Square cropped portraits (SCPs) - Archive

[Antonio Correia]

OK, here is another one:

How is the lighting? I am very proud of myself for this one!

No image Sedali !

[Antonio Correia]

Hello SRH !
Thank you for the kind words.
Remember that I am not an administrator ...
Your portrait is valid. I mean it is good and nice.
You are excused about your crude Photoshop skills. You are not alone. I use Lightroom. and CS4 sometimes. LR is easier than the other program.

About your photo:
I have always had difficulty on finding if a photo is out of focus - slightly - or blurred.
Be aware of your speed shutter. You were using a tele-lens and the shutter speed has, may be , been too low.
And the picture is not sharp. Which speed were you using ?
I am almost sure you were using a 200mm or so... which on a body with a crop factor of 1.6 equals 320 mm. So you would need to shoot 1/300s or faster.
Focus for the eyes.

Keep them coming.

[Antonio Correia]

Yes Sedali. I can now see your picture. I couldn't see it before I don't know if it was me, my Mac, you, the system or whatever ... Well doesn't matter and here it is.

Nice work man ! You are right beeing proud of your picture.
Now - it is easy to criticize but very hard to do - try the same shot with a white card at our right as we don't see it. Just to fill the shadows and brighten up the eyes. At the eyes level.
A white card may be a simple A3 sheet of white paper, hold by the mother.

I think you have bounced your flash to the ceiling or you have bounced it somehow.
Good improvement. It's the same set up as the black and white picture, isn't it ?

Oh and be aware of the background.
Keep them coming. ! ...

[Antonio Correia]

I added to the rules:

4. If you wish you can show us the original photo and/or the setup used.

[dendrophile]

Here's Elliott my son.



Exif data shows f/5.6, 1/15th sec and ISO 400. I've fallen into the trap of thinking that because my lens has image stabilisation I can shoot at slow speeds. This has sharpened okayish, but full size is a bit soft. Turns out that babies do not sit very still. Orangey colour cast around mouth area is carrot, not some weird lighting.

My lounge, where this photo was taken, actually where most of my Elliott photos are taken! is on the first floor (second floor for non UK members) and faces west. Two French doors open out onto a small balcony, so around lunchtime the room starts to get bright and is well suited to portraits. By middle of the afternoon there is too much direct sunlight causing shadows.

I know the right hand side of the photo would have benefitted from some more light.

Photo was processed using DPP instead of CS4. I'm finding that DPP seems to make a better job of handling noise. Once I have fiddled some more, I'll post some comparisons and probably ask for some help.

Regards,
Graham

[Antonio Correia]

Hello Graham !
I can see you have a line cute little fellow !
At 1/15 is perfectly normal - if certain precautions are not taken - that you blur a picture even with IS lenses.
The place looks a nice one and we all hope you improve your skills.
Repeat and show us, will you please ?
Maybe earlier you can have more light ?! If the weather is nice ...

[Wirefox]

Hello Wirefox !
It was easy to discover your identity as Rank Amateur
Personally, I do like your picture. Nice daughter BTW.
I can hardly see that you have used on camera flash, that is if you have (I understood so and I may be wrong). And if you have used it it was in a very clever and sophisticated way.
When you will get your other flash you will see how useful it can be. Which equipment are you using ? How do you trigger the flash at the distance ? IR ? Radio ?
Radiopopper, Pocketwizard ?

The idea of a black canvas is great and it is very nice with the text popping in white. I have done this myself on three photos but they are not on line.

I have nothing else to say about this image but may be - just may be - a small amount of vignetting would make her pop a bit more.
Of course, as time goes by, we will see more of your excellent work.

I almost forgot: Is is my monitor or ... how do you have such a perfect edge on her back, head and hand ?

Thanks Antonio

I originally posted 3 images 2 with fill and this one without fill. Then I read the rules and edited the post to show just this image. However, I did not edit the text as well as I should. You are right no flash with this shot. Clever and sophisticated are not words generally associated with my flash photography. As to equipment I have an vintage Cobra flash gun which neither I nor my camera have any control over whatsoever. I point the head to the ceiling and and pray. I do have a480EX and a SB-E1 speedlight bracket on order so I am looking forward to giving that a spin. The sharpness of the outline is a quirk of the S7000 point and shoot. It seems to give really sharp def in certain lighting conditions.

This image is shot with the Cobra (do as it pleases) flashgun atop a 450D and bounced off the ceiling

[Antonio Correia]

Hello Wirefox.
Why a 430 and not a 580 EX II ? Yes it is more expensive I know, but ...
I had already seen your picture - and others - and I liked this one very much.
I like not only the light but also the attitude, the posture of the young boy.
The hand and the expression are great.

Now I understand that, not only Google is your friend, but also the ceiling above your head.
-
Flash bracket - I have one, hand made. I'll show it to you someday.
I would like to have this one but I will not because I have already equipment enough .

[Antonio Correia]

[Dave Humphries]

Here goes nuffin'



Fuji Finepix S6500, it's a huge crop from the original shot at about 250mm equivalent.
1/250s @ f6.4, ISO100.

A little more about the shot, well, it was the fifth of five shots of this guy, I felt guilty as heck for shooting him, but I figured; hey, it's a tourist town, thousands of people with cameras, if you busk in public, you have to expect to get snapped by someone, it may as well be me

The camera seemed to have focussed on the railings (doh), so this has had extensive PP blur to get the subject sharper than the background

Must try again with the new beastie.

Not a patch on the other offerings, but as Colin said, the first step ...

[SRH]

...I have always had difficulty on finding if a photo is out of focus - slightly - or blurred.
Be aware of your speed shutter. You were using a tele-lens and the shutter speed has, may be , been too low...
And the picture is not sharp. Which speed were you using ?
Focus for the eyes.

Thanks, Antonio. Good advice about the eyes.
The picture was shot with 150mm cf 2x or 300mm equivalent. ISO 200, f8 1/400s, handheld. The crop is about a 10x zoom factor. I think you are seeing bad focus.
I've recently switched to single point focus as I've been having trouble with the multi-point camera selected focus area.

I'm adding the original composition.
Stephen

[Alis]

Yes Sedali. I can now see your picture. I couldn't see it before I don't know if it was me, my Mac, you, the system or whatever ... Well doesn't matter and here it is.

Nice work man ! You are right beeing proud of your picture.
Now - it is easy to criticize but very hard to do - try the same shot with a white card at our right as we don't see it. Just to fill the shadows and brighten up the eyes. At the eyes level.
A white card may be a simple A3 sheet of white paper, hold by the mother.

I think you have bounced your flash to the ceiling or you have bounced it somehow.
Good improvement. It's the same set up as the black and white picture, isn't it ?

Oh and be aware of the background.
Keep them coming. ! ...

Thanks a lot, Antonio, for the kind words and the lighting tip. Looks like I need to start trying the A3 paper method. However, it is not easy to do it with this subject, as he does not follow any commands! And I agree about the backgroun thing. But again, it is difficult to get him to stay in one position.

One question though? I have the Gary Fong diffuser. How do think it compares to the A3 sheet method?

[Colin Southern]

Thanks, Antonio. Good advice about the eyes.
The picture was shot with 150mm cf 2x or 300mm equivalent. ISO 200, f8 1/400s, handheld. The crop is about a 10x zoom factor. I think you are seeing bad focus.
I've recently switched to single point focus as I've been having trouble with the multi-point camera selected focus area.

I'm adding the original composition.
Stephen

Hi Stephen,

I've had a good look at the original image on my big screen and to me it simply looks like a lack of sharpening issue.

I've given it a Photoshop 30 Second Makeover (TM!) ...

... does this look any better?



PS: It's actually a touch over-sharpened in some areas now; unfortunately, this was a compound effect of my makeover on top of the original sharpening. Was the original shot RAW or JPEG?

[Antonio Correia]

I should have commented this photo and I have not.
I came back to wrote some words on it.

This was inside a shop where they sell that kind of stuff for the tourists. This young girl was the owner's daughter moving around.
I asked her father if I could take a picture of her.
I placed the child in the niddle of a room where the light was soft, coming from a window.
She has very quiet while I was taking the pictures. I had only to move around a little bit, while she never stopped looking at someone else who was with me.
I worked the picture in LR the usual way.
Sometimes it happens that my focus is not perfect and I like tack sharp pictures. This one is very good in terms of sharpness.
I am going to send this picture to the father's child.
Thank you for reading.

[Antonio Correia]

...I felt guilty as heck for shooting him, but I figured; hey, it's a tourist town, thousands of people with cameras, if you busk in public, you have to expect to get snapped by someone, it may as well be me ...

Absolutely ! You are absolutely right !

Well done ! And that's it ?

[Antonio Correia]

My buddies father fell asleep on the couch, so I took the opportunity. What I love about this picture is that his face has lots of character.[/IMG]

Well done. Here we have another good and nice SCP !

[Antonio Correia]

... I've given it a 30 second makeover ...

Colin is right ! Thank you Colin. Good point.
We are always learning ...

[Antonio Correia]

I saw this fellow in a school learning sculpture. The light was very harsh outside but was reflected and filtered by the white wall on my back.
He was just in the front row of the class and receiving lots of light from a large door I had just came through.
I pushed the ISO to 500 as you can see in my EXIF
I am sending the picture to him.

[Raycer]

here's a square one of my daughter and wife.

[Antonio Correia]

here's a square one of my daughter and wife.

Raycer, is it intentionally sooo small ?!
We can hardly appreciate the photo



Oh I saw now that clicking on it becomes greater.
It is a nice photo yes. Very tender.