My Attempt at "Feminine" Lighting

[runnah]

So After being roundly scorned for using masculine lighting for females I did a quickie session with the wife.

Thoughts and C&C on stuff?


andrea2 by runnah555, on Flickr


andrea3 by runnah555, on Flickr

 

[amolitor]

Butterfly and Loop? If I remember the tutorial Derrel pointed us to correctly.. More jaw-thrust, I know she ain't got that double chin for reals, YOU put it there with your lousy direction.

I dunno, she looks good to me! She does not suffer from the problems that your unlucky clients do, I expect (although you can't see low self esteem in a photo), in that she is not homely.

 

[jowensphoto]

For the jaw thrust, it's like a turtle's neck... out and down. Feels awkward as hell, but it works.

 

[runnah]

YOU put it there with your lousy direction.

Butterfly for both. I was trying like hell to work with her jawline, but I've realized I do infact suck at direction and she sucks at taking it.

 

[Tiller]

Somebody married Runnah?

 

[pixmedic1]

For the jaw thrust, it's like a turtle's neck... out and down. Feels awkward as hell, but it works.

I only use a jaw thrust when I cant use a head tilt due to C-spine precautions. but yea, in a pinch the jaw thrust works fine.

 

[frommrstomommy]

Well, I see you took my advice! lol

The light looks nice to me.. but I'm third or fourthing or whatever we're at here on the jawline.. wheres that tutorial link?? I think in the tutori he described it as pushing their forehead out maybe?

 

[jwbryson1]

Somebody married Runnah?

Have you seen him? He's dreamy...

 

[amolitor]

Pretty girl. It's a shame she's blind.

 

[runnah]

Pretty girl. It's a shame she's blind.

I have the two things that can overcome any physical defects, a good career and a large... 401k.

 

[ronlane]

Pretty girl. It's a shame she's blind.

I have the two things that can overcome any physical defects, a good career and a large... 401k.

thought you were going to say Lens.

 

[tirediron]

Putting aside Runnah's [alleged] physical attributes, a couple of thoughts about the images. First, your shooting position seems to low; a little low in the first a lot low in the second. With the first if you'd shot from just a little higher and asked to to project her jaw ever so slightly, I'm guessing that little crease that's so visible and gives the appearance of a double-chin would have disapeared.

It's a little hard to really comment on the lighting here, since your monochrome is rather mid-tone heavy and the shadows are very indistinct, but I think your light may have been a little too close to the lens axis.

That said, I think the lightin gis pleasing, especially in #1.

 

[Big Mike]

Firstly, try to avoid having people pose with their face and/or body straight toward the camera. You're not shooting mug shots.

I agree with John, you should probably be a bit higher compared to your subject.

As for the lighting, I don't think you quite pulled off butterfly. For 'textbook' butterfly/glamor lighting, the main light should be right above the middle of their face...so the catchlights should be right at 12:00. You're very close with the first one...but I think it could be a bit more centered over her face. The key is to look for the nose shadow to appear right under the nose.

And while the nose shadow (right under the nose) is the tell-tale sign for butterfly lighting, the real benefit of that pattern is that it creates a shadow line from the cheek bones, down to the chin. This really slims the face. Your first photo has this on the right side (her left) but lacks it on the left. If you centre the light, you can get that shadow line on both sides.
http://catchlight-studios.typepad.com/.a/6a010534bff638970c0120a78f5169970b-800wi

Of course, butterfly is one of the patterns that does work with a subject facing directly to the camera, but if you do that, you want to have that slimming shadow on both sides. If you pose the subject facing to the side, even a little bit, you won't see both sides of the butterfly shadow...but that's OK.

 

[Derrel]

Some pretty spot-on analysis above, re camera's just a bit too low, a slight double chin in #1. For the butterfly shadow placement, the light needs to be right over the lens axis, so a boom arm is pretty handy. As jowens pointed out, for the jaw thrust it is out and down...in #2 she's pushing her jaw out, and up, which gives an unflattering up-nose angle, which combined with the camera-to-subject distance and lens focal length, makes her chin look a bit too prominent, and as stated, we see up the ole nostrils. Alternately, she could be told to sit up super-straights and tall, and then lean forward from the waist, and then lift the chin just slightly...this adds a feeling of movement, of vitality, and is slimming to chubby people (which she is not). This achieves the "down" part by forward lean, and when the chin is lifted slightly it goes "out", and away from the body, and improves the line of the neck and under-jaw areas. In shot #1 she is just...sitiing..there..upright...zero feeling of movement or dynamism...in #2 she has some head tilt, so #2 has more "movement".

Posing is both art and science. A few things stand out. In #1 some slight wrinkles under her eyes show up as light gray circles; to eliminate those I'd grab the healing brush and make a slightly irregularly-edged, crescent-shaped selection and just 'heal' them, a la Doug Gordon's method (so much faster than brushing in or cloning with soft brush at medium opacity and flow). In #2, the under-eye color is not gray and the slight wrinkles she has appear less-prominent. So, you can see a difference in the eye are from #1 to #2. I think the under-eye and edge-of-the-eyes areas are where most women see their "age" and either like/dislike portraits of themselves. Kinda like the beer gut on guys...if that looks good, it's "OKAY!"

I think an under-chin reflector would have helped both of these shots. Just out of frame, and angled up at at her face, a reflector about the size of a large cardboard pizza box, opened up, white-side up, and held by her, or placed on a tilting stand, or table.

 

[kathyt]

You bastard runnah. You told me you were widowed and left with twin newborns baby girls and some kittens. Oh, and a large inheritance. It is soooo over!