a more formal portrait

Elaine

I shot this last summer of my 12 yo niece but just revisited it this weekend for some better pp. We were going for a traditional, formal, posed shot here. Any thoughts on the posing or processing?

Swartzy

Elaine
It's a nice sharp photo. The pose is good but (IMHO) a bit lacking. She looks tired. The background blends a bit too much with her skin tones making it somewhat flat. I'll bet you have many more shots and would love to see some. Often times I try to get a model's eyes a little more wide open for vibrance. A bit wider smile in this instance would be of benefit. Again, it's a very nice shot but not quite grabbing.

urbanaries

I think you did very well for this style of photo! I think the only thing that is detracting a *tiny* bit from the pristine nature of the photo is the little "lump" of stray hair on her right. Looking again, there's a sliver of shirt at the bottom right hand corner that could benefit from some cropping?

The lighting and bg are perfect for this style, although the bg is very similar to her skintone...good thing she's a brunette!

Gorgeous girl, you captured a warm expression, without being either smiley or somber. That's tough!

Elaine

Thanks, Swartzy! Her left eye is a bit smaller than her right...I wonder if this contributes to the tired look? I'm working on a couple more. We'll see if I find anything worth posting!

Elaine

urbanaries wrote:

I think you did very well for this style of photo! I think the only thing that is detracting a *tiny* bit from the pristine nature of the photo is the little "lump" of stray hair on her right. Looking again, there's a sliver of shirt at the bottom right hand corner that could benefit from some cropping?

The lighting and bg are perfect for this style, although the bg is very similar to her skintone...good thing she's a brunette!

Gorgeous girl, you captured a warm expression, without being either smiley or somber. That's tough!

Lynne,

Just before I read your post I noticed that little bit of shirt at the bottom right! Yes, it needs a crop. And the hair...I can't decide if I should do some cloning or not. Maybe I'll try it. I kinda liked how the background was similar to her skin tone.

Thanks a bunch! I'll do some tweaking now!

JimW

Elaine,

I agree with what Swartzy and Lynne said. Also, when I check the cmyk readings, the shadows on her arm and face show magenta & yello extremely high, well over 90% for both. Ideally, those shadows should probably be more neutral.

Jim

Elaine

JimW wrote:

Elaine,

I agree with what Swartzy and Lynne said. Also, when I check the cmyk readings, the shadows on her arm and face show magenta & yello extremely high, well over 90% for both. Ideally, those shadows should probably be more neutral.

Jim

Thanks, Jim! I'm working up a re-do right now. If I had any idea how to tweak those shadows I would give it a go. Any tips?

Elaine

OK...same pic, but some tweaks to the crop, hair and I darkened the vignette. Any better for this one?

urbanaries

Elaine wrote:

OK...same pic, but some tweaks to the crop, hair and I darkened the vignette. Any better for this one?

oooh, I like the 2nd one very much!!!!

JimW

Elaine,

Well, for the short term, for this image, you could make a curve to fix the shadows, mask it with black and then paint it back gradually. Do you know what I mean? However, it’s just a fix, an inelegant solution.

I think it’d be better to go backwards in the workflow until you find what caused it, and fix that. Did it come in from the camera that way? If not, then it was created in the workflow somewhere.

In my experience, controlling shadows is really important. I’m struggling with it all the time. I regularly use the eyedropper tool to hover over an image while checking the info palette for cmyk values. I only want shadows to turn colorful if it’s intentional. If it doesn’t drive you crazy on this image or the next, it will eventually. It’s the PhotoGods’ way of tipping us over.


Jim

Elaine

urbanaries wrote:

oooh, I like the 2nd one very much!!!!

Thanks, Lynne!

Elaine

JimW wrote:

Elaine,

Well, for the short term, for this image, you could make a curve to fix the shadows, mask it with black and then paint it back gradually. Do you know what I mean? However, it’s just a fix, an inelegant solution.

I think it’d be better to go backwards in the workflow until you find what caused it, and fix that. Did it come in from the camera that way? If not, then it was created in the workflow somewhere.

In my experience, controlling shadows is really important. I’m struggling with it all the time. I regularly use the eyedropper tool to hover over an image while checking the info palette for cmyk values. I only want shadows to turn colorful if it’s intentional. If it doesn’t drive you crazy on this image or the next, it will eventually. It’s the PhotoGods’ way of tipping us over.


Jim

Thanks, Jim! Well, I do know what you mean in theory, but I've yet to actually do a mask. It's on my list. I'm working with Photoshop Elements, so as far as I know, I don't have access to cmyk values. This shot is all natural light in my living room, and I do believe there would be a cast to the shadows, bouncing up from the warm toned wood floors. It doesn't drive me crazy here, but I have had it drive me crazy before, so I understand the "tipping us over!" Thanks for your help!