"School of Portraiture" - Lesson 05 - Introduction to Flash & Some Inspiration!

[Colin Southern]

Hi Sam,

As I though, your lovely wife's hair was nothing like I managed to produce working with the JPEG

Just had a quick play with the RAW file; I may have left it a little dark, but here's what I came up with (just levels and sharpening - I didn't do any retouching).



And here are the settings I used ... you might like to try the same settings and see what you get ...

[Sam Smith]

Hi Sam,

As I though, your lovely wife's hair was nothing like I managed to produce working with the JPEG

Just had a quick play with the RAW file; I may have left it a little dark, but here's what I came up with (just levels and sharpening - I didn't do any retouching).



And here are the settings I used ... you might like to try the same settings and see what you get ...

Thank you Coilin. It looks better than any I have done. I was over doing it in PP. You have made me a believer in a calibrated monitor. I will do this straight away.

[Colin Southern]

Thank you Coilin. It looks better than any I have done. I was over doing it in PP. You have made me a believer in a calibrated monitor. I will do this straight away.

No worries Sam

Generally, with this kind of (totally reflective) shot, if you nail the exposure then the images usually require little (if any) adjustment in ACR. What lighting were you using?

[Sam Smith]

No worries Sam

Generally, with this kind of (totally reflective) shot, if you nail the exposure then the images usually require little (if any) adjustment in ACR. What lighting were you using?

It was taken with a reflector on our back patio.

[Colin Southern]

It was taken with a reflector on our back patio.

Hi Sam,

Next time, try bringing your model wife further away from the background, and moving the reflector more to camera right so that the light becomes directional, but doesn't illuminate the background - I think it'll improve it 9although that background REALLY has to go!).

[Sam Smith]

Thanks again. I have told my son since he has the weekend off he will be the victim of next sesson, provide I can get him out of bed before noon. I haven't decide on a background yet but I know it will not be the side of our house.

[Dave Humphries]

Hey Sam, the side of your house looks just like mine

At least I know what not to use for a background - if I ever get a co-operative model.

I am watching and learning along with you here.

[Sam Smith]

Thanks Dave. Models are hard to come by.

[Colin Southern]

For those who are interested, here's a quick shot of the rig I use for outdoor casual / walk-about portraiture lighting (it was essentially what I used for all of the shots I posted at the beginning of the thread) ...

[Sam Smith]

Walk around rig? Do you always pull a little red wagon on a walk?

[Loose Canon]

So a colorimeter fell into my lap, and I ran it through its thing.

Two of three monitors I have available, none of which are exceedingly sweet ones. But they are calibrated and profiled. Saved, located, and looking a little strange, but I’ll get used to that.

So I thought I’d have another go at another shot.

Notes to self:
Have subject change eyes so that the larger one is on the other side if I am going to shoot from this angle!

This was shot before lesson 05 was published.

[Loose Canon]

For those who are interested, here's a quick shot of the rig I use for outdoor casual / walk-about portraiture lighting (it was essentially what I used for all of the shots I posted at the beginning of the thread) ...

Just a quick question if I may, Colin?

Is the top of that shoot-through pointing back at us?

Also (okay, two questions!), any chance of getting a group portrait of the Sherpas you need to lug this rig around?

[arith]

I like #12, I can't afford anything like that rig though, got the brolly and even a flash I can zoom off camera, but no trigger. I use my other flash on manual and 1/32 power to set the slave off and I'm not sure if that will work outdoors.

Interesting read though and I can see you are going to create a whole bunch of master photographers.

[Colin Southern]

Walk around rig? Do you always pull a little red wagon on a walk?

No - that's my assistant's job (which usually means one of my daughters). It's not particularly heavy ... it's usually mounted on a pole with the battery at the other end so reasonably well balanced, plus, the pole rests on the ground whilst I'm shooting.

[Colin Southern]

Hi Terry,

So a colorimeter fell into my lap, and I ran it through its thing.

Two of three monitors I have available, none of which are exceedingly sweet ones. But they are calibrated and profiled. Saved, located, and looking a little strange, but I’ll get used to that.

Well done! Not sure why they're "looking a little strange" though?

So I thought I’d have another go at another shot.

Yep - looking pretty good

Some minor points that spring to mind ...

- Skin tones are possibly a little over saturated or slightly off (looking a touch orange). Did you white balance it using a grey card?

- My personal preference is to put a subtle (and wide) vignette around the outside to de-emphasise the top of the hair (it's the face we want to direct our eyes to), and to make it look like the light is falling away more and more the further and further we go down the shot.

- Background is more consistent with a casual snapshot that a portrait, but there's not a lot of it, so no biggie.

- There's a touch of specularity under the camera right eye. Often with this I'll use the patch tool (with a generous feather) and drag it to the forehead area - or use the midtone burn tool (VERY carefully)

All in all a nice shot - I'll have to try that angle myself!

PS: Eyes are easy to fix in Photoshop ... put a wide select around the entire eye and brow ... Shift F6 and apply a feather of around 15 ... Ctrl J to copy to new layer ... Ctrl T to transform ... change the vertical height to even things out (start with around 105%). Flatten image, job done.

[Colin Southern]

Just a quick question if I may, Colin? Is the top of that shoot-through pointing back at us?

Yes - very observant of you! I posted a bit more about this in the PAD thread, but basically, this is version 2 of the rig, which I've only just completed. Version 1 used the same hardware etc, but left the Pocket Wizards vulnerable to damage (they have a plastic foot on the bottom, and I ended up breaking 3 of my 4 in two freak accidents in less than 24 hours). So although I use these lights and PWs all the time, I haven't actually used the V2 rig yet, and when I set it up for the shot last night I discovered a small design issue where one of the PWs is blocking the screw that retains the umbrella. It's an easy fix, but meant I had to "simulate" the umbrella last night (so I just turned it around).

Also (okay, two questions!), any chance of getting a group portrait of the Sherpas you need to lug this rig around?

It's actually not too bad - often one of my to girls usually carries it and trust me, if it were too heavy, they'd complain in under a microsecond!

It was actually an accident that one of them had with it last week that prompted the v2 design ... I decided on an impromptu portrait session at a local park. Everything was in the car except the pole so I mounted the umbrella to the rig via the usual bracket, and got #1 daughter to hold it via the umbrella shaft. Umbrellas are cheap and nasty; the shaft is hollow, so one can't screw the retaining clamp into it because it collapses it however luckily they have a small solid insert at the end, so that's what I screwed the clamp to (plus it's a good idea to have as big a distance between flash head and umbrella as possible). Unknown to me then (but I sure know now!) that little solid bit at the end of the shaft is only held in with a 1/10th of a drop of cheap glue.

The inevitable happened ... metal bit pulled out leaving #1 daughter holding the NZD $12 umbrella whilst around NZD $2000 worth of electronics dropped a couple of feet to the ground, breaking about 3 things in the process. Hence the re-design (PWs are now attached via their 1/4" mounting holes - 580EX IIs are now mounted onto a Canon off-camera shoe cord that is in turn attached via a 1/4 metal mount (with stainless steel screws!), and I've glued some aluminium tubing to the end of the umbrella shafts!

[Colin Southern]

Hi Steve,

I like #12, I can't afford anything like that rig though, got the brolly and even a flash I can zoom off camera, but no trigger. I use my other flash on manual and 1/32 power to set the slave off and I'm not sure if that will work outdoors.

Thanks. I think 12 & 11 are my favourites. There are a number of ways to achieve the same thing - some costing less than others. In theory there's no compelling reason I use two flashes other than it halves the load and improves recycle times, but it's the triggering that makes the biggest difference. PocketWizards are probably the best choice as they transmit ETTL info (which saves a lot of time when you're moving around a lot) (plus one can make changes from the camera), and of course, being a radio signal, it works well outside. Other solutions I can think of would either involve manual setups or cables, but definately still workable.


Interesting read though and I can see you are going to create a whole bunch of master photographers.[/QUOTE]

[CNelson]

Colin, because of distractions on the home front, I arrived late in your school of portraiture but I am up to speed with it now. First, thank you for sharing your knowledge. These posts have been helpful. Second, some of the shots in this post are OUTSTANDING. Lighting ranges from good to excellent and posing and composition are very good. You have nudged me farther toward trying this myslef.

Chuck

[Loose Canon]

Hi Colin!

Not sure why they're "looking a little strange" though?

Probably not so much strange as different I guess!

- Skin tones are possibly a little over saturated or slightly off (looking a touch orange). Did you white balance it using a grey card?

Yes.

- My personal preference is to put a subtle (and wide) vignette around the outside to de-emphasise the top of the hair (it's the face we want to direct our eyes to), and to make it look like the light is falling away more and more the further and further we go down the shot.

I actually tried this, went around with it, and decided not to. I certainly see your point and am leaning toward adding it. In fact in my last re-do I did add a vignette and am liking it more and more.

- There's a touch of specularity under the camera right eye. Often with this I'll use the patch tool (with a generous feather) and drag it to the forehead area - or use the midtone burn tool (VERY carefully)

I guess I just can't see this one. But, I am familiar with those tools though!

PS: Eyes are easy to fix in Photoshop ...

Excellent tip, Colin. That worked like a charm! Quick and easy, down and dirty!

In fact, I appreciate all the tips, Colin. I always make it a point to take your as well as other's advice and do however many re-dos as necessary to try everything.

I have to admit, I am having a ball and learning a ton doing this, though I'm not getting to do it as much as I would like! But after showing a couple of these around a little, I'm getting more volunteers for models! (Mostly freeloading family and friends wanting some freebies!)

Feast or Famine, I guess!

[wilgk]

She is my day 9 PAD girl - but popped her here as well, so Terry & Sam know you are not alone!
I'm still trying too
although I do acknowledge I have a head start by having someone keen to have their picture taken!