows up high and to my left. I believe the high windows are providing the second catchlight as well as a hair light. The wall color is nice and neutral and not too dark, and I did a subtle vignette in post which I think helps give the appearance of a background light. I took the picture at 12:30 pm when the sun was fairly high in the sky.

50mm lens, f/4.5, ISO 200, 1/25

Elaine

Mitchell

Elaine, this is nicely lit. The eyes look a little over processed to me. Did you do some selective sharpening and work on them?

You got lucky here with such a low shutterspeed and a child!! Why didn't you open it up a few stops?

I like your facial expression idea. I did a 9 photo square of my daughter (2 years old) with multiple expressions which really cracked me up. Let me know if you are interested in seeing it.

Elaine

Mitchell wrote:

Elaine, this is nicely lit. The eyes look a little over processed to me. Did you do some selective sharpening and work on them?

You got lucky here with such a low shutterspeed and a child!! Why didn't you open it up a few stops?

I like your facial expression idea. I did a 9 photo square of my daughter (2 years old) with multiple expressions which really cracked me up. Let me know if you are interested in seeing it.

Thanks, Mitchell!

Actually, I've done nothing extra on the eyes. Just a one-time USM on the whole picture.

Yes, I was lucky with 1/25! I consider myself fairly steady, and my little guy does actually hold still, for brief moments!

The reason I didn't open up a few stops is that anything wider than about 4.5 on this lens produces softer-than-I-like results. It can be very frustrating, because I'd like to open it up more, but I just try and keep it at 4.5 or smaller in order to keep away the fuzzies! In fact, I only have one lens where I don't have to do this, my macro lens (90mm and usually too long for indoors).

I would love to see your collage of your daughter! Post it up!

Elaine

Mitchell

Elaine wrote:

I would love to see your collage of your daughter! Post it up!

Elaine

Here you go. These were all taken within 2 minutes during a particularly animated lunch!!

Elaine

Super cute! Thanks for sharing! It's amazing the gymnastics that can take place on a little one's face! I'll have to give this format a try.

Elaine

Mike02

Great shot! And nice pp . clap

Swartzy

Ok Everybody......
We're all going to Elaine's house for portrait work! Wow, what a set up you've got there for natural light....geez.....we'll be right over! Nice job.

Elaine

Mike02 wrote:

Great shot! And nice pp . clap

Thanks!

Elaine

Swartzy wrote:

We're all going to Elaine's house for portrait work! Wow, what a set up you've got there for natural light....geez.....we'll be right over! Nice job.

My husband said I should start charging admission!

I didn't even realize it could turn out that nicely! It's great to have received such great feedback on this...it's very encouraging! Thanks everyone!

saurora

So what time of day is your "studio" open Elaine? Great lighting and a beautiful capture! :saurora

Elaine

saurora wrote:

So what time of day is your "studio" open Elaine? Great lighting and a beautiful capture! :saurora

Thank you very much!

photogmomma

Elaine, this is just gorgeous! I simply love it.....

(Mitchell, nice collage!)

Cute kids all around!

Elaine

photogmomma wrote:

Elaine, this is just gorgeous! I simply love it.....

(Mitchell, nice collage!)

Cute kids all around!

Thank you so much! That means a lot, coming from you (whose work I admire!).

Elaine

System

Swartzy wrote:

We're all going to Elaine's house for portrait work! Wow, what a set up you've got there for natural light....geez.....we'll be right over! Nice job.

count me in!-

DavidS

Great shot. I will echo what everyone else is saying. The lighting is wonderful.

Elaine

Thanks for the look and comments, George and David! Appreciate it!

E

TristanP

You're very lucky to have such a great location anytime the sun is out. Nicely done.