Young Lady

[jcdeboever]

I was honored to be asked to take her pic. Her father is a good friend of mine and an ex NBA basketball player. Continuous light. Fujifilm XP2, XF 50-140 f2.8.

Portrait improvement project 2018

Young Lady

 

[smoke665]

Nice JC. My son and his wife are fostering a little girl that has the most beautiful ebony skin, that has given me fits on everything from lighting to processing in trying to get it right.

 

[DanOstergren]

I think the lighting needs to be positioned higher. To me it isn't flattering to her to have the light source at the same height as her face.

 

[jcdeboever]

I think the lighting needs to be positioned higher. To me it isn't flattering to her to have the light source at the same height as her face.

Thanks Dan. I struggle with where to place the light. I move it around a lot and I have it on casters now. It was slightly above her at maybe a 30°. I the last thread I posted, someone mentioned to bring it down because shadows or something.

My question is, why is it not flattering?

What should I look for?

Thanks in advance as I admire your work and want to get better.

 

[tirediron]

Dan makes a good point. While it's a nice enough portrait, it could be better IMO,. My issue with the light is that you've essentially created to large specular highlights (forehead & chin). I would also recommend short-lighting someone with a more oval face like this. In general, I start by placing the bottom edge of my modifier about even with the eyes and angled down at about 30 degrees. This generally brings the catchlights into the more traditional "10" and "2" positions.

 

[Donde]

The almost white lower lip looks very odd. With regard to Dan's question one would be showing the double chin. That said it is nicely composed and a well rendered image.

 

[Derrel]

The camera placement is a bit low on this (nostrils, double chin), and the contrast is very high (no detail in hair braids,no detail in iris of eyes), and the broad lighting on her is not the most flattering, and the head-and-chest in the same orientation is a somewhat traditional masculine body positioning. With the head and torso in the same alignment, and her head not looking cross-body, and with broad lighting...that makes this shot a good place to start for a portrait improvement project, because there are a handful of classical portrait "guidelines" that are being violated in this shot. I don' wanna' bash on this shot, or on you, but there are a whole list of traditionally arrived at, almost guaranteed ways of flattering any portrait subject.

This is not a flattering pose; it's a traditional masculine chest-and-head-in-the same-direction shot, and she's full-figured, and this is the exact opposite way she would look best in both lighting, and body/head positioning. Broad light, low main light,camera too low, lens too short,excessive contrast,severe rendering,etc..

 

[jcdeboever]

Please advise on how to pose

 

[Derrel]

Posing: in the above shot, her shoulders are pretty square to the back of the camera, which is "static",and you want "dynamic". SO...Turn her body away from the light and create an angle to the shoulders in relation to the back of the camera. Turn her head cross-body (creates dynamism and shows a feminine bosom), and back toward the light. That's a basic way to make a woman look slimmer, more-active, more "alive" on film. You need some angle to the torso/chest/shoulders.

In this shot, the widest expanse of her face has the light sweeping across it, which widens her face out: that is called broad lighting. She is broadly-lighted, which is good for making a face look wider.

Ideally, she should be more centered in the frame, and her eye direction has a LOT of "eye-cut", and is angled across to the short side of the frame...you're showing us a side-eyed look...

Ideally, sit her on a backless stool, have her lean forward from the waist, then pull her shoulders back, with the bust up and out, a super-perfect type of posture; this looks GREAT on-film...her posture is not good, her body is not "under tension"...

If you want to know more, Google the Zeltsman Approach to Traditional Classic Portraiture.

The on-line lessons might seem dated to those who do not understand that, for thousands of years, we've refined the BEST ways to sculpt,and pose, and model. Actors know this stuff...top models know this stuff...trained classical photography artists know this stuff..

Here's the complete course:

Zeltsman Apporach to Traditionla Classic Portraiture