Two Sisters

[Manfred M]

I had a fun (and mosquito infested) shoot with a couple of first time models who are sisters. The setting was a large semi-rural home with a beautifully landscaped (with water features) back yard.

The evening was overcast and the lighting was flat, so fairly easy to work with, but a bit boring. I had a 47" octabox and my portable Godox Witsro 360 lights along and used them in both of these shots.


1. Amita




2. Mary

[Donald]

They seem to have been the brave ones, exposing so much flesh to the mosquitoes.

The picture are, I think, excellent. I did wonder about the inclusion of the paved walkway in the pictures of Amita, but then felt that, 'No, it does actually work'. Imagine it as all grass; that would be too much.

[mugge]

Manfred, I like the second image. These images are so much superior to the studio images you posted a while ago. You are learning quickly. I am far off attempting glamour portraits at this stage.
Cheers Ole

[IzzieK]

If ask to choose, I like #1 -- the softness of her face is excellent. Her expression i is as a picture of innocent. In the second one, I am just wondering why the crabapple (?) caught my attention more and keeps going back to it...

[John 2]

Both nice but the second for me if I have to choose. I might have expected the green of the foliage to reflection her face but you have managed to avoid that.

[Dave A]

Both excellent images but second one for me. I like the inclusion of the apples in the background.

Dave

[Manfred M]

Both nice but the second for me if I have to choose. I might have expected the green of the foliage to reflection her face but you have managed to avoid that.

The green was definitely there and I had to add some magenta to neutralize it.

[Manfred M]

They seem to have been the brave ones, exposing so much flesh to the mosquitoes.

Fortunately I had some mosquito repellent in the car and was more than happy to share it. A bit of a preventative measure. Not only did it make everyone, including the models, more comfortable, the practical outcome meant I did not have to retouch all the red, raised areas in post...

The picture are, I think, excellent. I did wonder about the inclusion of the paved walkway in the pictures of Amita, but then felt that, 'No, it does actually work'. Imagine it as all grass; that would be too much.

Exactly. I had some without the path and the green just overwhelmed the shot.

[Manfred M]

Manfred, I like the second image. These images are so much superior to the studio images you posted a while ago. You are learning quickly. I am far off attempting glamour portraits at this stage.
Cheers Ole

I'm a lot more comfortable shooting this type of scene, versus working with a model in a studio. As with all learning experiences, some seem to go better than others.

The main difference here is that with experienced models, I get far more "keepers" than with a first time model. The mix of poses, the positioning of hands, good and natural looking eyes, etc. all seem to flow better when someone is not being shot for the first time.

The most important part of the learning and the part I still struggle with is directing the models from behind the camera. Some of the more experienced models flow from pose to pose between camera clicks, but the less experienced ones seem to have a single pose and need a lot more coaching. Even with the experienced models, some direction is required as in its absence, they give you the poses that they are comfortable with, but not necessarily the ones I want.

[Manfred M]

If ask to choose, I like #1 -- the softness of her face is excellent. Her expression i is as a picture of innocent. In the second one, I am just wondering why the crabapple (?) caught my attention more and keeps going back to it...

I have some without the apples in it as well, but there was simply too much foliage. The apples help break up the background a bit, which is one of the reasons I used this image, instead of some of the others.

[Shadowman]

For the first shot I think excluding the stones but keeping the flowers would work.; but then this is your vision not mine. Nice shots.

[Manfred M]

Here's a bit wider view of the setting. The stones are a major component of the landscaping, but the neighbouring properties get into the scene from most of the shooting positions that are further to the left and right.

There is a large (and overpowering, from a photographic standpoint) wicker sitting are just to the left of the stones on the left. The neighbour's house starts protruding into the scene just to the right of #1 shown above.

[rpcrowe]

Lovely images of two sensually beautiful but, very proper, young ladies... I like all of these images. However, perhaps, the expression in image #1 seems a bit more natural to me than the expression in image #3. I think that it might be the TAD of a Mona Lisa type smile that is beginning to show on her lips in the first image...

Lovely setting and well chosen gowns...

[IzzieK]

The last one doesn't have the sharpness of the 1st one. I still like #1 better with the softness. Nice place.

[Manfred M]

Lovely images of two sensually beautiful but, very proper, young ladies... I like all of these images. However, perhaps, the expression in image #1 seems a bit more natural to me than the expression in image #3. I think that it might be the TAD of a Mona Lisa type smile that is beginning to show on her lips in the first image...

Lovely setting and well chosen gowns...

That is the problem when shooting models who are just starting out. They have a single look and pose and unless the photographer moves them along, they naturally revert to it. Unfortunately, it is very un-natural looking. I often call it the "deer in the headlights" pose.

[KimC]

Beautiful women and beautiful images Manfred. My only minor comments are - on the second image, I would have preferred if that branch wasn't touching her - I find it a bit distracting ~ I would have found it perfect without that lower branch. As for the first woman, I'm wondering why you didn't blur the backgrounds a tad to put more focus on her -- she's gorgeous - were these perhaps more environmental portraits?

[Manfred M]

Beautiful women and beautiful images Manfred. My only minor comments are - on the second image, I would have preferred if that branch wasn't touching her - I find it a bit distracting ~ I would have found it perfect without that lower branch.

I agree - I just did not notice it when I took the shot. Unfortunately, the shoot was a bit more hurried than the pace I normally like to work at, so I missed that.

As for the first woman, I'm wondering why you didn't blur the backgrounds a tad to put more focus on her -- she's gorgeous - were these perhaps more environmental portraits?

Part of the focus of the shoot was the beautiful setting, so I played around with how I approached that a bit. In some shots I shot to include the background in focus and in others, I shot to blur it, just to mix things up.

[Manfred M]

I had an off-line inquiry about shadows on the models faces. These shots were all taken with a 47" Octabox with my Godox Witstro 360 battery powered light. It was a dull and overcast day and I wanted a bit more character to the images, hence the use of flash.




The Witstro uses a Bowens style speed ring and I prefer it to the Paul C Buff Balcar style speed ring for outdoor work. It's a lot sturdier. It's easy and fast to convert my Buff soft boxes to the Bowens mount.