Portrait for C&C

[dandaluzphotography]

Hey Guys,

I took this last night. Did some editing on it, mostly skin smoothing and blemish removal. I tried something different than what I have been doing. The first step in CS5 was to duplicate the background layer and set the blend mode to overlay and reduce the opacity to 50%. I thought it gave the image some punch. I saw the video on youtube and thought I would try it. I also added lipstick and blush. What the hell? That was a different video.

As far as lighting, one monolight at camera right bouncing off of an umbrella and a reflector, pretty close to the subject and angled slightly towards the back drop but still reflecting some light on to the right side of her face. I'm beginning to really use the modeling light to see what shots will look like afterwards, as far as shadows.

Any thoughts on how to improve it? I guess I tried to give this shot something of a glamour look. Did I even come close?

Thanks,
Danny

 

[Trever1t]

you cut off the top of her head to capture a lot of empty space camera left leaving the composition lacking.

 

[dandaluzphotography]

you cut off the top of her head to capture a lot of empty space camera left leaving the composition lacking.

Hi. Thanks for the response. I thought it might look more interesting to frame it as I did. Might it have looked better if I cropped out the bottom as well a bit more?

Danny

 

[subscuck]

you cut off the top of her head to capture a lot of empty space camera left leaving the composition lacking.

Hi. Thanks for the response. I thought it might look more interesting to frame it as I did. Might it have looked better if I cropped out the bottom as well a bit more?

Danny

She's looking straight ahead, so there is no reason to have the empty space. This type of framing is typical for an ad where text would be placed in the empty space, but it doesn't really work for a portrait.

 

[Village Idiot]

Forum: Beyond the Basics

Have you been at photography for awhile? This is the forum for more advanced discussion of photography, such as exposure methods, lighting, HDR, and other techniques and controls!

C&C belongs in the galleries or in the dumping ground with everything else.

 

[dandaluzphotography]

you cut off the top of her head to capture a lot of empty space camera left leaving the composition lacking.

Hi. Thanks for the response. I thought it might look more interesting to frame it as I did. Might it have looked better if I cropped out the bottom as well a bit more?

Danny

She's looking straight ahead, so there is no reason to have the empty space. This type of framing is typical for an ad where text would be placed in the empty space, but it doesn't really work for a portrait.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll remember that.

Danny

 

[dandaluzphotography]

Forum: Beyond the Basics

Have you been at photography for awhile? This is the forum for more advanced discussion of photography, such as exposure methods, lighting, HDR, and other techniques and controls!

C&C belongs in the galleries or in the dumping ground with everything else.

Sorry if this post annoyed you, but the subject line clearly stated "...C&C". If you didn't want to see it, you shouldn't have clicked on it. Also, how can I discuss lighting and other techniques I've used without posting a result for a particular setup? Thanks for your very insightful response. Good Stuff!

Danny

 

[dandaluzphotography]

I got rid of that empty space to the left. It does look better.

 

[bazooka]

It looks like you may have slightly overdone the softening.... it looks unnatural under her eyes mostly. If you did that blurring on a separate layer, just reduce the opacity and it'll soften, but still allow the important details that tell us she is in fact human and not plastic.

 

[dandaluzphotography]

I got rid of that empty space to the left. It does look better.

Thanks. I thought I might have gone a little too far with the smoothing, but I wanted to hear some else say it as well.

 

[KmH]

Forum: Beyond the Basics

Have you been at photography for awhile? This is the forum for more advanced discussion of photography, such as exposure methods, lighting, HDR, and other techniques and controls!

C&C belongs in the galleries or in the dumping ground with everything else.

Sorry if this post annoyed you, but the subject line clearly stated "...C&C".

Beyond the Basics is not a photo gallery, or C&C forum section.

Beyond the Basics
Have you been at photography for awhile? This is the forum for more advanced discussion of photography, such as exposure methods, lighting, HDR, and other techniques and controls!

But these forum sections are for C&C:

Photography Beginners' Forum & Photo Gallery

Brand new to photography, or brushing up on some of the basics? Don’t be shy! Talk to other beginners and ask all your basic photographic questions here. Show us some of the photos you have taken so far and get some review - so you can learn where there is room for improvement!

Photo Galleries- Photos submitted by members for general display or critique.

People Photography

A gallery for sharing photos of the people in your life, from informal portraits & candids, to your home studio shots or street photography. Post for discussion and feedback, including general critique.

 

[gianchetta]

I like the new crop much better. A kicker light to the left side of the image hitting her hair would have been awesome. kicker/rim light. Play around with that. It helps to seperate the dark side of her from the background so she doesnt blend in to it. Nice shot though. My only other recommendation would be to raise the light a little. It looks a little better when its slightly higher and not shooting straight across her face as the shadws indicate.

 

[bennielou]

Personally, I like the first crop better. The second crop is weird to me. If you are going to do a centered shot, it should be full, IMO. If it contains negative space, like the first one, I think the first photo is fine, but I would have included a bit more head space.

 

[Village Idiot]

Forum: Beyond the Basics

Have you been at photography for awhile? This is the forum for more advanced discussion of photography, such as exposure methods, lighting, HDR, and other techniques and controls!

C&C belongs in the galleries or in the dumping ground with everything else.

Sorry if this post annoyed you, but the subject line clearly stated "...C&C". If you didn't want to see it, you shouldn't have clicked on it. Also, how can I discuss lighting and other techniques I've used without posting a result for a particular setup? Thanks for your very insightful response. Good Stuff!

Danny

Yeah...let's just let people post whatever they want where ever they want. Maybe I'll post up a thread about the best fried chicken recipes in the Beyond the Basics forum.

 

[gsgary]

Try a flash straight on and above and reflector under her chin, and turn the camera the other way