"School of Portraiture" - Lesson 08 - Taking it to the next level ("The Reunion")

[Pjerry]

Thanks Colin, much appreciated.

That other thing is lesson 4a and 4b, if I'm not mistaking .

[Photon Hacker]

Actually, I lied ...

... the shot above looks better than a lot of staff photos I've seen ...

What editing did you do?.

Hi Colin,

I couldn't go out today to find a right spot (lesson 1). It was cloudy all day long.

To keep the course going, I've got a question for you.
On holiday I met the deputy mayor of Périgueux. After a chat I asked him if it was all right to take a picture of him. No time for poses and so on, a point and shot is closer to the reality....

I made this picture which a back ground you would qualify as high frequency (and wrong as a consequence).

I think it's fine. However, I don't think you really meant to ask whether it is "high frequency". What does that means for you?.

[Colin Southern]

What editing did you do?.

Levels - Sharpening - Vignette

[Tony M]

I wasn't interested in doing portrait photography when this thread started. (In fact, I don't think I even noticed the thread.) But after my wife accused me of preferring photographing ducks over her and our daughter, I felt it was in my interest to get interested...

So last weekend I took some photos, then I discovered this thread and read it. I tried to follow some of the suggestions that were made on post-processing, and now I've come to a full stop; I can't tell any more if I'm improving the image or the opposite. So I submit it for your C&C.

About the photo
It's of my daughter, taken outdoors under a beige awning, with the strongest sunlight entering from the subject's right. I used a Lumi-pro gold reflector (107cm diameter), aimed from the subject's left. The background is black paper, bought from a photography shop - I don't recall any more details about it.

PP consisted of reducing exposure 1 stop; increasing orange hue to reduce the pink skin tone a bit; removed a few blemishes; removed some white reflection in the right eye; cropped away the left side of the image and space above and a bit below.

What I like about it, don't like and don't know if I like
I like the angle of her head and her direct look at the camera. The background isn't as dark as I hoped it would be. I have left space to the subject's left, but I'm not sure if it adds to the image or if a closer crop would be better. I don't like the single strand of hair over one eye, and I wish I'd asked her to brush her hair. I like the skin tone more than the original, but I'm not sure that it's the best; my monitors aren't calibrated and they don't agree with each other.

I'd really appreciate some advice from you experts out there. (Colin - you busy right now? )



Tony

[Colin Southern]

Hi Tony,

Great effort is what comes to mind first of all.

I think you've touched on all the points I was thinking too.

So to get down to the nitty gritty ...

- Personally, I'm not a fan of gold reflectors - because you end up with a skin tone that looks artificially "gold" (surprise surprise!). It's not so bad with - say - a beach action shot (implies healthy tan), but for formal portraits like this I prefer to start with accurate skintones and then (usually) warm a couple of hundred Kelvin from there. The key is to start with accurate skintones and that means at a minimum a gray card - and if you're serious, a colour profile solution like the colour passport. Basically, the more portraiture you do, the more critical you get of the skintones.

- You've got a little direction of the lighting on the face, but I'd try to make it just a little more. My usual trick is to increase the exposure and then pull back the brightness (midtones). Getting grey where there should be black is a common problem (even in the studio due to light spillage). To get around it, try to shield the black from the light (so it's in shadow), or even use black velvet cloth. In the studio I over-expose the main subject slightly so it puts them further away from the black -- then when I reduce EVERYTHING to get the subject right, the "black" goes a whole lot blacker. Opposite with white backgrounds, where I under-exposer the subject slightly.

- If all else fails, then one can just fix the background by hand in Photoshop.

- With regards to hairs on the face - yes - I do this every shoot. It's a PITA because it takes 5 seconds to fix before the photo is taken and a bloody long time to fix it properly afterwards

If you want to flick me the RAW file I'd be happy to retouch it "my way" for you as a comparison.

[Tony M]

Hi Colin,

Thanks very much for the advice. Your crop is very similar to one that I did, but didn't post in order to get another opinion.

No idea what a colour passport is (I know what a biometric one is though ), but that's what the Internet is for.

The RAW file is at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/185969/CinC/TM20120506_7319.CR2.

I forgot to say that I also sharpened it, trying to follow your advice earlier in this thread.

Off to have some breakfast.

Tony

[Colin Southern]

Here you go Tony ..

[Tony M]

Wow! That is amazing! Just imagine what you could do if she were in your studio! (I'll be in NZ this Christmas to see family, but unfortunately I very much doubt we'll be passing through Nelson.)

I'll re-shoot this weekend to try to capture something closer to your final result and see if I can PP it as well as you did.

I'm very grateful for the time you have dedicated to helping us all to improve our portrait photography.

Tony

[Colin Southern]

Wow! That is amazing! Just imagine what you could do if she were in your studio! (I'll be in NZ this Christmas to see family, but unfortunately I very much doubt we'll be passing through Nelson.)

I'll re-shoot this weekend to try to capture something closer to your final result and see if I can PP it as well as you did.

I'm very grateful for the time you have dedicated to helping us all to improve our portrait photography.

Tony

No worries Tony - always a pleasure.

To be honest, I've got it easy - lights coming out of my ears, and a state of the art studio means this kind of shot is pretty much "cookie cutter". I think you did really well with what you had.

Some suggestions for next time ...

- Try to get the Aperture to at least F5.6 - (F8 preferred) when you're in close like this. And get an AF point on the closest eye. Watch your shutterspeed (a tripod is a good thing, but also, don't be afraid to up the ISO - ISO 400 or even 800 is OK (or heaven forbid, get some flash lighting!).

- Black backdrops with natural light are a challenge, because you have no effective way to separate the two light zones like we do in the studio - so the blacker the better - and you just can't beat black velvet (just by some and then clip it to your existing board). Having just said that, nothing says it has to be black.

- If you don't get a grey card for a reference shot I'll personally fly over there - and - and - well frankly I don't know what I'd do ... but gray cards are still a great thing! Failing that, even a sheet of paper is better than nothing.

Good luck trying to emulate my PP

[wlou]

Hello Tony & Colin, you have a great model to start with! I love the post production (is it whats its called?) that Colin did. I try to analyse it it my head: more contrast, blacks, white the eyes + sharpen the iris + green, lip color + pink...What a nice result on a great start. I am only on #4 school of portraiture, going to read some more. Did I say I realy like it?

[Tony M]

Colin, it must be way past your bed-time. Do you sleep?

I have a tripod (and used it). I wasn't sure on the best aperture setting, so thanks for the advice. And I'll go buy a grey card. I actually have a 580 EX II flash, which I'm embarrassed to admit because I haven't yet mastered it. So while at the shop I'll get one of those white translucent umbrellas (translated from Spanish as I can't remember the English term) and see what I can do. I'll re-read some of this thread as I think there was some advice there on using flash etc.

Tony

[Colin Southern]

Hello Tony & Colin, you have a great model to start with! I love the post production (is it whats its called?) that Colin did. I try to analyse it it my head: more contrast, blacks, white the eyes + sharpen the iris + green, lip color + pink...What a nice result on a great start. I am only on #4 school of portraiture, going to read some more. Did I say I realy like it?

... enlarge the eyes ... tone-based skin soften ... blemish & hair removal

[Colin Southern]

Colin, it must be way past your bed-time. Do you sleep?

I have a tripod (and used it). I wasn't sure on the best aperture setting, so thanks for the advice. And I'll go buy a grey card. I actually have a 580 EX II flash, which I'm embarrassed to admit because I haven't yet mastered it. So while at the shop I'll get one of those white translucent umbrellas (translated from Spanish as I can't remember the English term) and see what I can do. I'll re-read some of this thread as I think there was some advice there on using flash etc.

Tony

LOL - and that was after a 3 hour evening session in the studio helping another photographer with lighting etc!

Tripod is good - it doesn't help with subject motion, but there shouldn't be a lot of that anyway -- and it totally eliminates camera shake. I use F11 in the studio as a standard starting point, but apart from a great DoF is as much because of the minimum power the lights put out.

A good book for learning the 580EX II is http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Cano...6680703&sr=8-4 (also available in Kindle Edition) (N K Guy was kind enough to send me a courtesy copy - it's very very good). The bottom line is that if you're serious about quality portraiture then using flashes is just a fact of life; a lot of folks like to say "I prefer working with only natural light" which is a loose translation for "I don't know how to use a flash"! Personally - outside - it's always a mix of flash and ambient, but IMO, ambient only sucks

White Translucent Umbrella is one name (and a perfectly good one) - "Shoot Through umbrella" is another. After that, the next step is a flash/umbrella bracket - light stand - and some kind of off-camera triggering. I've just upgraded all of mine to the new 600EX-RT and an ST-E3-RT with all the communication gear built in ... HEAVEN!

Just sing out for flash help - not much I can't help you with when it comes to EOS flash

[wlou]

... enlarge the eyes ... tone-based skin soften ... blemish & hair removal

May I ask what software program you use to obtain these great results?

[Colin Southern]

May I ask what software program you use to obtain these great results?

Hi Louise,

I use Photoshop CS5, but to a significant degree it's a bit like asking a builder what brand of power tools he used to build a great looking house. Ultimately (for me anyway) the quality of the result comes from the power of the tools, but to an even greater degree, knowing how to use them).

[wlou]

Dear Colin,

funny you should say that. For a beginner, everything looks like magic when it comes to photo! Of couse there is a learning curve to everithing. Also, since I took up photography, a bit late in life I might add, I found out it is not just a question of point and click. I had to learn everything from the ground up. Your site has tremendus tutorials and is jam packed with information, witch I love. The learning of computor post-processing sometimes takes longuer than the picture itself. That is why I put a lot of care in tacking a picture and show only my best ones. I use Lr3, and add borders with a tiny program calles "Collage" that cost 5$.
I was showing the changes you made to the above picture to the person sitting beside me at the time, who said ask him which program he uses. I will make sure to share your answer with him.
Thank you.

[Tony M]

A good book for learning the 580EX II is http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Cano...6680703&sr=8-4 (also available in Kindle Edition) (N K Guy was kind enough to send me a courtesy copy - it's very very good).

Thanks for the recommendation. I ordered the book last week and should have it delivered tomorrow.

I've just upgraded all of mine to the new 600EX-RT and an ST-E3-RT with all the communication gear built in ... HEAVEN!

I went into a camera shop in Madrid (a big one that has EVERYTHING) and bought the stand, shoot-through umbrella and a Hahnel Tuff TTL wireless flash trigger. That was what the shop assistant selected for me; I didn't do any research beforehand, so I hope I made a good choice.

I won't have time to use this stuff for another 10 days, as I have to go to a wedding in Cordoba. And no, I won't be the photographer.

Tony

[sarablakely906]

My many thanks to everyone for a great Fall school season.

Now that we are through the winter holidays we can breath deeply in knowing that the first half of the school year is through. Before we know it, it will be spring. This means spring portraits, cap and gown, outdoor sessions, the works.

I am busy working on the Spring setting; much like the fall setting, this one will include the backdrop artwork of a California artist and a setting that corresponds with the season. Our artist from last fall, Mary Welch was extremely successful. I had more people complementing me on the setting than perhaps ever before.

[PhotoByTrace]

I read the lessons a while back and finally got the opportunity to try some of it out on real people rather than pups...
The first two are indoors, window lit from the right with a reflector board on the left tilted in towards the front. I believe both photos would have benefited from closing down my aperture to add more depth of field. And in the first if I'd kept the focus on the eye closest to the camera it would have helped. I did intentionally want the field to drop away in the second photo, but in hindsight, not as quickly as what I've shot it at.
Appreciate feedback on these elements as well as the framing and anything you think I can note and work on. As for processing... arrgghhh... not quite like landscapes or dogs... all help appreciated.





The last one is outdoors. No reflector this time. Simplest of backgrounds, grey concrete wall, in the shade of the building.

[gavett]

Hi, am fairly new to photography and portraiture. Here is one of my pics and I would be grateful if you could help me with your views and suggestions. thanks