Another Veteran's Portrait Project session

tirediron · Aug 23, 2015

L Col JL Moffat, OMM, CD (R'td), Calgary Highlanders

This was a challenge as it was done in the client's living room, and the background is literally <12" behind him. As always, comments/critique appreciated.

Jasii · Aug 24, 2015

A wee bit more light please.

jovince3000 · Aug 24, 2015

That indeed look like an hard situation to deal with. He has a lot of reflective surfaces on him so too much light would have taken viewer's attention from his face.

Even if I know that, I still feel like the picture would have gained so much by exposing the hands as well.

waday · Aug 24, 2015

I love this portrait project! Very nice!

binga63 · Aug 24, 2015

nice work

tirediron · Aug 24, 2015

Jasii said:
A wee bit more light please.

Nope. Sorry!

jovince3000 said:
That indeed look like an hard situation to deal with. He has a lot of reflective surfaces on him so too much light would have taken viewer's attention from his face.

Even if I know that, I still feel like the picture would have gained so much by exposing the hands as well.

You may be right, but this is a lighting style I decided on at the start of the project. The idea is that it highlights the face and decorations the person is wearing, but the rest fades into the shadows. These are all done using a 22" 30 degree gridded beauty dish as key, and (usually, but not always) a reflector opposite for fill. Not saying it's the best choice, or even necessarily a good one, but it gives me the look that I envisioned at the onset, and for me, that's important. Also, these aren't really traditional portraits. Once I can get the money together, I'm going to have 15-20 done as large canvases. I think then the look will hold its own.

waday said:
I love this portrait project! Very nice!

Thanks!

binga63 said:
nice work

Cheers!

jovince3000 · Aug 24, 2015

tirediron said:
You may be right, but this is a lighting style I decided on at the start of the project. The idea is that it highlights the face and decorations the person is wearing, but the rest fades into the shadows. These are all done using a 22" 30 degree gridded beauty dish as key, and (usually, but not always) a reflector opposite for fill. Not saying it's the best choice, or even necessarily a good one, but it gives me the look that I envisioned at the onset, and for me, that's important. Also, these aren't really traditional portraits. Once I can get the money together, I'm going to have 15-20 done as large canvases. I think then the look will hold its own.

I just looked up your other picture of this project on the forum. I was unaware that this was part of a bigger project. Now it make sense to me that you would want to keep the lighting scheme similar across the the whole series. In any case, if it is the look you were going for I'll congratulate you because this is definitely a great piece of work! ( I still feel sorry for those hands though, but I know myself that it's something I'm way too conscious of, even in my own work =S )

The_Traveler · Aug 24, 2015

Picture is great altho I would rather he be moved a bit in the frame.
If I were near you, I would definitely ask you to take my picture.

robbins.photo · Aug 24, 2015

I love the lighting myself. The shot is fantastic. Sort of a commando Santa deal.

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tirediron · Aug 24, 2015

jovince3000 said:
I just looked up your other picture of this project on the forum. I was unaware that this was part of a bigger project. Now it make sense to me that you would want to keep the lighting scheme similar across the the whole series. In any case, if it is the look you were going for I'll congratulate you because this is definitely a great piece of work! ( I still feel sorry for those hands though, but I know myself that it's something I'm way too conscious of, even in my own work =S )

LOL - fair enough. We all have our bug-aboos, and normally I would agree with you, but in this case I'm claiming artist's privliege (and the fact that in most cases, the portraits are much closer in... see response to Lew's post below).

The_Traveler said:
Picture is great altho I would rather he be moved a bit in the frame.
If I were near you, I would definitely ask you to take my picture.

Thanks Lew, I will take that as high praise. Normally I would have him positioned differently in the frame, but I didn't want to crop the base drone.

robbins.photo said:
I love the lighting myself. The shot is fantastic. Sort of a commando Santa deal.

Thanks! I suspect he was a pretty [email protected]$$ fellow back in the day... he's got both airborne jump wings and an Officer of the Order of Military Merit medal. Neither of which are handed out in cornflakes!

pixmedic · Aug 25, 2015

Nicely done as usual! I really love your portrait style. This has been a great series.

robbins.photo · Aug 25, 2015

tirediron said:
jovince3000 said:

I just looked up your other picture of this project on the forum. I was unaware that this was part of a bigger project. Now it make sense to me that you would want to keep the lighting scheme similar across the the whole series. In any case, if it is the look you were going for I'll congratulate you because this is definitely a great piece of work! ( I still feel sorry for those hands though, but I know myself that it's something I'm way too conscious of, even in my own work =S )

Click to expand...

LOL - fair enough. We all have our bug-aboos, and normally I would agree with you, but in this case I'm claiming artist's privliege (and the fact that in most cases, the portraits are much closer in... see response to Lew's post below).

The_Traveler said:

Picture is great altho I would rather he be moved a bit in the frame.
If I were near you, I would definitely ask you to take my picture.

Click to expand...

Thanks Lew, I will take that as high praise. Normally I would have him positioned differently in the frame, but I didn't want to crop the base drone.

robbins.photo said:

I love the lighting myself. The shot is fantastic. Sort of a commando Santa deal.

Click to expand...

Thanks! I suspect he was a pretty [email protected]$$ fellow back in the day... he's got both airborne jump wings and an Officer of the Order of Military Merit medal. Neither of which are handed out in cornflakes!