Square cropped portraits (SCPs) - please post them here

[Antonio Correia]

I didn't feel like resisting so...

[Antonio Correia]

Or even this crop with the same settings but with a larger view...

[Alis]

Very nice shots, Peter!

Mum's picture is a bit overexposed in some areas I guess due to direct flash but specially the birthday boy's picture came out very nice.

Antionio, although Peter's version may be a bit too bright, I suspect the little girl's actual skin tone is closer to what Peter had posted and not to yours. Your's is probably more like a tanned version of her. OR it is all my monitor showing everything too dark and burnt?

But anyway, excellent shots!

[Antonio Correia]

... I suspect the little girl's actual skin tone is closer to what Peter had posted and not to yours. Your's is probably more like a tanned version of her. OR it is all my monitor showing everything too dark and burnt?...

Now that you say it Alis, I must agree with you
It's not your monitor Alis
Have a nice week end

[stevewe88]

After all Joshua was enjoying the bread
(

I think Joshua enjoyed the bread far more than the ducks, their taste buds are more used to stale bread rather than our sun dried tomato bread :-D

[Antonio Correia]

Hello Peter
Am I forgiven now ?

[peterb533]

This may not be to everyone's taste but I like it so here it is. Let me know what you think. (As if you wont )

EXIF: Fuji GX680, 210mm F5.6 lens at F16 and 1/4sec on Fuji FB100 Instant film, scanned into CS4

[peterb533]

Hello Peter
Am I forgiven now ?

What's to forgive?

[Antonio Correia]

Hello Peter
Thank you for posting.
In fact the work you have done to the image is not of my liking but if you do like it ...
I think the portrait would be nicer if there was more field in front of her and not behind. This means that I think she should be more to our left to show more background at our right.
Oh, I am not in my days to explain properly. But I think you understand what I mean. I hope so at least.

Very nice shots, Peter!... Antonio, ... I suspect the little girl's actual skin tone is closer to what Peter had posted and not to yours. Your's is probably more like a tanned version of her....

Now that you say it Alis, I must agree with you It's not your monitor Alis ...

Hello Peter
Am I forgiven now ?

What's to forgive?

Alis said - and I totally agreed - that her skin was not so "dark" on the image I posted before and I was posting again with the correction.
So, I was sorry to have worked on her skin in the wrong direction

Regards

[peterb533]

Perhaps this is more to your taste. From the same session but whereas the last one was not processed in any way, apart from a small crop and some sharpening, this has been converted to true black and white using Nik Siver Efx Pro (Soft skin option).

[Antonio Correia]

Hello Peter
Sorry but I have been busy these days...

Yes, indeed I like best this version.
Regards

[Maritimer1]

Hello Antonio and others. I have been receiving such excellent advice about prom photos that I wanted to keep practicing.

Just below is the original. It was shot about an hour before sundown on June 25th. My objective was to obtain a focused shot that would showcase her eyes. The camera info is as follows:
Camera: Canon 40D
50mm lens
1/180
f/5.6
ISO 500
Manual Exposure/ Spot Metering/no flash

Original




This is the final product. C&C welcomed and appreciated.




Thank you!

Myra

[Ashwin]

Hello Antonio and others. I have been receiving such excellent advice about prom photos that I wanted to keep practicing.

Just below is the original. It was shot about an hour before sundown on June 25th. My objective was to obtain a focused shot that would showcase her eyes. The camera info is as follows:
Camera: Canon 40D
50mm lens
1/180
f/5.6
ISO 500
Manual Exposure/ Spot Metering/no flash

Original




This is the final product. C&C welcomed and appreciated.




Thank you!

Myra

It appears from all of your Images posted in this forum, they have WHITE BALANCE problem. There is distinct CYAN cast, in PP just add some amount of Red , increase saturation, and your pictures will be alright

[Maritimer1]

Thank you, Ashwin! I thought something was off. For awhile I was giving my photos a greenish tinge. Can you tell me how to best avoid this when shooting or is this always a PP issue? For white balance, I often use auto as I shoot in RAW and it doesn't matter which WB setting you use, does it?

Myra

[Colin Southern]

Hi Myra,

The biggest issue is that your black clipping point isn't high enough -- this is what forces gray areas in to solid black ... if you don't set it high enough you can get a lot of washout, and the image will generally look what's termed flat. Here's a 10 second makeover for you to compare the two ...



In terms of getting your white balance correct, the best way to achieve accurate repeatable results is to take a reference of a spectrally neutral reference (ie "gray card"), and then use that as a definitive white balance reference for all the other shots taken under the same lighting conditions.

eg

[Donald]

the best way to achieve accurate repeatable results is to take a reference of a spectrally neutral reference (ie "gray card")

Your WhiBal is bigger than my WhiBal. I bet you've got the set.

Myra - in case you haven't come across this one before. You take a picture as above. When you're processing from that shoot, click on that card and you get your accurate white balance reading. Depending on your RAW processing software, you can then store that reading and apply it to other images shot in the same conditions. Or if your RAW converter doesn't store the reading, make a note of it and dial it into the White Balance for each of the subsequent images you process.

This is one thing that Canon's own DPP software is very good for. It's really easy to store a reading and use it for other images in the set.

[Colin Southern]

Your WhiBal is bigger than my WhiBal. I bet you've got the set.

And that was just my SMALL reference!

[Ashwin]

Thank you, Ashwin! I thought something was off. For awhile I was giving my photos a greenish tinge. Can you tell me how to best avoid this when shooting or is this always a PP issue? For white balance, I often use auto as I shoot in RAW and it doesn't matter which WB setting you use, does it?

Myra

Hi Myra,

You are going wrong way.
Your photographs have cyan cast and you are giving them more dose of greenish tinge, this way you are increasing problem ,
Instead of adding greenish tinge, you will be nearer to solution if you reduce green.

Your almost all pictures lack contrast this also add to your problem.If you are familiar with photoshop and using this software for your PP work. Press Ctrl + L and you will get level dialogue, move middle slider slowly towards right, you will see the difference.

Colin is the right person who will guide you properly step by step to improve the quality of your pictures.

[Maritimer1]

Super advice! I've not used a grey card but will hop off to the photo shop tomorrow and see what they have. Thanks for the photos of how to use them. I'll have to pull a Donald and haul the manual out to see how to set a custom white balance. Ashwin, I will pay more attention to the contrast issue and use the Levels slider.

Colin, what a difference in her face.

Thanks so much. There are no courses near me to take, and those that are in the city are pretty pricey. CinC is phenomenal for people like me who really want to learn and improve. Books and web tutorials are great, but there is no feedback and input like this forum! It's a gem. (With a lot of great humour to boot )

Myra

[Colin Southern]

I'll have to pull a Donald and haul the manual out to see how to set a custom white balance.

That's one way to do it - but it's faster & more consistent to just take a photo of the gray card and batch fix in post-processing (the problem with custom white balance in camera is you need to get quite close to the gray card and if you're not careful you can end up with a different reference to what you would have got; I'm not saying it doesn't work, but you DO have to be careful in how you do it -- and it's even harder to get a good result if you're using fill flash).

Colin, what a difference in her face.

Yes - perhaps next time I can tweak something in ACR and send it back to you so you can see how the sliders are set. What version software do you use for post processing?

There are no courses near me to take, and those that are in the city are pretty pricey. CinC is phenomenal for people like me who really want to learn and improve. Books and web tutorials are great, but there is no feedback and input like this forum! It's a gem. (With a lot of great humour to boot )

To be honest, in my experience, the quality of courses can vary between "very very good" all the way down to "the blind leading the blind". The joys of an environment like CiC is that the teaching is subject to constand "peer review" in that others can see what's being said -- correct things that aren't quite right - add their own perspectives etc. If video tuition is more your thing though, I can TOTALLY recommend www.kelbytraining.com - zillions of videos to watch online (most around 2 hours long) all for USD $29.95 a month (or less if you sign up for a year); hands down the best value for money on the planet.