Romantic Traditional Portrait

[vandecarr]

This was shot using window light, a flash and a reflector.

 

[jlykins]

Pretty cool PP work. What steps did you do in PS?

 

[vandecarr]

Thanks.

Post work was pretty simple.

1. Slight s curve
2. Dodge and burn eyes & burn lip shadows
3. Used a little trick from Eddie Tapp to get that Monte Zucker soft look
4. Converted to b & w
5. Made a white border and blurred it out
6. Hue/saturation adjustment for warmer feel
7. ended with one last s curve

 

[craig]

The light seems flat and it looks like she was crying for days. Window light can be tricky. What direction was the light coming from? Light from the south usually works best. Also helps if it is super bright and then tone it down with screens or what ever. Experiment with the subjects position to the main light. It is important to give shape to the face and capture the eyes. Fill is the easy part. A piece of foamcore works wonders. Post your set up for this shot and we can help further.

Love & Bass

 

[Nein-reis]

This is for critique only, to better yourself.

1. Very harsh shadow lines, shadows are good but a portrait like this would look better with softer edged shadows. Make a larger light source by either pulling the light further from the subject or by diffusing via softbox or umbrella.

2. the light is really flat, use a stronger key light and a kicker just for fill.

3. really harsh muddy shadow around the eyes, and its heavier on the right eye. Thats what gives it the crying bruised look.

4. Your B&W conversion is lacking tone.

5. The hair fades too much into the background making it look unfinished and lacking depth.

6. The pose is boring and looks uncomfortable, its lacking and strong lines or captivating composition.


This is only to help, its a good start but in no way a professional portrait. But keep working on it, learning to control and see light is the biggest step in photography.

 

[Christie Photo]

1. Slight s curve

7. ended with one last s curve

ummmm.... what do you mean by "S curve" as used here?

Thanks!
-Pete

 

[Christie Photo]

Light from the south usually works best.

You really think so?

I've always dreamed of one day having a north light camera room.

-Pete

 

[vandecarr]

Thaks for all the input everyone.

The whole purpose of this photo was to make it look old without the controls we have today.


She may look like she has been crying for days, but that is how she looks naturally & she thought she looked absolutely beautiful.


About the two mentions of an s curve here is what I meant.

While the image was still in color I gave it a very small s curve.

Then, converted it to black and white using a method I learned from Greg Gorman.

And after all the post work was completed, I gave it another s curve to add just a little contrast boost.


Thanks again for all your thoughts.

 

[Christie Photo]

While the image was still in color I gave it a very small s curve.

And what do you mean? How does one "give an S curve" to an image?

-Pete

 

[ClarkKent]

Are you referring to making an s curve in curves adjustment?

 

[ATXshots]

She may look like she has been crying for days, but that is how she looks naturally & she thought she looked absolutely beautiful.

She does look beautiful! I think her eyes are just a bit puffy is all, and they have some dark shadows around them as well.

My other critique would be that I too think the background is a bit much. The blur and lightness takes away from the girl (in my totally non professional opinion).

 

[vandecarr]

I guess I assumed everyone is fimilar with photoshop.

If you are fimilar with photoshop there is a curve adjustment function. If you're not fimilar with this basic photoshop function you won't understand what I'm talking about.

 

[jwhphoto]

I guess I assumed everyone is fimilar with photoshop.

If you are fimilar with photoshop there is a curve adjustment function. If you're not fimilar with this basic photoshop function you won't understand what I'm talking about.

ive used photoshop off and on for a while nothing to serious but have never seen this before... what does it accually do?

 

[vandecarr]

you can google curve adjustments in photoshop and find more info than you'll get here.

It changes the contrast in its most basic use.

I also use it for color adjustments and other more advance pp effects.

 

[Big Mike]

Curves - Command Primer