Portrait of Marine

[bje07]

# 1

[bnnrcn]

I like the image very much Jean Some PP artifacts in the BG?

[Manfred M]

To me, the is not one of your better shots.

I'm not a fan of images that fade into the background, like this one. That's what rim lights, hair lights and background lights are used for.

I find that there are some awkward angles here too. Your model's head looks almost detached from her body and her right hand (i.e camera left) looks rather strange and almost skeletal.

[bje07]

Manfred this new portrait will be better for you?

# 2

[Rent]

Sorry but I don't like the hands or the shoulder in the first The second lacks the eyes

[Manfred M]

Manfred this new portrait will be better for you?

Better, yes, but it still exhibits similar issues. Her hair on the camera left side fades into the black background. Her dress on the camera right side does too. Is there any reason you cut off the tips of your model's fingers along the bottom of the frame?

Shooting a model in dark clothing against a dark background is not an easy task as the photographer needs to find some way of creating some separation. I think more fill light would not be amiss either.

[Shadowman]

The model really stands out on both images, my gaze gets pulled to the backgrounds a bit; but only for a bit, its the skin tones and expression that bring my eyes back to the model.

[Mike Buckley]

I really like the first image! The high-contrast look is a great fit with the skin tones and the expression on the subject's face. The pose is delightfully coy.

It's just a matter of personal taste as to whether the subject needs to be separated from the background. Rim lights and the like separate the subject from the background. The opposite kind of lighting allows the subject to emerge from the background, sometimes in a mysterious manner perhaps mostly depending on the subject's body language and facial expression.

I've noticed anecdotally that the widely recognized great images maintain separation nearly throughout or very little; any style in between those two styles risks being considered a mistake. For an example of an image that maintains very little separation of the subject from the background, consider Alfred Stieglitz's famous self-portrait.

[FootLoose]

I am partial to the first image, too. I understand all the technical points Manfred makes, but for me there is sufficient light on her hair to define her against the background. My only problem is that hands seem to be disproportionately large. I like the way the triangular shape of her arms point up to head, though.

[Manfred M]

Jean - the metadata with the first image shows that you are using a 35mm focal length on a FF camera and that you are shooting at f/6.3.

Both of these seem rather odd for a studio shot. The 35mm focal length will accentuate the size of anything forward of the face (especially the eyes). Normally one shoots at least a short telephoto lens for this type of image to reduce this effect. I generally shoot portraits with either my 105mm lens or my 70-200mm lens. A lot of photographers use an 85mm lens for this type of shot.

Normally for studio shots I tend to be around f/11 to give sufficient DoF to make the entire image acceptably sharp. Again in a studio setting, my lights have the power to do this.


I can't pull any useful metadata from the second image.

[bje07]

The second lacks the eyes

Their eyes were intentionally closed.

[bje07]

Another pose with smooth light, wit one soft box, what was the subject of this series

[Rent]

I much prefer this to the other two

[Dave Humphries]

Another pose with smooth light, with one soft box, what was the subject of this series

Ah-hah; if taking the shots using only a single softbox was the object (or exercise) of the series, it would have helped if we had known that from the beginning Jean - now it all makes more sense.

For example, knowing this was the intent, I observe:

1) of the first shot; that the softbox was quite low, probably with it's centre lower than the model's head.

2) of the second; that you must have it positioned quite close above her (because I note the fall off difference between the illumination on her head, shoulder and foot. (although I know this can be changed in PP)

3) of the third; similar light position to the first, judging by the catchlights.

I'm not sure how much those observations help you (not a lot), but I enjoyed analysing the series.

I assume she is a 'marine' in the military sense of the word and therefore not used to modelling, which I think shows in her poses, that said, she's lovely to look at - but I'd still like to see her personality in the shots. Not sure I'm making any sense - and I definitely doubt I could achieve what I am asking for - but that's why we should "keeping taking the shots".

Further thoughts:
While taking great portraits with a single light is possible, as you can see from the issues Manfred raised, it is difficult and mostly relies on other factors, such as the model's clothing, ambience of the location to provide separation between model and background, also on the photographer's rapport with the model to extract personality.

However, if you or I were to continue to shoot little other than one light portraits in a confined*, dark place, we might, in time, become known for this style and it would just be accepted.

* causing use of 35mm, I suggest

Cheers, Dave

[bje07]

I assume she is a 'marine' in the military sense of the word

Her name is "Marine", I try to keep the name (or nickname) of my models for naming my pictures.

confined causing use of 35mm, I suggest

that is exactly why for these shots I used a 35 mm.

Thank you Dave for your comments/suggestions.

[Shadowman]

Third image nicely done as well, has nice shadow effect and the crop/pose very elegant and interesting.

[Manfred M]

I often shoot with only one softbox, but will virtually always complement it with a reflector (in the case of when I shoot women or children, it will be a white reflector) to add some fill light. I also tend to select my backgrounds so that they complement the models / clothing so that I don't need to go with any hair, rim or background lighting. I prefer simple lighting setups to overly complex ones and the vast majority of my work uses a single active light with a single reflector.

I suspect my classical training with studio lights (and lens selection) will tend to flavour my analysis. This is especially true on images that tend towards the "beauty" side of the portraiture genre.

[bje07]

Third image nicely done as well, has nice shadow effect and the crop/pose very elegant and interesting.

Thank you John

[bje07]

I much prefer this to the other two

Thank you Roy

[madcrow]

Jean, I don't know, I like All three and I say well done.