Backlit portraits

CherylL · Jun 30, 2020

The sun was behind and a little to the side. My daughter brought the girls over separately on 3 different nights over a week. We tried for the same time in the evening and the same light. It was much easier to focus on one at a time plus no fussing/fighting. She had a photo project in mind. After I shot those photos, I then experimented with the backlit. Daughter held reflector so that my camera was in the shade. Brought up the shadows on the face and increased exposure overall. C&C welcome

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5. The large wall photos. I shot these in the shade on the lane.

tirediron · Jun 30, 2020

Very nicely done!

CherylL · Jun 30, 2020

tirediron said:
Very nicely done!

Thank you!

Derrel · Jun 30, 2020

My only C&C would be that the shadows have a bit too much yellow in them. Otherwise, fine.

jcdeboever · Jun 30, 2020

Nice, agree with Derrel. I see it more as a green tint on this monitor, which is far from a good one.

smoke665 · Jun 30, 2020

These are really good of the girls. As Derrel mentions above the yellow in the shadows especially on the face of the first is just a tad to much. One thing you can do (in Ps or Lr) is use a targeted curves adjustment in the blue channel, click on the face/shadow area and drag up to lessen the yellow.

Number 4 is my set favorite, the missing teeth smile and the highlights in the eyes makes "cuteness overload". I also like #1, you did an excellent job with the glasses, but the eyes could use some sparkle. In most ambient light shots now, I generally include a speedlight just to get that little pop of highlight in the eyes. #3 I'm not a fan of because of the pose, I much prefer the one of her printed in the bottom photo. The printed one has sassy attitude all over it! Love it.

CherylL · Jun 30, 2020

Derrel said:
My only C&C would be that the shadows have a bit too much yellow in them. Otherwise, fine.

jcdeboever said:
Nice, agree with Derrel. I see it more as a green tint on this monitor, which is far from a good one.

smoke665 said:
These are really good of the girls. As Derrel mentions above the yellow in the shadows especially on the face of the first is just a tad to much. One thing you can do (in Ps or Lr) is use a targeted curves adjustment in the blue channel, click on the face/shadow area and drag up to lessen the yellow.

Number 4 is my set favorite, the missing teeth smile and the highlights in the eyes makes "cuteness overload". I also like #1, you did an excellent job with the glasses, but the eyes could use some sparkle. In most ambient light shots now, I generally include a speedlight just to get that little pop of highlight in the eyes. #3 I'm not a fan of because of the pose, I much prefer the one of her printed in the bottom photo. The printed one has sassy attitude all over it! Love it.

Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated! I did struggle with the skin tones and will try adjusting. I think next time I will use a reflector to bounce light back into their faces and use a poster board to block the light on the camera. Glad I have willing models.

@smoke665, #3 wasn't the best. She wasn't comfortable in the field even sitting on the stool. Worried about snakes.