Look into my eyes

[carregwen]

Taken recently in a studio, with full light set. Canon 50D 24-105mmL, f/8, 1/125s. ISO100

Comments welcome.

[bmpress]

Taken recently in a studio, with full light set. Canon 50D 24-105mmL, f/8, 1/125s. ISO100

Comments welcome.

Hi...This is a beautiful picture that IMHO would be improved by dodging the girl's arm to reduce the competition from her face.

Barry

[Daniel Salazar]

....what can I say, I like them, I'm learning right now all the strobist techniques and I really like you're doing.

As per what I can see, is that I see that your lights are soft, on a man that would look not so appealing but in a woman and a child is nice to have.

My only critic is that you can see on her eyes the reflection of the umbrella positioned in front of her. If I'm not wrong you used a umbrella to reflect the light @ 7 in a higher position than her face.

Another thing, which is not a critic, it's more a question. Do you know what could had happened if your light positioned @ 10 in a upper position would have been a little bot more in the back and not so high?

By the way, it's nice to have more people here interested in the strobist techniques.

[carregwen]

....what can I say, I like them, I'm learning right now all the strobist techniques and I really like you're doing.

As per what I can see, is that I see that your lights are soft, on a man that would look not so appealing but in a woman and a child is nice to have.

My only critic is that you can see on her eyes the reflection of the umbrella positioned in front of her. If I'm not wrong you used a umbrella to reflect the light @ 7 in a higher position than her face.

Another thing, which is not a critic, it's more a question. Do you know what could had happened if your light positioned @ 10 in a upper position would have been a little bot more in the back and not so high?

By the way, it's nice to have more people here interested in the strobist techniques.

I can't quite recall the set-up now (this was a few months ago) The lights were Elincrom studio lights, and I think this one was a light shone back into a reflecting dish. Here's a blow-up screen-grab. The lights werequite high above the model. I'm still learning about lighting I'm afraid!

I agree with Barry regards the shoulder. I guess s a problem with any model is different skin shades due to sun-tanning etc. Or maybe it was just the flash light causing it.

[Alis]

This is beautiful. I like the lighting and the dark background.

What do you think about the stray hair? They are so shiny and sharp that on such a dark background like this they become a little bit distracting.

Also, you did a nice job on the skin but I think you missed a spot in the middle of her left cheek.

Great work.

Alis

[kevinbythebeach]

Hi...This is a beautiful picture that IMHO would be improved by dodging the girl's arm to reduce the competition from her face.

Barry

Dodge the shirt too

[carregwen]

Dodge the shirt too

Thank you. I edited the TIFF in CS4 ACR and using the ND grad tool to lower the intensity of the shirt and shoulder from the BL corner across to the middle of the shot.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Rob,

That is much better, but I think Alis has a valid point about the light catching rather too many stray hairs and it being a bit of a distraction.

It would obviously be quite tedious to try and clone some out, so how about tonin the almost specular brightness of them down a bit as you have with the shoulder, etc.?

Good shot though,

[carregwen]

Thank you for the feedback. Hair tidied and the hair highlights toned down.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Rob,

That was a quick turnaround, it was only an idea!

You had already done the hard part; Give me a camera, flashes and a pretty girl and I'd seriously struggle and not produce anything this good.


I've just had a look at your website (recommended viewing for other members) - you have some very nice images there.

A very well designed site too, the only thing I found I needed to do beyond the advice you give for viewing the images was use f11 for a full screen view, but since that won't be the same on all browsers or computers, don't change anything, keep it simple.

I've been through most galleries and I like the naming of most images, if I have one idea, it might be that "Mother and child" could alternatively be called "A bit of a handful" a nicely captured shot though, that any parent will immediately identify with.

Cheers,

[carregwen]

Thank you, Dave for the kind words. I have the advantage over a lot of other photographers in that I am retired (too much time) and I live in a great landscape area.

I was going to call the shot 'The Great Escape!'

Rob

[Colin Southern]

Thank you, Dave for the kind words. I have the advantage over a lot of other photographers in that I am retired (too much time) and I live in a great landscape area.

I was going to call the shot 'The Great Escape!'

Rob

Hi Rob,

Nice shot. It's always refreshing to see portraiture like that.

Hope you don't mind, but I've given it one of my notorious "Photoshop 30 Second makeovers" (TM!), with the following tweaks to see if you think it's an improvement ...

- More yellow added to counter slight blue cast (visable in the white top, but also affecting skin tones).

- Small highlight recovery used to subtly reduce the distraction of the white in the top and the highlight on the arm.

- Small fill light to bring out a bit more depth around neck

- Slight exposure reduction to give better skin tones (less washout)

- Content sharpening (face only)

- Slight desaturation (global)

- Slight increase in saturation of lips

[carregwen]

Hi Rob,

Nice shot. It's always refreshing to see portraiture like that.

Hope you don't mind, but I've given it one of my notorious "Photoshop 30 Second makeovers" (TM!), with the following tweaks to see if you think it's an improvement ...

- More yellow added to counter slight blue cast (visable in the white top, but also affecting skin tones).

- Small highlight recovery used to subtly reduce the distraction of the white in the top and the highlight on the arm.

- Small fill light to bring out a bit more depth around neck

- Slight exposure reduction to give better skin tones (less washout)

- Content sharpening (face only)

- Slight desaturation (global)

- Slight increase in saturation of lips

If she gets any more attractive I'm going to have to get a divorce!

Interesting changes there. The hair looks better, and I agree, the shirt was a bit blue which was pure white in the flesh. I shouldn't have mentioned that word...

Thanks for the edit.

[kevinbythebeach]

If she gets any more attractive I'm going to have to get a divorce!

hehe.. shes definitly getting prettier..nice job colin , looks really good..

[Colin Southern]

If she gets any more attractive I'm going to have to get a divorce!

Interesting changes there. The hair looks better, and I agree, the shirt was a bit blue which was pure white in the flesh. I shouldn't have mentioned that word...

Thanks for the edit.

No worries

BTW, what happened to her upper arm - I see a horizontal line there. Cloning out a tattoo or the like?

[Colin Southern]

hehe.. shes definitly getting prettier..nice job colin , looks really good..

Thanks Kevin.

[carregwen]

BTW, what happened to her upper arm - I see a horizontal line there. Cloning out a tattoo or the like?

I think it must be a tan line from a garment she was wearing in the sun.

[Dave Humphries]

what happened to her upper arm - I see a horizontal line there

That line is very straight, my guess is she spent a quite a while in a pool and her shoulders were exposed to the sun.

[rpcrowe]

Lovely image of a breathtakingly beautiful woman. Great job!

[Colin Southern]

That line is very straight, my guess is she spent a quite a while in a pool and her shoulders were exposed to the sun.

Let me see ...

- Young lady - sun ...

... yep, sounds about right!