High keyish portrait, what do you think?

[nycphotography]

All the PS work? Convert to BW (which does in fact look better than the color), vignette to reduce the brightness of the wall (didn't work, yeah I know) then resize/sharpen for web. It's no more than I'd do to any other photo... Thanks though. :cheers:

When converting to b&w... do you desaturate or use the color mixer?

 

[amolitor]

Man, ain't nobody ever happy with the contrast in a b&w photograph.

 

[ManualMode]

It's a cute photo for sure, not sure about the framing.
I also think the contrast is a bit too much though.
Don't be discouraged.. it's better than getting no response! (ahem!)

 

[Big Mike]

Just a pet peeve of mine...but this isn't High Key. This is the type of shot (high contrast, over exposed) that quite often gets called high key...but incorrectly.

'Keying' is when you match the tone of the background with the tone of the clothes & accessories. So a bright background with bright clothing is high key. The subject should still be properly exposed (which is, of course, subjective).

Low key is the opposite, dark background with dark clothing.

They purpose to keying, is that it makes the skin tones (faces) an area of high contrast within the scene. They viewer's eye is naturally drawn to contrast and with a portrait, it's usually helpful to help draw the viewer's eye to the subject's face.

[steps down off of soap box]

 

[jowensphoto]

Hence the "ish" Mike lol I knew this wasn't high key having worked with actual high key studio set ups... just a cop out for an overly bright photo

RE: framing, I agree. There is so much blank space in the top right. Would have been great if another child was placed there, but doesn't work for just the two of them. Vignette was definitely used a crutch on this in various ways.

 

[jowensphoto]

All the PS work? Convert to BW (which does in fact look better than the color), vignette to reduce the brightness of the wall (didn't work, yeah I know) then resize/sharpen for web. It's no more than I'd do to any other photo... Thanks though. :cheers:

When converting to b&w... do you desaturate or use the color mixer?

Neither