Experiments in Portraiture C&C

RobNZ · Nov 24, 2010

So on the heels of my first client shoot from last week, it has been a week of reading up on techniques with strobes, placement, soft light, hard light etc and some practice with the read theory.

Slowly sinking in but like anything it should evolve with experimentation and experience.

I have been putting off getting a decent portrait of myself for a number of reasons. First reason is because I dont like how I look and when youre so used to seeing yourself in the mirror from one angle anything else does your head in, lol.

2nd reason is because of the type of skin I have, I am a red head with fair skin (as you will obviously see below) and lots of freckles and seriously uneven skin tone. Couldnt really find any info online on how best to shoot my type so I had to work it out myself (this is a work in progress so any input appreciated).

So after many many shots I came up with a shot of myself that I am ok with, I ended up going with a neutral expression because when I truly smile my eyes squint and you can hardly see them. One thing I did notice doing this was my neutral expression can look borderline pissed off even though I am not (make note of that for future reference, people may misread me).

1.

2. Yesterday I had a new softbox umbrella and 2.8m stand arrive, so I did a few hand held self portraits with the new gear and got nothing worth pursuing further, no suprise there, so it was off to photoshop to experiment with symmetry and try and make an interesting shot. This time I was not going for anything realistic, quite the opposite, more advanced folks here will pick up some major flaws and dead giveaways.

Freaky ME

3. I took 1 shot of each of my girls as they walked in from school, soft boxes rock!!

4.

5. This last shot could do with better framing ie: some space on the left to look into but I still quite like it.

C&C welcomed and any tips on shooting my skin type would be appreciated, infrared would knock the freckles out but then you can see my vein structure, lol.

Cheers

Bitter Jeweler · Nov 24, 2010

Freaky you is evil!

rateeg · Nov 24, 2010

Awesome.
Btw, you kinda looked like conan o brien on the 2nd pic.

reznap · Nov 24, 2010

First one's nice. Some people get upset over the top of the head getting cut.. I think it usually leads to a better composition (better eye position in the frame usually).

I don't really like the framing in #3 and #4 - I don't feel like their chins should be cut off.

EDIT: I said something stupid and deleted it

RobNZ · Nov 25, 2010

Bitter Jeweler said:
Freaky you is evil!

That was the plan, almost terminatorish, haha.

rateeg said:
Awesome.
Btw, you kinda looked like conan o brien on the 2nd pic.

Umm ok, dont know if thats a good thing or a bad thing, haha.

reznap said:
First one's nice. Some people get upset over the top of the head getting cut.. I think it usually leads to a better composition (better eye position in the frame usually).

I don't really like the framing in #3 and #4 - I don't feel like their chins should be cut off.

P

Yep, cropped to suit for the first one, as you say it leads to better comp, top of my head is not important for this shot I think.

Agreed on the chins as well, would have looked better to get the chin and cut in lower on the forehead, its about the eyes, so shift the whole frame down a little I suppose for this style.

Thanks Reznap :thumbup:

twoboysnmygirl · Nov 25, 2010

I like them. As for cutting off chins and heads, I do it ALL the time, and on purpose, I just like to!

I think the skin/tones looks great in all of them, I LOVE freckles! Your dd's are gorgeous.

I really like the background in 1, what is that?

DirtyDFeckers · Nov 25, 2010

the shots look great, and the dude looks like an older version of Conan!

RobNZ · Nov 25, 2010

twoboysnmygirl said:
I like them. As for cutting off chins and heads, I do it ALL the time, and on purpose, I just like to!

I think the skin/tones looks great in all of them, I LOVE freckles! Your dd's are gorgeous.

I really like the background in 1, what is that?

Thanks, the background is a thin Bamboo screen/fence, the horizontal lines are from the the wire that runs through it to tie it together, and bokeh is from hard light from the sun hitting the garden behind it and the lighter area behind my head was from a strobe fired onto it lifting the ambient light level selectively in that area.

The area is covered by a steel framed cloth Gazebo to provide diffused ambient light, about 3m x 3m, my outdoor studio, lol.

DirtyDFeckers said:
the shots look great, and the dude looks like an older version of Conan!

Cheers DirtyD, older version? damn Im only 38 he is 47 according to wiki.....haha.

ChevyBaby · Nov 25, 2010

<3 the 2nd one, that's a winner!

doziergraphic · Nov 25, 2010

Would like to see #2 in B&W.

RobNZ · Nov 25, 2010

doziergraphic said:
Would like to see #2 in B&W.

Here you go...

timlair · Nov 26, 2010

I'd love to learn how you get those eyes to pop like that.

RobNZ · Nov 26, 2010

Which eyes Tim?

3 different types of pop here IMO, 2 types are natural (pics 1, 3 and 4) and the 3rd type (pic 2) is obviously shopped bigtime.

I am still working on getting them lit even better at the time of shot, so this is something I also really want to improve upon. Get the eyes right and your off to a great start.