A different kind of portrait (for me anyway!) - C+C

jfrabat · Oct 7, 2012

So I tried a B+W portrait for the first time. I also went a slightly different route from the traditional, so please feel free to criticize not only the B+W part, but rather the entire picture (composition, etc.). Some details on the pic:

Camera: Sony SLT-A77V
Lens: Sony SAL70300G
Focal Length: 230mm
Speed: 1/200 sec
Aperture: f/9.5
Taken in color and converted to B+W with Nix Color Effects Pro filter.

Helter · Oct 7, 2012

I like it as like an artistic piece, you know for like my office or something like that. I don't think I would like it for a family member or someones whose face you want to see the whole of. Sorry about just voicing my opinion :lol:

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jfrabat · Oct 7, 2012

Helter, no hard feelings... this is the kind of comment I want. By the way, she's my daughter, so I'm pretty sure the family will not complain! ;-)

Studio7Four · Oct 8, 2012

It's a cute shot. I like that you left a sliver of space under her chin, and I like the little bit of bright background in the bottom left corner to define the curl in her hair.

I think the whole image is a little dark. If it were overall a little brighter, her teeth would appear closer to white (not that you want them blinding white, but particularly in a child who hasn't had time to stain her teeth a bit brighter is appropriate and expected), you might get some detail back into her hair, and the white of her eye might be more true.

Is this how you composed the shot originally or is it a crop down from a full-face shot? The reason I ask is that your main light is camera right, and even though you did a decent job with your fill ratio (I like the shadowing on her cheek and jawline) the eye shown is a bit dark for my liking; I suspect the other eye is brighter.

jfrabat · Oct 8, 2012

It is cropped, but just slightly; you can see the tip of the nose in the original, but not the other eye. To be honest, we were just fooling around and having fun with the camera... I started taking a shot of ONLY her eye, and then decided to give this angle a shot... And I kind of like it. Actually, to be honest, I like it A LOT; I just need to finish finetuning the details.

I am trying the demo version of Silver Effects 2 to see if I can get the colors a bit better, as I also disliked a bit the tones on this one (I had to multiply 2 images to get the lips a bit more defined, and I had to mask out the hair and eyes to keep them from becoming too dark). So tonight, I'll give Nik's Silver Effect 2 a shot, and if it works, i will buy it and use it on this shot (I figure I will use it for other things in the future as well!). I'll repost when I get that shot ready... but I am going to the movies tonight, so it may have to wait until tomorrow night.

I will also try to get a shot of my son in the same type (but opposite side) and have both shots next to each other... That may look cool in my sudy! By the way, I am thinking about printing those 2 (one not yet taken) in 16X24; any suggestions on where to get them printed and mounted? What about type of material (there are a GAZILLION!) and mounting type? I was thinking flush mounted 1/8 thick black material... Or maybe give those metal prints a try (but they are a bit pricey, so I do not know).