Self Portrait | 810 85 1.4 | 'Merica | BW

[sscarmack]

I hate taking self portraits, however it seems thats the only way to experiment haha.

Let me know what you think on the lighting and processing.

Nothing crazy, just a simple clean portrait with little retouching for clean skin.

Nikon D810
85 1.4G
1/250th
f8
iso100

Einstein 640 in white beauty dish High Right
Promaster 160a in 28" softbox rear left
White diffusor camera left to help soften up some shadows.


SOOC

 

[JustJazzie]

This is fantastic! I love the processing and the wardrobe choice. And those dimples. ;-)

I hear you about selfies being the best way to practice. I'm a bit jealous of you guys who can just jump in front of a lens. I need at least an hour for hair and makeup!

 

[Designer]

I think the lighting split is pretty good, but you need a top light, IMO. Maybe if the softbox was higher to get a bit of light on your head and shoulders.

 

[sscarmack]

This is fantastic! I love the processing and the wardrobe choice. And those dimples. ;-)

I hear you about selfies being the best way to practice. I'm a bit jealous of you guys who can just jump in front of a lens. I need at least an hour for hair and makeup!

I actually just got this shirt last week and its been my favorite ever since

Hey don't judge, I had to do my hair also.......lol


Updated with a SOOC

 

[sscarmack]

I think the lighting split is pretty good, but you need a top light, IMO. Maybe if the softbox was higher to get a bit of light on your head and shoulders.

I think I'd have to add a third light, if I move the softbox, I don't think I'd get the highlights on my face and arm.

So I think a third overhead...."Hair light".

 

[JustJazzie]

This is fantastic! I love the processing and the wardrobe choice. And those dimples. ;-)

I hear you about selfies being the best way to practice. I'm a bit jealous of you guys who can just jump in front of a lens. I need at least an hour for hair and makeup!

I actually just got this shirt last week and its been my favorite ever since

Hey don't judge, I had to do my hair also.......lol


Updated with a SOOC

Hair? What hair?? :headscratch"

The sooc seems a little dark....was that intentional? .....or is it my phone screen?

 

[sscarmack]

This is fantastic! I love the processing and the wardrobe choice. And those dimples. ;-)

I hear you about selfies being the best way to practice. I'm a bit jealous of you guys who can just jump in front of a lens. I need at least an hour for hair and makeup!

I actually just got this shirt last week and its been my favorite ever since

Hey don't judge, I had to do my hair also.......lol


Updated with a SOOC

Hair? What hair?? :headscratch"

The sooc seems a little dark....was that intentional? .....or is it my phone screen?

sooc was dark. I tend to shoot most of my photos 1-2 stops underexposed. I really don't have a reason why, I guess I'd rather it be a little dark, than blow an area out and not be able to recover it. Even with RAW, sometimes whites are harder to recover than darks.

Also, most of my "personal" work, has a darker feel to it anyways.

 

[f2bthere]

Nice job having yourself as a subject...I would be very happy if I could pull it off as well as you have.

Your concern about not clipping highlights makes sense, but not if you are in control of the lighting. If you are shooting RAW in the studio, you could expose to the right (overexposed as much as you can without clipping any highlights) and process it as dark as you want in post. This would give you a far better tonal range to work with.

If you try exposing to the right, I think you will find you get superior results and can still get the controlled dark look you want.

Expose Right - Luminous Landscape

 

[mmaria]

I hate taking self portraits...

you're funny

 

[tirediron]

Nice job. On everything but the crop. FINGER TIPS DUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[JustJazzie]

This is fantastic! I love the processing and the wardrobe choice. And those dimples. ;-)

I hear you about selfies being the best way to practice. I'm a bit jealous of you guys who can just jump in front of a lens. I need at least an hour for hair and makeup!

I actually just got this shirt last week and its been my favorite ever since

Hey don't judge, I had to do my hair also.......lol


Updated with a SOOC

Hair? What hair?? :headscratch"

The sooc seems a little dark....was that intentional? .....or is it my phone screen?

sooc was dark. I tend to shoot most of my photos 1-2 stops underexposed. I really don't have a reason why, I guess I'd rather it be a little dark, than blow an area out and not be able to recover it. Even with RAW, sometimes whites are harder to recover than darks.

Also, most of my "personal" work, has a darker feel to it anyways.

Well, I can't argue with your results. I'm still constantly surprised by the reci

Nice job having yourself as a subject...I would be very happy if I could pull it off as well as you have.

Your concern about not clipping highlights makes sense, but not if you are in control of the lighting. If you are shooting RAW in the studio, you could expose to the right (overexposed as much as you can without clipping any highlights) and process it as dark as you want in post. This would give you a far better tonal range to work with.

If you try exposing to the right, I think you will find you get superior results and can still get the controlled dark look you want.

Expose Right - Luminous Landscape

from what I understand exposing to the right or left really depends on which camera you have. It's quite common to hear of Canon users (such as in the article you quoted- choosing to ETTR but Nikon sensors have incredible dynamic range and shadow recovery and creative exposure to the left is often practiced by Nikon users, esecially creativity when you don't have time to pull out lights to even out a scenes lighting.Though, I hadn't heard of doing this specifically in a studio setting, which is why I asked if there was a reason. Anyways, I don't really think that exposing to the right is good advice for the general masses.

 

[JustJazzie]

Nice job. On everything but the crop. FINGER TIPS DUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Didn't even notice. Too busy staring at the dimples. Why'd you have to bring that up?? :giggle:

 

[tirediron]

Nice job. On everything but the crop. FINGER TIPS DUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Didn't even notice. Too busy staring at the dimples. Why'd you have to bring that up?? :giggle:

It's what I do!

 

[f2bthere]

You are right, JustJazzie, this is not good advice for the general masses. The general masses don't shoot RAW, understand post processing or know how to read a histogram. They also don't set up studio lights . This advice was aimed at a photographer who, looking at his image, clearly knows what he is doing.

It is a technique best figured out when you are under less pressure and have time to experiment (and maybe even shoot both ways). I also suggest making big prints to compare the images, where you can see the difference more clearly.

Those with noisier shadows will benefit more from less noise, no doubt, but the benefit of greater tonal range is good for all camera brands.

The first half (50 percent) of the data in your histogram is the first single stop of light (the right hand side of the histogram). The second stop of light you capture takes the next 25 percent. So the two brightest stops worth of data are spread pretty thick. The third stop is 12.5 percent. So 87 percent of the data is in those first three stops.

The critical issues are:
1. You need to be shooting RAW and post processing appropriately in 16bit. This method can make lousy JPEGs and what you see on your camera screen may not look right. You have to trust your histogram and highlight warning.
2. Don't blow important highlight detail (at least any that matters to you).

Try it. You might like it .