Call for portrait examples

ruttrutt Registered Users Posts: 6,511 Major grins
edited September 23, 2006 in People
Wanted: technically good head & shoulder portraits as practice and learning tools for postprocessing. Access to full resolution originals is required. RAW images would be even better, if we can figure out a way to host them (I suspect we can.)

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What you get out of it: Beyond the satisfaction of helping us all learn to make better portraits, you'll also end up with the fruits of our labor. Your ego will be gratified by seeing your photograph over and over again in different states of postprocessing. And at the very end of the process, I'll even make some delux prints of a few of the best examples and send to the photographers and photoshoppers. Think of this as being an honor on the same level as winning a challenge, but even more so, since you get the photoshopping done for you. More like having your image on the cover of a magazine.

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Details: I'm in the process of writing up Dan Margulis' new portrait enhancement technique. This is fairly simple recipe which can make any portrait look more realistic and/or flattering. On the other hand, although the recipe is simple, it contains several decision points and it seems quite a bit of practice is required to get these just right. I have a slightly different forum in mind for this particular discussion thread, borrowed from the format of Dan's classes. We'll pick some originals and all work on the same shots in a competitive format. At the end, we'll compare the edits and try to come to concensus on the best one. I think this format helps everyone get on the same page about what looks right and what doesn't.

44638976-M.jpg
Original here

Details about what we need:
  1. Head and shoulders portraits
  2. Variety of complexions, genders, and ages
  3. Original sizes, raw preferable (but jpegs with good contrast and color balance acceptable.)
  4. Complex backgrounds and group shots add a lot of additional complexity to the basic recipe. I hope we'll progress to work on images of this sort, but I'll try to pick a first set with simple backgrounds and only one subject. Backgrounds blurred by shallow DOF are great for this, as are studio type shots with neutral backgrounds. The shots I've shown here are all pretty easy in this respect.

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If not now, when?
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Comments

  • DoctorItDoctorIt Administrators Posts: 11,951 moderator
    edited November 15, 2005
    I shot a little democratic conference here on campus this past saturday. The lighting was absolutely horrible, I had to shoot with flash AND at ISO1600, and the organizer needed them asap, so no RAW! How's that for tough?

    If you want a crack at cleaning up noise and fixing WB issues, I have a several for you in this gallery.

    44588833-M.jpg

    44582435-M.jpg

    44583629-M.jpg

    I don't know if you wanted "strict" portraits, but I guess all these could be cropped as such. Just trying to help. If you like any of them, I'll make the original available (for now they are protected to sell a few prints to the organizers of the event).
    Erik
    moderator of: The Flea Market [ guidelines ]


  • NordicNordic Registered Users Posts: 237 Major grins
    edited November 15, 2005
    Hi Rutt!

    This sounds very interesting. Great idea!! Since I never seem to get it right in camera I rely heavily on postprocessing, and still need to improve a lot in this field.

    Here I have 3 pictures from a session I did with my wife a few days ago. Obviously, these pics are straight from the camera, and are desperatly waiting for someone to process them.

    The pics were taken in RAW and 'converted' in Picasa. I provide the links to the original RAW files if you are interessted in working with them.

    #1
    44652186-M.jpg
    #2
    44652240-M.jpg
    #3
    44652265-M.jpg
    Ok, tell me if you want the RAW files. :)

    Regards,
    Andreas
  • bfjrbfjr Registered Users Posts: 10,980 Major grins
    edited November 15, 2005
    If you want chk out this post

    My Grandkids

    If they interest you I can email raw/s

    Ben
  • Awais YaqubAwais Yaqub Registered Users Posts: 10,572 Major grins
    edited November 15, 2005
    Oh no Raws in my point and shoot headscratch.gif
    can i post Jpg of 700 KB ?
    yes or no i will post them tommorow rolleyes1.gif cannot resist
    Thine is the beauty of light; mine is the song of fire. Thy beauty exalts the heart; my song inspires the soul. Allama Iqbal

    My Gallery
  • ruttrutt Registered Users Posts: 6,511 Major grins
    edited November 15, 2005
    Oh no Raws in my point and shoot headscratch.gif
    can i post Jpg of 700 KB ?
    yes or no i will post them tommorow rolleyes1.gif cannot resist
    Sure. If it's the best you got, let's see it.
    If not now, when?
  • binghottbinghott Registered Users Posts: 1,075 Major grins
    edited November 15, 2005
    are you talking about something like this:
    44083740-M.jpg

    44083995-M.jpg

    or am i way off?
    you can see more at binghott.com, i know they're a little dark right now, i didn't touch them up yet.
  • ruttrutt Registered Users Posts: 6,511 Major grins
    edited November 15, 2005
    Closer is better at this point. The more face, the less of everything else to complicate the basic recipe. Think Yuri.
    If not now, when?
  • GREAPERGREAPER Registered Users Posts: 3,113 Major grins
    edited November 15, 2005
    Here are a couple I would be happy to see improved...

    7418821-M.jpg

    LINK TO ORIGINAL SIZE JPG

    5118480-M.jpg

    LINK TO ORIGINAL SIZE JPG

    5121348-M.jpg

    LINK TO ORIGINAL SIZE JPG

    Lets see what folks can do.
  • binghottbinghott Registered Users Posts: 1,075 Major grins
    edited November 15, 2005
    how about any of these:

    40334780-M-1.jpg

    40335234-M.jpg

    41914866-M-1.jpg

    32332946-M-3.jpg

    32088526-M-1.jpg

    33176644-M-1.jpg

    33173929-M.jpg

    i'm sorry for posting so many!
    just tell me which originals you'll want.
  • ruttrutt Registered Users Posts: 6,511 Major grins
    edited November 15, 2005
    I have posted thread with a summary of the relevant PS technique here:

    http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=22524

    in case you are interested. The close crops of the good looking young women are good beginner's fodder. Thanks.

    Now I'd like some older people, please, and perhaps other races. Both of these will illustrate important issues with the recipe.
    If not now, when?
  • Awais YaqubAwais Yaqub Registered Users Posts: 10,572 Major grins
    edited November 16, 2005
    Asian Guys and baby
    i did not retouched them accept 1st one last is just cropped and converted to BW sorry for blurry eyes :uhoh

    44781303-Th.jpg

    big size http://awais.smugmug.com/photos/44781303-L.jpg

    44781703-Th.jpg
    Big size http://awais.smugmug.com/photos/44781703-L.jpg

    44781981-Th.jpg
    big size http://awais.smugmug.com/photos/44781981-L.jpg

    44781305-Th.jpg
    Big size http://awais.smugmug.com/photos/44781305-L.jpg
    Old Asians needed ?
    Thine is the beauty of light; mine is the song of fire. Thy beauty exalts the heart; my song inspires the soul. Allama Iqbal

    My Gallery
  • ruttrutt Registered Users Posts: 6,511 Major grins
    edited November 16, 2005
    No B&W conversions, please. The goal of the portrait technique is to make the best color portraits possible. In some cases, we will do B&W conversions as a step in the overall post processing, but we need color input.

    Also, we need the highest resolution possible originals. Part of how I'll judge suitability is by how untouched an original is available.
    If not now, when?
  • GREAPERGREAPER Registered Users Posts: 3,113 Major grins
    edited November 16, 2005
  • DavidTODavidTO Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 19,160 Major grins
    edited November 16, 2005
    Rutt,

    This one doesn't meet all of your requirements, but it's always baffled me. It's a sentimental shot, not a great one, and I've made it look much better than this, but I've never gotten it to where I like it. This was shot with my Canon G5 in my pre-RAW days. This is the original out of the camera.

    44801676-M.jpg

    Original here.
    Moderator Emeritus
    Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
  • ruttrutt Registered Users Posts: 6,511 Major grins
    edited November 16, 2005
    DavidTO wrote:
    Rutt,

    This one doesn't meet all of your requirements, but it's always baffled me. It's a sentimental shot, not a great one, and I've made it look much better than this, but I've never gotten it to where I like it. This was shot with my Canon G5 in my pre-RAW days. This is the original out of the camera.

    This one is advanced because of the two faces with different complexions. Let's delay and maybe use after we get some experience with easier ones.
    If not now, when?
  • kini62kini62 Registered Users Posts: 441 Major grins
    edited November 16, 2005
    OK I'll try.
    Strictly amature stuff but if you can use it, sorry no RAW but large jpegs. Let me know if you want originals.

    44341306-L.jpg

    38870249-L.jpg

    34144089-L.jpg

    33407921-L.jpg
  • ruttrutt Registered Users Posts: 6,511 Major grins
    edited November 17, 2005
    Need older people, males
    Jeez, I didn't do the arithmetic, but it seems that about 99% of the people in the world are female and about 99% are 20 or under. Maybe 80% are Caucasian. Of the others, there are technical flaws (Erik's high noise) or no originals. That's fine for photography, but not for teaching portrait post processing. Come on, people, I know you can do better.

    Maybe I didn't make this clear, but there is a [size=+2]darn nice prize[/size] for the pictures we end up using. 1. We'll make the shot beautiful (and you can play along to make sure we make it at least as beautiful as you can.) and 2. you'll recieve a delux print of the best finished version, any size you want up to 17 inches on the short side on either fine art matte or luster paper your choice. And I'll even throw in one more sweetener: you can pick the version for the print, yours, mine, or any of the ones by participants in the portrait post processing discussion.
    If not now, when?
  • ruttrutt Registered Users Posts: 6,511 Major grins
    edited November 17, 2005
    Visible, in-focus eyes. That's like the number one thing I'm looking for, BTW.
    If not now, when?
  • DJ-S1DJ-S1 Registered Users Posts: 2,303 Major grins
    edited November 17, 2005
    rutt wrote:
    Jeez, I didn't do the arithmetic, but it seems that about 99% of the people in the world are female and about 99% are 20 or under.
    Gee, I wonder why there are so many photos of 20 year old women? headscratch.gif

    icon10.gif Anyway, this is about the only "portrait" I have of an older man, just a family snapshot really. But if you want to use it I can send you the raw file. This is straight out of the camera.

    44879157-L.jpg
  • ruttrutt Registered Users Posts: 6,511 Major grins
    edited November 17, 2005
    DJ-S1 wrote:
    Gee, I wonder why there are so many photos of 20 year old women? headscratch.gif

    Actually, by my count, a lot are much younger than 20, younger than 10 even.
    If not now, when?
  • gubbsgubbs Registered Users Posts: 3,166 Major grins
    edited November 17, 2005
    This one any good Rutt? If it is I'll put up the original when I get home33308627-L.jpg
  • ginger_55ginger_55 Registered Users Posts: 8,416 Major grins
    edited November 17, 2005
    Everybody needs a Santa Claus!
    44888629-L.jpg

    The original is available here, not underlined, at this addy:

    http://gingerSnap.smugmug.com/gallery/973953/1/44888629


    I have the RAW file at this point. I am going to change back to my other external hard drive. Let me know if you HAVE to have the raw file.

    ginger
    After all is said and done, it is the sweet tea.
  • ginger_55ginger_55 Registered Users Posts: 8,416 Major grins
    edited November 17, 2005
    Just Plain Bill
    36918938-L.jpg

    I have the original for this in the same gallery as Santa claus, just go to that gallery for the original. I can't find the finished product, so this is perfect as it obviously is NOT the finished version at the time. I think the RAW copy is around somewhere.

    ginger

    (And his face is next to impossible to work on, it is red naturally.)
    After all is said and done, it is the sweet tea.
  • ginger_55ginger_55 Registered Users Posts: 8,416 Major grins
    edited November 17, 2005
    Uh, when you get that recipe together, would you please explain how we/I go about the "masking" process. Everytime I see that word I just about die.

    ginger

    I will try to find you some old ladies. Unfortunately, I stopped taking photos of me a year or so ago............and I looked so much better then.

    I have older women, but I don't know them. I don't want to work on someone I don't know or care about.
    After all is said and done, it is the sweet tea.
  • hollychollyc Registered Users Posts: 40 Big grins
    edited November 17, 2005
    Here are my pics to add for consideration:

    33287653-L-1.jpg

    41721206-L-1.jpg

    43396916-L.jpg

    34015146-L.jpg

    I can provide originals and exif if needed. Thanks for looking!
    ~H
  • DavidTODavidTO Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 19,160 Major grins
    edited November 17, 2005
    Does this help?

    43430076-M.jpg

    I'm not linking to the original, since it's been processed already. Rutt, if you want to use it I can post the RAW file or a plain RAW conversion.
    Moderator Emeritus
    Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
  • ruttrutt Registered Users Posts: 6,511 Major grins
    edited November 17, 2005
    DavidTO wrote:
    Does this help?

    Very cute, David, but also advanced for similar reasons as your last.

    Anyway, we have what we need for a first set now. I'll choose 6 or so and post instructions in the next day or so. Thanks everyone. Don't stop contributing, but we are ready for group shots and less close crops.
    If not now, when?
  • DavidTODavidTO Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 19,160 Major grins
    edited November 17, 2005
    rutt wrote:
    Very cute, David, but also advanced for similar reasons as your last.


    Yeah, I know. I'm looking for a challenge. (Although I'm sure at first a single complexion shot will be challenging enough and I need to slow down...)
    Moderator Emeritus
    Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
  • ruttrutt Registered Users Posts: 6,511 Major grins
    edited November 17, 2005
    DavidTO wrote:
    Yeah, I know. I'm looking for a challenge. (Although I'm sure at first a single complexion shot will be challenging enough and I need to slow down...)

    I promise you'll have plenty of fun with the first set.
    If not now, when?
  • ruttrutt Registered Users Posts: 6,511 Major grins
    edited November 17, 2005
    Now the choice has gotten harder and I'm feeling like Andy &Co must sometimes feel about the challenges. But here, I'm really not choosing based on which ones I like most; rather I'm choosing them based on which ones I think will provide the best practice and learning for the portrait technique. These first 6 are meant to span a range of different skin tones and ages, not have too complex backgrounds, and only a one individual.

    I'll choose at least one more set later on with more difficult shots.

    IMPORTANT: Portrait post processors, [size=+2]wait[/size] just a little bit and I'll post on the Chapter 16 thread the locations of the best quality originals or raw versons. Remember, I am planning to make large prints from the winners and that will work much better if we start with the best input we can get.

    So here are the images for the first set:

    [size=+2]Nordic[/size]

    44652240-M.jpg


    [size=+2]Binghott[/size]

    32088526-M-1.jpg


    [size=+2]Gubbs[/size]

    33308627-M.jpg


    [size=+2]Ginger[/size]

    44888629-M.jpg


    [size=+2]Hollyc[/size]

    41721206-M-1.jpg


    [size=+2]Greaper[/size]

    20538622-M.jpg
    If not now, when?
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