Portrait after TPF notes, improved?

[Samerr9]

hey guys..

I hope my learning curve will keep on improving.. i have kept track of your earlier notes on my portraits to make them better..

Comments are really welcomed ..

Thank you..

 

[Robin Usagani]

I think your DOF is too shallow. Her eyes are soft. To me this crop only works if she looks left. You need more room to the right because she is looking at camera right.

 

[Samerr9]

I think your DOF is too shallow. Her eyes are soft. To me this crop only works if she looks left. You need more room to the right because she is looking at camera right.

Thank you for the tip, it is really new to me and i will try to let the subject look at the proper side in next simular trails.

However, i have taken this at ISO 400- f2.8 -1/400 with the 60D 50mm 1.4 lens.. i am now i have concerns now .. is it me that i am not getting the images so sharp or it the camera or the lense?

any tips? as you also have the 50mm 1.4

Thank you again for your support

 

[Robin Usagani]

first of all, you should only use ONE focus point. I typically just use the one in the middle an turn off everything else. Correct me if I am wrong, it looks like you adjusted your exposure / brightness on post processing quite a bit? Her right forehead is blown and does not retain any information. I see banding around the blown area.

 

[Samerr9]

first of all, you should only use ONE focus point. I typically just use the one in the middle an turn off everything else. Correct me if I am wrong, it looks like you adjusted your exposure / brightness on post processing quite a bit? Her right forehead is blown and does not retain any information. I see banding around the blown area.

Yeah true.. i post process it big time lol will try to get the details back and repost it soon thanks again

but also i used the center point for focus on the eyes and recomposed the frame.. i was using evaluated metering and one shot AF for auto focus settings..

 

[daarksun]

I like the shot. Try to focus on an eye. It's the one thing people immediate look at. Use the single point focus. Some don't like shadows on the face and reflector can work to help elimate that. I think the shadow works for the image. I like the crop. Because she is looking to her left does not always mean the model should be looking into the image rather than out of the picture. For the pose, the hair and the position it looks good.

 

[Derrel]

I would crop off the light area on the upper left edge and left edge...that light area is hurting the main subject. The depth of field looks adequate to me. The lower right hand corner, where her arm is, is very over-exposed.

 

[sparrowblue]

Quick edits... Just my opinion on what I would do.
If you'd like me to break down what I did, lemme know.

 

[sparrowblue]

I would crop off the light area on the upper left edge and left edge...that light area is hurting the main subject. The depth of field looks adequate to me. The lower right hand corner, where her arm is, is very over-exposed.

I feel like cropping the arm would truncate the photo, though. Better to burn it slightly, removing the blown out areas... No?

 

[Samerr9]

Quick edits... Just my opinion on what I would do.
If you'd like me to break down what I did, lemme know.

Sure.. i would love to know especially if u clarify why did u do each

Thank you all for the comments

 

[oldmacman]

hey guys..

I hope my learning curve will keep on improving.. i have kept track of your earlier notes on my portraits to make them better..

Comments are really welcomed ..

Thank you..

I normally like the eyes to look across the open space too, but the crop is so tight it does not bother me in this pic. Here is my tweak.

 

[Samerr9]

very nice effect .. i would like trying it .. do u mind sharing how did u do it ?

 

[oldmacman]

very nice effect .. i would like trying it .. do u mind sharing how did u do it ?

If you mean my edit, there are too many steps to be able to put in a forum message, but I can list what was done.
- selectively sharpened the hair, top, eyes and mouth. This helps make the background and skin look smoother, by contrast in texture.
- adjusted the exposure and filled the shadows. This make the light on the right seem less blown and eases the transition to the darker tones.
- brightened the whites of the eyes and the iris
- a small amount of skin smoothing

 

[Robin Usagani]

my edit per Derrel comment... OOPs.. i got it backward LOL.

 

[Robin Usagani]

Here you go