Lauren at The Monterey.

[ronlane]

Got invited to go shoot at a new venue. They purchased at old church and have turned it into studios for artists, all kinds, and using the chapel as a wedding venue. The owners supplied us with three models for us to shoot in and around the venue. This one was one of my favorites of Lauren. I am using window lighting and balancing the fill with eTTL flash from my AD200 with a 38" octabox. Shot with a Canon 5D mk III and a Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 Art lens.

 

[terri33 4]

This is a very nice conversion, Ron. Terrific sounding venue, too! I like the window light here. Did you bounce this flash at all? My main nits are the sharply defined bags/lines under the eyes and, in general, I find the face too sharply processed.

 

[ronlane]

This is a very nice conversion, Ron. Terrific sounding venue, too! I like the window light here. Did you bounce this flash at all? My main nits are the sharply defined bags/lines under the eyes and, in general, I find the face too sharply processed.

Thanks for the input Terri. No, the flash was in the octabox camera right. I did brighten the eyes some with dodging but did not even attempt to mess with those lines you are talking about. I was fighting with the sharpening and thought that I had scaled it back and masked it off the face but maybe not enough.

 

[smoke665]

Nice one Ron! Looking at it large screen, I don't find the face overly sharpened. I would be dubious that this pretty young lady has to worry about bags under eyes yet. More likely your light was high enough that it cast a shadow. Holding a reflector down low, angled up would have increased your light deep into the sockets, and minimized the shadow line.

 

[Derrel]

She has natural lines under her eyes...as do MANY people. I like 665smoke's idea of reflector fill to minimize, yet not eliminate, the lines. Eliminating the lines totally would be too much.

 

[ronlane]

Nice one Ron! Looking at it large screen, I don't find the face overly sharpened. I would be dubious that this pretty young lady has to worry about bags under eyes yet. More likely your light was high enough that it cast a shadow. Holding a reflector down low, angled up would have increased your light deep into the sockets, and minimized the shadow line.

Thank you. I agree about the reflector but didn't have one with me. (We all went pretty light on gear for this one.)

She has natural lines under her eyes...as do MANY people. I like 665smoke's idea of reflector fill to minimize, yet not eliminate, the lines. Eliminating the lines totally would be too much.

Thank you. Agreed.

 

[terri33 4]

She has natural lines under her eyes...as do MANY people. I like 665smoke's idea of reflector fill to minimize, yet not eliminate, the lines. Eliminating the lines totally would be too much.

To be clear, I would never suggest eliminating natural facial lines. My question was whether they are coming out strong here because of the direction of the light and, for me, the rest of the face seems overly sharpened, which further enhanced them. It's two separate issues, I believe. It's quite likely the model herself may prefer seeing that feature softened.

 

[terri33 4]

This is a very nice conversion, Ron. Terrific sounding venue, too! I like the window light here. Did you bounce this flash at all? My main nits are the sharply defined bags/lines under the eyes and, in general, I find the face too sharply processed.

Thanks for the input Terri. No, the flash was in the octabox camera right. I did brighten the eyes some with dodging but did not even attempt to mess with those lines you are talking about. I was fighting with the sharpening and thought that I had scaled it back and masked it off the face but maybe not enough.

Ah, thank you for expanding on that for me, Ron!

 

[Derrel]

I think the lighting creates and post work emphasize what are probably not really super noticeable lines underneath her eyes. I think the conversion to black and white makes the lines even more visible than they would otherwise have been in a color photo

 

[tirediron]

Nicely done, Ron. I'll add my 'Agree' to the comments about the fill/reflector for the eyes.

 

[Donde]

Very well composed and exposed but honestly just looks bland to me in B & W.

 

[smoke665]

agree about the reflector but didn't have one with me.

That's when you learn think outside the box. Newspaper, notebook, back of a program, the other day I moved around so I could use the back of a white food vendor's trailer to bounce light into the shadow. In my travel kit are a couple of fold up lightweight 24" reflectors (white/silver). They fold up into a neat little 6" package. They have hooks that conviently clip anywhere and like my WB cards on a lanyard it has become second nature to grab them every time I head out.

The thing about eyes is that light brings out the best in them, they come alive. Granted you can dodge and lift the shadows, but it doesn't give you the same look that you'll get from good lighting.

 

[ronlane]

I think the lighting creates and post work emphasize what are probably not really super noticeable lines underneath her eyes. I think the conversion to black and white makes the lines even more visible than they would otherwise have been in a color photo

You are correct, error on my part about those lines.

Nicely done, Ron. I'll add my 'Agree' to the comments about the fill/reflector for the eyes.

Thanks.

 

[Derrel]

The under-eye lines are not really a problem here..