Dancer Shoot C+C

Thayli · Mar 16, 2013

Yeah, mask her out, gradient the background, Bobs your uncle and Fannys your aunt.

Thayli · Mar 16, 2013

To be honest, because her outline is so sharp, you could do pretty much whatever you wanted to her. I suck at PS but even I was able to mess around quite a lot when I was doing that edit above. It took all of about 5 mins to do this:
View attachment 38933

Now bearing in mind my skill level here, but I'm sure some of the more photoshop-savvy members of the forum would be able to work wonders with such shots. As much as I really liked them before, once you start getting up close I realised they were actually pretty excellent shots. (IMO at least).

Let me know when you see this and I'll delete them btw.

Ballistics · Mar 16, 2013

Thayli said:
To be honest, because her outline is so sharp, you could do pretty much whatever you wanted to her. I suck at PS but even I was able to mess around quite a lot when I was doing that edit above. It took all of about 5 mins to do this:
View attachment 38933

Now bearing in mind my skill level here, but I'm sure some of the more photoshop-savvy members of the forum would be able to work wonders with such shots. As much as I really liked them before, once you start getting up close I realised they were actually pretty excellent shots. (IMO at least).

Let me know when you see this and I'll delete them btw.

Hey! That looks pretty cool!When it comes to skin retouching and the likes, I'm decent. But I've never been good at fine masking to the point where I could take an object and black out the background without jaggies.

rexbobcat · Mar 16, 2013

GrahamPhisher said:
gay boring, im gonna print this out and hang it on my walls to creep guests out. "EYYYY CHECK OUT MY FINE ART COLLECTION!"

What...I don't....Huh?

Ballistics · Mar 16, 2013

rexbobcat said:
GrahamPhisher said:

gay boring, im gonna print this out and hang it on my walls to creep guests out. "EYYYY CHECK OUT MY FINE ART COLLECTION!"

Click to expand...

What...I don't....Huh?

Fastest moderation I've ever seen in my entire membership lol

Thayli · Mar 16, 2013

Ballistics said:
Hey! That looks pretty cool!When it comes to skin retouching and the likes, I'm decent. But I've never been good at fine masking to the point where I could take an object and black out the background without jaggies.

Yeah i'm pretty sucky myself, although I did do a bit of makeup and liquify on her. Anyway, glad you liked it.

Ballistics · Mar 16, 2013

Thayli said:
Ballistics said:

Hey! That looks pretty cool!When it comes to skin retouching and the likes, I'm decent. But I've never been good at fine masking to the point where I could take an object and black out the background without jaggies.

Click to expand...

Yeah i'm pretty sucky myself, although I did do a bit of makeup and liquify on her. Anyway, glad you liked it.

I have literally been struggling with this single part of her leg for over 2 hours now with this mask. It's driving me nuts. Everywhere else looks smooth except on her thigh.

Thayli · Mar 16, 2013

Masking is the one thing I'm not terrible at. Let me know if you want some help.

Ballistics · Mar 16, 2013

Thayli said:
Masking is the one thing I'm not terrible at. Let me know if you want some help.

I'm always down to learn. I still have so much to learn.

Thayli · Mar 16, 2013

PMed you.

Ballistics · Mar 16, 2013

Here's another.

Vtec44 · Mar 17, 2013

The only thing I don't like is that her hair and outfit blend into the background way too much compare to her skin. A slight back lighting and/or hair light would make a bit of background separation. Good job regardless!

Granddad · Mar 17, 2013

I just saw this because I've been too busy working on dancer portraits. You did NOT bomb. These are pretty darned good dancer shots given the circumstances ... and I seem to have ended up specialising in dancers.

For future reference (you've probably figured this one out) mirrored dance studios are the absolute pits for photography unless they have curtains you can pull over the mirrors.

My suggestion for photographing dancers is to aim for facial expression and a hint of motion; dance is something that should involve passion. It's hard to capture that when you are posing shots... I know because I often do posed shots but if you put the music on (her music) and shoot the dancer while she's dancing you can sometime capture it.
In the circumstances you describe you were off to a bad start. Your surprise at the studio set up, the subject being late (and even then not ready) set a scene of stress for both of you and that makes it harder. I often find it takes at least half an hour for the subject to start to relax, especially if she's not used to being photographed. Despite all that you got some good shots so don't beat yourself up. SHE liked the shots and you got valuable experience so I'd call that a winning combination.

Ballistics · Mar 17, 2013

Thanks Granddad, I appreciate it. It was a great learning experience, I really admit that.
The client loves the images, but I just wished I walked out of there thinking "I nailed it", ya know?

e.rose · Mar 17, 2013

I think you did well, aside from the fact that I don't like the background, and that her hand looks unusually stiff for a dancer in #2.

But like everyone else said, if you play with it, you should be able to make the background a little less offensive in post. :sillysmi: