My Boys

smoke665

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Had the pleasure of a visit from my two oldest Grandsons for a few days. Would have been better if we hadn't been battling a bug. Tried out the new camera last night and today, both times I was rushed and made a few errors, plus getting accustomed to the new features made it challenging. Lastly I'm used to photographing little people not giants. My intent was to photograph them standing --- wrong they're 6-1 and 6-4. So then I searched for chairs long enough that their long legs wouldn't bunch up in the image and still my tripod was maxed out.

Youngest of the two at 15 is very outgoing, has soft long mostly straight hair that he can flip with a toss of the head, and blue eyes, both of which were my primary focal points. Other than a little spill on the background I'm fairly satisfied with the result.

no-image-available-grid.jpg by William Raber, on Flickr
 
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No comments? One question that comes to mind is how much touch up should be done on young men's skin? Natural complexion at this age have a few blemishes.
 
Nicely done! The lighting works very well as-is; one minor niggle: (I'm not at my 'editing' monitor, so I'm not seeing these completely accurately), the background is being rendered as completely black and with the darker clothing and hair, I can't help feeling that either a rimlight or background light might not have improved them. As far as skin goes, I tend to process people in the way in which I think they see themselves. Reduce, but maybe not eliminate all blemishes.
 
Nicely done! The lighting works very well as-is; one minor niggle: (I'm not at my 'editing' monitor, so I'm not seeing these completely accurately), the background is being rendered as completely black and with the darker clothing and hair, I can't help feeling that either a rimlight or background light might not have improved them. As far as skin goes, I tend to process people in the way in which I think they see themselves. Reduce, but maybe not eliminate all blemishes.

Thanks for responding John. In the first shot I had a rim light high and more right, as I was shooting to highlight the hair on the right rear side. In the second I moved it further up and more to the rear just right of axis. In both I agree another light behind would have provided additional separation of the background (had it just didn't use it). Just noticed that I missed focus slightly on the eyes on the second shot, fortunately I have another one that's better. Still getting used to the K1 and didn't realize I had face tracking on, rather than spot.
 
For some reason I agree with John. (Can't be because he's right ... :cool-98:) Reduce the blemishes and lighten the background. The skin tone of the second image seems off, too pink and white.

But I'm not a formal portrait guy, so what do I know ... which is probably why I agree with John.
 
Okay, looking at these again, the second image too flat for my tastes. I'd like to see some shadows or darker shadows. On my monitor they both seem a touch too light, both can be darkened.
 
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The lighting in the first shot feels more natural, the second looks a bit over lit. I don't do portraits so this is just my opinion. As for blemishes, I think anything that is not a permanent fixture is fair game. I would leave anything that is permanent such as birthmarks, moles, scars, etc., that's part of a persons character and makes them who they are.
 
The skin tone of the second image seems off, too pink and

Yes among other things. I was tired when I edited this, and in attempting to correct the white in the eyes, got several things off, including saturation. Have another shot that has better focus that I'll rework. Will also look at the curves level again.

@Jeff G The lighting was the same in both except the rim light location. The problem appears to be in post. Time for a reset!
 
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Okay went back and worked on the second. Tried a different approach to whitening the eyes, adding a little shadow, and blemish work. Any better?
Gabriel01112018_234 -11.jpg by William Raber, on Flickr
 
Much better.

Thank you. I like the last one better, though I'm still not happy with the whites of his left eye. I've tried several different approaches and it comes out almost close, or unnatural. I wish I'd noticed it when I shot it I'd have swapped the key/fill locations.
 
Pro tip, Visine, it gets the red out. :biglaugh:

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of his wearing contacts. At his parents urging he started wearing them a couple years ago, and has ongoing problems with irritation. Not sure if it's the contacts, or how he takes care of them. He's pretty responsible but still, it seems like he has more problems then he should.
 
Very nice! I agree with much that has already been said - love the lighting in the first one, the second is nice, but the lighting is a bit flat, and it looks like you could use a little more rim light on his hair camera left. I assumed it was just because of the darker hair, but it sounds like you actually moved the hair light. As far as editing blemishes, I'm mostly a naturalist - I usually do my best to remove any temporary blemishes, like acne or other problem skin, but leave other imperfections that will always be there, sometimes slightly de-emphasizing if it is called for. Editing the whites of eyes is dangerous territory - desaturating leaves them an eerie gray, and too much white looks unnatural. I've seen a few tutorials that make it look easy, but it's something I've yet to master. The re-edit is definitely an improvement.
 

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