Shon - Natural Light Portraits

[DanOstergren]

From a client shoot I did in April. Shots 5 and 6 may not align with everybody's sensibilities, but it's no more than anyone would see on a public beach.

All were lit using natural light and a white disc reflector.

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2

3

4

5

6

 

[smoke665]

Dark pigment skin is an area I struggle with, especially in the darker ebony shades. It's like a dark hole that sucks up light till it doesn't, it takes work to finesse the rich caramel shades that lie in the deepest layer of the epidermis. You've done a nice job bringing that out, though you lost it just a bit on the tip of the nose in the first one, better on the 2nd. Probably a difference in style, but I prefer a DOF that allows me to capture the tip of the nose to just in front of the ears. IMO I find an OOF area on the tip of the nose distracting and takes away from the eyes.

Overall solid set that I'm sure your client was happy with!

 

[DanOstergren]

Dark pigment skin is an area I struggle with, especially in the darker ebony shades. It's like a dark hole that sucks up light till it doesn't, it takes work to finesse the rich caramel shades that lie in the deepest layer of the epidermis. You've done a nice job bringing that out, though you lost it just a bit on the tip of the nose in the first one, better on the 2nd. Probably a difference in style, but I prefer a DOF that allows me to capture the tip of the nose to just in front of the ears. IMO I find an OOF area on the tip of the nose distracting and takes away from the eyes.

Overall solid set that I'm sure your client was happy with!

Thank you for the kind words.

Yes, it's definitely a difference in style regarding what's in focus and what's thrown out of focus, as I particularly love portraits with a very shallow depth of field such as in the shots you mentioned. I've gone through many trials over the last 18 years to find out what I like, from doing all of my outdoor portraits at f/8, to now choosing to do them at f/1.2, and for now it is what I prefer.

 

[smoke665]

I've gone through many trials over the last 18 years to find out what I like, from doing all of my outdoor portraits at f/8, to now choosing to do them at f/1.2, and for now it is what I prefer.

Yup I've been finding new "preferences" for the last 55 years, it's what keeps things fresh!! I shoot some ambient portraits at f/2.8 with a 70-200mm. As DOF is a function of aperture and distance to the subject, it's a good way to shoot wide open, still gain DOF by increasing the distance, and using the longer focal length to decrease the FOV. The longer length adds compression to the background, creating a pleasing OOF.