Lauretta

[billtils]

I haven't posted much of late, but had an enjoyable session at a portrait shoot yesterday. Here are a few:













C&C always welcomed.


EDIT: There are spots on the second image that don't show on flickr - I'll check the original later today.

[Shadowman]

Nice shots.

[Manfred M]

It looks like you had a great shoot. The costumes that your model wore all look quite interesting. Of the three shots, I find the bottom one is the strongest and works best for me.

The first two have the same issue and that is how your model is looking. In general, we like having a bit of the whites of the eyes visible on both sides of the iris. Completely balanced is not necessary, but too much white, like in the first two shots gives the image a very strange look.

The other "rule" is the positioning of the eyes in the frame. In general, having them in the top half, preferably in the top third, of the frame usually gives a better composition.

Have you applied clarity / micro-contrast / sharpening in the first two shots? The skin detail is a bit too crisp for my taste in the first two and perhaps a touch oversoftened in the last shot.

[billtils]

For Manfred: An edit to the second image, and new one with conventional eye placement.

[Manfred M]

The skin looks better on the new edit.

I'm not sure about the second image. The hands and rose are such a significant compositional element in this image that they compete with the model's face. The eyes work better in this shot.

[billtils]

A different look. Cropped the original, recomposed, and desaturated

[Manfred M]

Interesting concept.

I suspect that you might want to rotate the image slightly in a counter clockwise position so your crop goes down the centre of your model's face. The upper lip and mouth look like they are showing a touch too much of the camera right side of the face. I think the centre line needs to be almost perfect for this type of an effect to work.

[lunarbo]

I agree with Manfred’s adjustments but am not sure why you would want to slice this girl in half.Do you want to focus on the feather in her hair?
I think the peek a boo look can only work if she’s peeping round a curtain, say. Peeking out of the edge of the photo doesn’t work for me I’m afraid.

[Manfred M]

We could also have some fun by re-assembling your model from the half face you have here.



By the way, this gives me an idea for a project...

[billtils]

... am not sure why you would want to slice this girl in half.... Peeking out of the edge of the photo doesn’t work for me I’m afraid.

Bo, I did it for fun, because I've been playing with skin tones and multiple adjustment layers, and because I didn't like the available light exposure on the other half.

Absolutely no worries on the "doesn't work", I can understand and indeed that was how I felt to begin with. However, I came to rather like it ...

[billtils]

We could also have some fun by re-assembling your model from the half face you have here

By the way, this gives me an idea for a project...

Indeed we could. However, faces may be more symmetrical laterally than vertically () but there is a degree of asymmetry in the lateral aspects, which of course opens up avenues for interesting treatments - look forward to seeing your project results.

[Round Tuit]

We could also have some fun by re-assembling your model from the half face you have here.



By the way, this gives me an idea for a project...

You would have to make sure that both eyes are looking in the same direction

[Manfred M]

Indeed we could. However, faces may be more symmetrical laterally than vertically () but there is a degree of asymmetry in the lateral aspects, which of course opens up avenues for interesting treatments - look forward to seeing your project results.

The concept is "constructed faces". I think this idea will evolve and will require studio posed images that are straight on.

The symmetry is of course the part that makes the whole thing interesting as our faces are not symmetrical, so a symmetrical face will look very odd indeed. In fact one can construct "twins" using the left and right side of the face and modify things slightly by using Photoshop's Liquify tool to add some sculpting and asymmetry.

[Manfred M]

You would have to make sure that both eyes are looking in the same direction

If the goal is to make the image look "realistic" I would agree, but what if the goal is to make the constructed face look a bit "off"? Then these minor defects would give people something to think about when looking at portraits.

[lunarbo]

Ok Bill, no worries

I do like the skin tones you have given her here, I forgot to say that before. Subtle !