Sara in B&W

BanditPhotographyNW

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I am taking a lighting class here in Portland, this week we were treated to some models and a location called Union/Pine. These are my results in B&W....C&C welcome....Equipment was fairly limited and shared between 4 groups,we had a donated set of 2 ProPhoto mono lights a small soft box an 18 in square semi-sheer reflector and my camera oh and a small white fill card...

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6.


7.


8.
 
OK, this is a toughie.
I like 5 and 8 but it's hard to express why exactly.
In most of these, the light isn't well controlled and there are hard shadows and bright places, almost randomly. There is little contact with the person and they seem quite loosely cropped.
Dark eye shadows and dark halves of the face just seem off-putting. In most of these I have to find the face to look at while there are brights spots everywhere.
#5 & #8. are the easiest to edit because her best look is absolutely straight on - and there is good contact.

I think that these both can be quite nice with a different approach to the conversion process.
(I used the color original, I hope that's OK). This is the original, the wall is bright, the cushion is bright, the pillow is bright , all competing for attention

newspace_modelshootoriginal.jpg~original


I like a controlled but dramatic color original and I do a lot of changing in the color because the edits are easier and a coherent result in color makes the BW easier.
Knock down the bright spots that aren't her face, Be especially hard on the parts that aren't important like the wall and floor.
Lighten the dark side of her face. Darken her hands.
The pre-bw in color should look pretty dramatic. but that will lead to a better bw

newspace_modelshoollcolor.jpg~original


The conversion should be easy because the darks and lights are taken care of.
some vignetting, a tiny bit of sepia tone to warm it up and I think it looks quite ok.
(I probably should have burnt in her knee also, but you get the idea.)

newspace_modelshoot1LLBW.jpg~original
 
Frames 5 and 8 are the only two where her gaze is directed at the viewer, and not averted, which instantly makes them more-appealing photos.

These are tough to evaluate, in part because the wall behind here is probably one of the WORST walls one could ever find; it's eye-drawing, dynamic, attention-stealing, and downright distracting. In short, that wall is a horrible element to be forced to work in front of. The power of multiple, angled lines going up and down, and in and out of the frame...OMG...The strong metal rail that runs horizontally, just above the back of the couch, and the dark carpet with white lines running across the bottom of some of the frames...all in all the "scene" itself makes these a visual nightmare. This would truly be a challenge to work with.

As to the lighting, it does seem a bit chaotic. I like the main light placement in shot #7, which gives a well-lighted view of her face. The others have pretty dramatic lighting. One thing that runs through most of these seems to be what looks like a backlight, placed low down on the wall, behind the couch; in several shots, this light has created a bright spot, which draws the eye away from the woman. Light advances, dark recedes. In this case, with that strong diagonal wall covering, the hot spots created are very distracting and really hurt the images.

I'm not sure what the lesson was supposed to teach. But there are always lessons in sessions like this. One observation I have is that the physical size of the light used as the main light in these rendered a fairly hard shadow under the chin, and off to the side of the nose. High drama, but again, in THIS, specific room, with the features the room had, that kind of lighting does not appeal to me. The B&W further emphasizes this rather hard main light and low fill ratio look. Shot #7 shows a CLASSIC way to light a woman's face when using a small, hard main light source: with the light high, and at 1 o'clock' it lights the entire front plane of the face, casts a strong under-shadow chin shadow which causes the face to "project", and has a small nose shadow. This type of lighting has been used for decades, both from the sun, and from studio light sources,and I like it.

I dunno what to really offer C&C on except to point out that there is always something worthwhile in these types of lighting sessions. You went, you did, you got results. You learned something, most certainly.
 
Hey thank you both very much for your well conveyed comments...I will work on the things you both mentioned in this weeks shoot and see how it goes. This location was full of crazy walls this one believe it or not was pretty tame in comparison to the back room, I call this wall the tire tread wall...
 
I prefer #3, IMO best compo and nicest play of the light. However #8 has very good dynamics in model itself, it is engaging, but for different reasons, than given already. Maybe next time just better choice of BG.:)
 
Ya I hear you on the background here was the other background I got to use very briefly...



 
:) Well, this BG is even worst. This pictures are more of snapshots than portraits really. What I meant about BG is also rendering it as a less important plane, preferably out of DoF, like this picture by Josh (our member):
2013012703 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!



 
I see so you would have adjusted for dof then? making the walls less obtrusive...
 
I see so you would have adjusted for dof then? making the walls less obtrusive...
Well, obtrusive like obtrusive, BG can still ad something to the portrait. I prefer to describe it as "less important", not drawing as much attention as the main subject and from visual PoV shallow DoF creates a 3D effect. It's not a rule of course, there is many famous portraits with 100% DoF, but on many occasions such a portraits show environment connected to the photographed person. So, basically all is the question of what works for you or your subject. But me ? I am just bystander, I don't know anyone here, I can only enjoy the aesthetics of your pictures and comment on that. :)
 
I appreciate the feedback timor...Definitely a lot to consider lol
 

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