Photo Shoot Today - C&C

[etnad0]

Just finished my first shoot since getting the new camera. My main focus was getting my lighting technique down and framing. Any C&C is welcome.

Lens: 50mm
F/2.8
Shutter: 1/60
ISO: 200
Auto White Balance
Manual Mode

Original


Jenna0 by etnad0

Edit 1


jenna1 by etnad0\

Edit 2


Jenna2 by etnad0

Edit 3


Jenna3 by etnad0

 

[rexbobcat]

They look a little underexposed.

 

[etnad0]

They look a little underexposed.

Thanks. I had it a tad brighter but it looked over exposed to me, so I'll try to find something between what I have here and what I thought was overexposed.

 

[RebeccaAPhotography]

I feel like the shadows are a bit harsh. Needs more lighting on the left side of the camera. But! I am a beginner and struggle with studio stuff so take what I say with a grain of salt.

 

[camz]

I concur the shadows are a bit harsh. Especially the nose shadow casted to her right eye is quite noticable. I'd go a little hire with the lightsource in order avoid the shadow cast across her face.

Also the your masking or select tool is a bit jagged on her hair. If you're going to be doing this alot with your business or what have I suggest topaz remask: Topaz ReMask - Masking Made Easy or equivalent. Bang for the buck as far as efficiency. There are others but I haven't seen anything equiavalent price wise..

 

[Tony S]

Yuck... sorry for that, but that's what I thought when I first opened this up.

You must have been using a bare bulb flash, the lighting is very harsh and contrasty, not very flattering to the subject (victim). Find some way to diffuse your light, either a reflector or umbrella. Get the light up higher, in this case I would say about a foot or two at least over her head. Position it in front of her at about a 45 degree angle to camera right. Get something on the opposite side to fill the harsh shadows and give some light on the edges of her hair. Also if you are going for the black background look it's much easier to get that at the time of shooting instead of trying to obtain it in post processing.

Now for your edits, #2 looks the best of them to me. You can try to dodge or open up the shadow areas a bit more which should reduce some of the hard contrasty shadow on her face.

Here is a link to a great learning guide to classical portraiture by Joe Zeltsman. It's been around a long time, posted on many forums and has helped make tons of amazing portraits. I keep it downloaded on my laptop to refer to when I have nothing better to do.
Zeltsman Apporach to Traditionla Classic Portraiture

 

[etnad0]

I concur the shadows are a bit harsh. Especially the nose shadow casted to her right eye is quite noticable. I'd go a little hire with the lightsource in order avoid the shadow cast across her face.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.

Also the your masking or select tool is a bit jagged on her hair. If you're going to be doing this alot with your business or what have I suggest topaz remask: Topaz ReMask - Masking Made Easy or equivalent. Bang for the buck as far as efficiency. There are others but I haven't seen anything equiavalent price wise..

Thanks. I'm going to check that out now.

 

[Tee]

I'm curious as to what made you choose this shutter speed and aperture combination for this shot?

 

[kundalini]

Your catch lights are at 4:00 o'clock (getting close to zombie lighting). They should fall in the 10:00 to 2:00 o'clock range for traditional portraitures. Check out Rembrandt lighting.

The line of the shoulders is nice enough, but you should have her take a step back with her right foot and keep her weight on the heel and bring her left foot forward kinda in line with her rearward foot. See if it makes a difference for you.

 

[etnad0]

Yuck... sorry for that, but that's what I thought when I first opened this up.

You must have been using a bare bulb flash, the lighting is very harsh and contrasty, not very flattering to the subject (victim). Find some way to diffuse your light, either a reflector or umbrella. Get the light up higher, in this case I would say about a foot or two at least over her head. Position it in front of her at about a 45 degree angle to camera right. Get something on the opposite side to fill the harsh shadows and give some light on the edges of her hair.

Yes, I was using bare bulb continuous. I don't have a flash set up yet. I used the umbrella at first, but it looked way under exposed to me so I point the lights up and bounced off the ceiling. Next time I'll definitely diffuse the light. Thanks.

Also if you are going for the black background look it's much easier to get that at the time of shooting instead of trying to obtain it in post processing.

I have some on the way, but they weren't here in time. I originally got my green back drop for video, but figured it would work for this. I definitely agree that it is much easier to just shoot it than to do it in post.

Now for your edits, #2 looks the best of them to me. You can try to dodge or open up the shadow areas a bit more which should reduce some of the hard contrasty shadow on her face.

Thanks I'm about to try that now.

Here is a link to a great learning guide to classical portraiture by Joe Zeltsman. It's been around a long time, posted on many forums and has helped make tons of amazing portraits. I keep it downloaded on my laptop to refer to when I have nothing better to do.
Zeltsman Apporach to Traditionla Classic Portraiture

Looking at it now. Thanks.

 

[etnad0]

I'm curious as to what made you choose this shutter speed and aperture combination for this shot?

My high level of professional expertise. LOL. Actually I just looked at the live view to see if it looked over exposed or not. When it didn't, that's what I went with. Probably not as scientific as it should be, but it's my first actual shoot using a DSLR and without having someone else around that knows a bit about photography. I'm still 100% unclear how people choose their settings. Is there a formula for it? Do they just adjust until it looks right? I'm still learning the manual aspect of photography, but I'm having fun so keep it coming.

 

[Vtec44]

I can see the wrinkles on the background = your subject is too close to the background.

 

[etnad0]

Your catch lights are at 4:00 o'clock (getting close to zombie lighting). They should fall in the 10:00 to 2:00 o'clock range for traditional portraitures. Check out Rembrandt lighting.

The line of the shoulders is nice enough, but you should have her take a step back with her right foot and keep her weight on the heel and bring her left foot forward kinda in line with her rearward foot. See if it makes a difference for you.

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind.

 

[Tony S]

You don't need a black background to get a black background. What you do is control the light from spilling onto it, instead of a black one a gray one works great because with a little light control it can go black, or with a gel or something else to color any lights on the background you can change it's color. Once you figure how to do it it is really simple, fast and cuts down your time on the computer editing images which means more time for taking pictures.

The best way to know what your exposures should be is to use a light meter. Since you are using constant lighting you can use the meter in the camera if you set it to spot metering, then meter off the face.

 

[Audible_Chocolate]

i like the black & white