New Portraits for Comments

rp1600 · May 13, 2007

I'm still toying around with some studio and trying to figure things out. Today I convinced my daughter to pose for me and here are the results. These are pretty much right out of the camera sans some exposure adjustments here and there. Color and tones still a little askew in some of them. Sorry so many. Please C&C. Thanks !

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6.

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9.

rp1600 · May 13, 2007

Yikes. Didn't realize they'd be large. Sorry if that creates problems.

NJMAN · May 14, 2007

Wow, great focus on the eyes! Very nicely done. :thumbup: #4 is too small. Would like to see that one larger like the rest.

Sw1tchFX · May 14, 2007

First of all, you have an incredibly beautiful daughter.

1 and 2 are the only images that I see a major tints in. 1 is a bit magenta and 2 is a bit green. The eyes could be dodged a bit in #6, they're a bit dark and the whites are a little red. Other than that, the colors and tones are flattering and convincing, they look pretty good!

rp1600 · May 14, 2007

Thanks guys.
Sw1tchFX, as in a previous post in which you assisted, getting the skin tones right are a major pain in the side with me. Maybe it's my eyes or lack of brain cells, or both, but I'm always having trouble coming up with a neutral skin tone. If there's any magic forumal or fix, please let me know.

Also, when submitting these to a pro lab like miller's or H&H can or will they do the magnenta and green color adjustments in #1 and #2.

Ooops. Am i getting off the topic? Gonna post #1 again in crique section with that specific question.

Again, thanks guys.

I'd love to hear all comments, positive, negative, constructive, etc. etc. so don't be shy. it's our only way to get better.

NJMAN · May 14, 2007

I use Miller's lab occasionally (or MPIX as they call it online), and Im pretty sure they wont touch the color unless you specifically tell them you want color correction per image. And I think they have an extra charge for that. I hope Im right, but I havent used them in a while, so maybe best to inquire on that. I really make every attempt to get color and skin tones correct before I send it to a processing lab. If your shots are saved in RAW, a lot of exposure and white balance correcting can be done there first before you save it to a flat file. Make sure your monitor is calibrated, and if you can, do a test print or 2 on a nice color printer to see what you get. Once you order a bunch of prints from a lab, you are committed at that point, whether they are correct or not.

JimmyJaceyMom · May 14, 2007

6 and 7 are my facorite. How lucky you are to have such a pretty and willing subject!

Sw1tchFX · May 14, 2007

rp1600 said:
Thanks guys.
Sw1tchFX, as in a previous post in which you assisted, getting the skin tones right are a major pain in the side with me. Maybe it's my eyes or lack of brain cells, or both, but I'm always having trouble coming up with a neutral skin tone. If there's any magic forumal or fix, please let me know.

It could be your monitor. I almost always eyeball my white balances becuase often the 'correct' WB isn't the appropriate WB.

NJMAN · May 14, 2007

If you want to get the skin tone as accurate as possible based on your particular lighting setup, take your best sample and use that as a base image to compare, judge, and tweak the rest. For example, it looks to me (based on me looking at these image on 2 different monitors) that #5 is spot on for skin tone, whereas the other ones generally are a little more orange, with slight variation among all of them. I too need to be very careful not to always trust what PS says is "correct", so I also eyeball them on the monitor and also in a print sample so that I know it is what Im looking for. Hope that helps.

BTW, if you can repost #4 as a larger image, that would help also.

stellar_gal · May 14, 2007

These look like perfect portraits to me. You could do some great senior work! I love the ones with the camera tilt. Very nice!

rp1600 · May 14, 2007

thanks stellar_gal .. been a long road adjusting to digital ... i see you have the 30d and the 85 / 1.8. I bought bought about three months ago and upgraded from digital reb xt with kit lens. has made a world of difference .. now if i can just eliminate operator error.

I'm working to get in the senior market here in my hometown in louisiana and actually my daughter (the girl in the pics) is a junior-to-be in highschool and drummed up six shoots in the past three months as a result of her pics.

So we'll see next year.