How was this done?

[Patriot]

I have been trying to practice close ups with faces but can never get the formula right.


Simple Portrait Lighting Setup: Gorgeous Result - Digital Photography School

How he shot it.

“For the lighting setup, I didn’t get too complicated on this one. I set her up next to a large Southeast-facing window and placed a large silver reflector under her face and to viewer’s left to punch it up some. It was cloudy outside, but that was offset by a lot of reflective snow on the ground, which made for this nice, soft light.”

Normally softboxes are used at a 45 degree angle above the subject. Would I put the softbox directly in front of them to get no shadow like in the picture? Maybe I need two light sources one on each side. That's what I can see in her eyes and from the description. Even practicing this my results still doesn't come out near this.

 

[tirediron]

Hmmm... I would start by using a large beauty dish (probably w/ a sock) above and down, with a reflector close under her chin. You could use two lights at 45, but notice the difference in brightness between her chin and forehead? You won't get that.

 

[David]

For me the key to this image is the eyes, cover them over and the image loses its wow factor, and so it's the eyes that need to be right to achieve the same look. This famous Nat Geo image is the same Afghan Girl on Cover of Magazine, Photos, Wallpapers - National Geographic. Here's my thoughts on trying to recreate this:

With the exception of those eyes the image has a soft focus, so use a lens that can give you f2.8 or lower, or selectively soft focus in PS or similar.

The reflection in the eyes is uncluttered and bright, so get your camera on a tripod and use a remote release - it looks like there's a tripod in the reflection of the eyes in the linked image.

The girl's pupils are very small, so you're going to need some permanent bright light, preferably natural. You could try shining a torch in the eyes just prior to shooting, but that may affect the model's pose and attitude a tad! The photographer states that it was by a window with lots of snow, so that'd do it for the pupils, and you'll need similar conditions, i.e. bright, diffused light.

The snow also has created large areas of brightness in the eyes, and this will be difficult to achieve with flash, as the light in the eyes is in lots of different sections and the brightness varies across the iris.

if you're going to use flash, and I love using flash, a speedlite is probably going to be too harsh, although you can get soft boxes for them. As tirediron says a large beauty dish with cover or large soft box, together with reflector, will help you achieve the lighting on the face, but not with the eyes. Any artificial flash would need to be shielded from the eyes as the catch lights would be much harsher than those in the linked image.

if it was me I'd try doing this with natural light (don't tell anyone I said that) from a large picture window (out of direct sunlight) as the light in the eyes needs to be varied, soft and natural. I'd set up the camera on a tripod with my 50mm f1.4 lens and wireless shutter release, although I suspect that I'd still need to use PS for some post-processing. If PS is your thing you could always add the light in the eyes afterwards. It'd take time, but could be achieved. Attached is an image I took of myself a while ago (sorry about the low-res but I've just had to download it from Facebook as I can't find the original). The light and colour in my eyes are completely false and if you look closely you can the numerals and hands of my watch which I overlaid using several layers and masks. The reflections in my eyes are those of my watch as there were none in the original.

I think practising with a few set ups and windows are the best way forward and I might even have a go myself and see what I can achieve. Good luck and looking forward to seeing your results.

 

[Braineack]

For me the key to this image is the eyes, cover them over and the image loses its wow factor, and so it's the eyes that need to be right to achieve the same look. This famous Nat Geo image is the same Afghan Girl on Cover of Magazine, Photos, Wallpapers - National Geographic. Here's my thoughts on trying to recreate this:

With the exception of those eyes the image has a soft focus, so use a lens that can give you f2.8 or lower, or selectively soft focus in PS or similar.

That image doesn't have soft focus, it has soft pleasant bokeh. I bet it was shot with an aperture much smaller than you think and without any selective focus in PS. The entire subject is in focus.

The image you post honestly looks like you missed the focus. It looks like only the bridge of your nose is in focus and your eye is just out of the DOF because you set the f-stop too low. Your other eye is completely out of focus. Using f/1.4 was just not the best choice here to do what you're suggesting.

I shot this at f/8.0 and my eyes are both VERY sharp eyes and has a very soft background: https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7096/13523284124_5904f8a758_o.jpg and my entire head is not even in focus.

 

[David]

For me the key to this image is the eyes, cover them over and the image loses its wow factor, and so it's the eyes that need to be right to achieve the same look. This famous Nat Geo image is the same Afghan Girl on Cover of Magazine, Photos, Wallpapers - National Geographic. Here's my thoughts on trying to recreate this:

With the exception of those eyes the image has a soft focus, so use a lens that can give you f2.8 or lower, or selectively soft focus in PS or similar.

That image doesn't have soft focus, it has soft pleasant bokeh. I bet it was shot with an aperture much smaller than you think and without any selective focus in PS. The entire subject is in focus.

The image you post honestly looks like you missed the focus. It looks like only the bridge of your nose is in focus and your eye is just out of the DOF because you set the f-stop too low. Your other eye is completely out of focus. Using f/1.4 was just not the best choice here to do what you're suggesting.

I shot this at f/8.0 and my eyes are both VERY sharp eyes and has a very soft background: https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7096/13523284124_5904f8a758_o.jpg and my entire head is not even in focus.

The image I posted was not meant to illustrate the focus and my apologies for that. It was taken a long time ago when I was helping my niece with a project. It was posted to show the eyes and the fact that you can achieve things post processing if you can't get them in camera. It's not my way, but it is one way.

Bokeh is just the quality of the blur in an out of focus image or area of the image, and so you can have bokeh with soft focus. I believe the original image (taken at f2) does have soft focus areas, but that of course is the joy of image appreciation...subjectivity.

 

[Braineack]

Sorry, I didn't click the link the OG post, only yours. After doing so I will say you're right about the lower f-stop, that was taken af f/2.0 and does what you were saying.

That shot could be recreated with a large softbox camera right, low, and very close to the subject on a 45° and a reflector lower left to remove any shadows and bring light under the chin (helps it's a child's face). look at the catchlights in the eyes and you can see the window and the reflector.



The image looks like it's color toned as well to give it a blue hue.

Using that same 85mm will help a lot; it renders beautifully. I've taken a "similar" shot at f2.8: https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5490/9701703930_b917a89989_o.jpg

 

[Designer]

I have been trying to practice close ups with faces but can never get the formula right.

Were you able to duplicate the parameters as described in the article? Exactly? Note the overcast sky and snow cover. Large window, silver reflector.

 

[Patriot]

I have been trying to practice close ups with faces but can never get the formula right.

Were you able to duplicate the parameters as described in the article? Exactly? Note the overcast sky and snow cover. Large window, silver reflector.

No I wasn't, but I will try again when I get the chance.

 

[Scatterbrained]

It's simple. Pale young girl, large light camera right low, large white reflector camera left low, and another large white reflector camera right high for fill, or a second light overhead for fill. 85mm at f/2. As has been pointed out, the catchlights in the eyes will tell you where the light is coming from (assuming the light is somewhere that it creates a reflection).

The thing that people often miss when trying to recreate others images is color tone. The posted image uses a pale blonde girl wearing cool, soft colors. There are no warm colors or bright tones in the image. From the soft, dark blue of the hat to the stone beige of the scarf, the only bright color in the image comes from the blue eyes. If you have someone with tan skin and brown eyes, you won't get the same look. You can replicate the lighting exactly, but if the colors and tones aren't the same the images won't look the same, or even similar.