Image For C&C

[musicaleCA]

Be brutal.

 

[jdevarie]

I like the model, her dress an the umbrella prop click very well. Now, the picture is a tad under exposed, the shadows are deep and lack detail. It is also too warm (to me at least) can probably be fixed in post with a WB adjustment. The POV used is not flattering to me, looking up her nostrills, you lost detail on her left eye. I would clone out the fold of her dress on her left thigh and not sure if the wrinkles on her dress across her lower torso could be cloned out (now, that is me being picky). What is she wearing on her right wrist? I would also experiment with different crops, I still find it too centered despite the umbrella being mostly on the right (picky again)
anyways, this picture looks doable in post.
care to post your set-up?

I hope this helps,
respectfully

Jim

 

[musicaleCA]

Please skip this if you don't want to be biased.

Thanks for your input, Jim. I was going for a very warm image. I think after a few hours of beating the pixels to death in post I just wanted it to be done (fixing hair, yadda yadda). The image was indeed a tad underexposed, and I think that's a product of not having a fill light (I really didn't want to futz with another flash; I had to fix the bleed from ambient light that I was getting on the right side of the image—her right arm's WB was quite off). Anyway, the setup was one flash through an umbrella, just above her eyeline, to camera left, with 2 full CTO's, and the camera set to tungsten WB. Triggered with a CactusV4 on manual.

 

[jdevarie]

I know the feeling of beating those pesky pixels. Long hours spent just to do it all over again after a few hours of sleep.
Anyways, I get the warm tones and the CTOs definitely did their job. Based on your message, I think you did a great job in post so far. I agree with you on the fill light comment. I wonder if a white foam core board or reflector would have helped.
despite all that, I like the picture. the model is great and her presence is strong.
regards,

jim

 

[musicaleCA]

Thanks Jim. I did have a reflector handy, I just didn't think to use it in this shot. It was also a little tricky later to position the darn thing correctly; the umbrella she has extends pretty far. My comment about pixel beating was mostly toward her right shoulder; there were a few deep folds and lots of hair there that I wanted to get rid of, and because of the patterns in the dress, a straight-up clone and heal wasn't effective. Most of that area was completely recontructed, partly with samples from shapes from the rest of the dress, but mostly just me stamping and brushing in what I thought might work. Took awhile. >.<

 

[katy625]

As a girl, i think she needs to turn a bit so her hips dont look so wide and i understand the shot u were trying to get but i see more of her lower torso and the camera must have been right at her crotch area....i love the lighting and warmth... just needs a more flattering pose.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

I agree with katy625. You should have turned your model some. You rarely want a portrait model squared to the camera. Not usually the most flattering. And, as already mentioned, same with shooting up, looking up the model's nose. Her hand would be better if it was more to her side. The way it is, it looks a little too big. Try to avoid flat hands too.

I also would have had her turn her head the other way to give her more looking space.

Details, details, details. I would have had her remove the jewelry. A pet peeve of mine. Jewelry tends to attract the eye in a bad way and unless there is a very good reason to have it in the image, it should not be there. And you should have noticed that part of the dress on her thigh that shouldn't be there. That, you should be able to clone out easily enough.

Her skin tone is a bit too warm for my taste. But that his my taste.

I think you only have the one flash and that's too bad. I think a second one shot thru the umbrella could have been nice.

Overall, great progress over the last one I saw.

 

[musicaleCA]

Devil is in the details. Thanks cloudwalker. I *do* have another flash (and another stand and shoot-through). Just that would mean futzing with more flashes; I was trying to keep it simple-ish on me.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

Oh yeah... I just noticed you're equipment list :lmao:

Sorry I don't tend to look at those since they don't usually mean anything.




Well, don't be so darn lazy. Or I will stop sending you Ramen noodles.

 

[inTempus]

We need Rufus and VI in here reminding you that this doesn't belong in the Beginners Forum.

 

[inTempus]

Honestly, I would readjust the skin tones a bit. The first thing I thought when I saw it was "white balance is off".

Great composition.

 

[musicaleCA]

Well, don't be so darn lazy. Or I will stop sending you Ramen noodles.

:lmao: Okay okay! I really need those noodles! :lmao:

We need Rufus and VI in here reminding you that this doesn't belong in the Beginners Forum.

Honestly, I would readjust the skin tones a bit. The first thing I thought when I saw it was "white balance is off".

Great composition.

Heh heh. Okay, so maybe you're right and this isn't really completely newbish. I just feel new 'cause I've been doing this for mere months. >.< As for skin tones, yeah, I can see what you mean; she turned a bit too yellow. The thing is that whilst cooling down the skin, I discovered that some parts had become VERY oversaturated with yellow, to the point where fixing them was getting very, very tricksy. So I just left it; I like the play between the cool sky and warm subject. Maybe I'll just go with 1 full CTO plus a 1/2 CTO next time I do something like this.

Oh, and to be fair, this was also the model's very first shoot, and she has no formal training. (No, this is not an excuse for bad posing; I should direct better and pay more attention to details, and I certainly will bear that in mind in future.) So I'll pass on some of this advice to her (like hip placement) as well; sure she'll find it helpful.

And for the curious, here is a before/after that I did to show a friend what I was slaving over for a few hours. >.< (You can really see how the ambient bled into her left arm and thigh in the original, as well as through the umbrella. Something I'll remember when colour-key shifting and flashing translucent material like this is to shoot a flash through it toward the camera to warm it up as well.)

 

[Stormin]

Very good work on the right shoulder. As for the ambient light, just another reason to hate nature... (j/k)

 

[camz]

PP:
See that's the thing with having similar objects in your shot that resemble the same tones as your subject's skin. You could've easily singled out and desaturated her skin with Reds and Orange sliders in ACR, however it also would've affected the umbrella, dress and lips and masking this would be a big job as you already know. But like you said you wanted the contrast of warmth between the sky and subject.

Composition:
The hips don't compliment just because you are shooting from below which gives the illusion that her hips aren't proportioned to her figure. I personally disagree that shooting from below the eye level is a no no and actually do alot of it myself(if all portraits were shot at eye level it would just be boring). I think you wanted to shoot up in order to capture the sky? so I would've had her pose with one hand on her knees leaning forward - slightly tilting her head towards the camera rather then looking in level with the horizon.. This would've eliminated the nostril view and the double chinning that usually happens when shooting from below. Offcourse the other hand still remains to hold the umbrella.

Also her lips look a little stiff. I know this is her first time but next time tell her to picture a 20pound weight hanging of her buttom lip even though it remains closed feeling a slight tug(LOL). Tell her not to fight the it but to go with it as the lips remain closed. This will hopefully help avoid flexing lips and help her relax the lower jaw.

And yes...I do agree this doesn't belong in the beginners forum!!!

 

[musicaleCA]

Great advice camz! Thanks. I certainly can use all the advice I can get in terms of directing models. Good idea for a pose, and you're right about my intent with the shooting angle; if I had shot at eye-level, straight-on, I would have had trees in the background which would negate the colour key shift. (It was also the only direction I could really point the camera; there were ugly buildings to the right and behind me, and more trees/pond/swamp to the left.)

Here's another. I stomped on the ambient light's throat and threw it's carcass into the small stream I was standing in (she's standing almost directly under a waterfall). ISO 400, f/4.5, 1/13 (yup, the ambient was THAT low). Mmm...1/13. How I love flash.



The intent: To go low-key and have dramatic lighting. I put a flash on a stand with a shoot-through, moved it back a little, and zoomed it in quite a bit to give it some punch. It's also quite a bit higher than eye level, and directed right at her face. I think the umbrella gave some nice spill on the rest of her body.