NON Square Cropped Portraits - (nSCP's) - Archive

[Ashwin]

Hi Ashwin,
I like this version very much. Could you explain to me, how exactly you did the blurring? Works extremely well without affecting the lady or the bench behind her.
Regards, Henrik

Hi Henrik,

It is very simple, duplicate the layer ( Or press CTRL + J ) with quick selection tool select the background ( Or whatever portion that you may want to Blur ) FILTER > BLUR > Lens Blur and it is done...

If required change opacity of the layer or merge the layer

[Alis]

I am practicing with the new umbrella:



Setting it up is a pretty noisy procedure; Woke him up!

I thought I will get a better lighting on the hair, I have to adjust the position of the umbrella next time.

[Colin Southern]

I thought I will get a better lighting on the hair, I have to adjust the position of the umbrella next time.

Hi Ali,

Glad to see you've got the new toys!

Quick thought re the hair; in shots like this you can often just use ACR's fill light (which will also help with the eyes).

[Antonio Correia]

Very soft light... Good work Ali

[Alis]

Hi Ali,

Glad to see you've got the new toys!

Yes, it gives very nice results. I actually used it the other way as a reflector with the flash away from the subject and got very interesting lighting.

Quick thought re the hair; in shots like this you can often just use ACR's fill light (which will also help with the eyes).

Thanks, Colin! Fill light worked very well actually! Although on this specific shot, I have to use a lot of it to fix the hair problem which affects rest of the face or use it selectively.

[Alis]

Very soft light... Good work Ali

Thanks, Antonio! It is amazing how much easier the post processing becomes when you have the right lighting (equipment). Even this tiny improvement makes a huge difference!

But it is still a lot of fun to fix "problems" in PS

[Sahil]

Lovely shot, Alis. But bad, that you disturbed his sleep!
Very soon he would start hating the cameras....

[Alis]

Lovely shot, Alis. But bad, that you disturbed his sleep!
Very soon he would start hating the cameras....

Hi Sahil,

I remember, on a similar occasion a while back, Colin had this theory that when it comes for him to decide which nursing he should leave me to pasture, he will take these days into consideration.

But seriously, I was actually in the room to wake him up from his afternoon nap and thought it is a good time to take some pictures. It was too bad that he woke up too early before I was all done

[Nicola]

Dear all,
this is an image that I'd like to call "discovering" and print it... but it's blurred!
It seems motion blur, isn't it? the exif tells 1/8s...
Antonio, for the next shot I turned to C1 for interior shots, as you teach, with f/1.8 1/50s ... but it has been too late... don't laugh about me please...
how can I manage it? with some LCE? I'm going to try.. any other idea?
many thanks to all who want help me!!
Nicola

[Antonio Correia]

Nicola I think I did not made myself understand correctly.
You understand: a Portuguese and an Italian in a written conversation in English !

Assuming I have correctly understood your problem here we go.
First Nicola you have to read the darn manual. Yes I know it is a hell of a bore. Better: don't read it: make consultations from time to time to get used to read it and to know where things are. This is what I do.
But I am going to try to write something about those C1 and C2 sets and anyone will correct if I don't explain correctly.
Suppose you are going to take pictures in two situations: A and B
A is on the beach and B is inside a house with little light.
For situation A (beach) you will need 100 ISO and Speed priority for example.
For situation B (inside the dark house) you need 800 ISO and Aperture priority.
Then, you set in your camera the dial
C1 for situation A (beach) and
C2 for situation B (inside the dark house).

Then, when you come into the room (from the beach) you switch your dial to position C2 and you are ready to shoot.
Suddenly you need to go outside because there is a nice beautiful girl (I just remembered the scandal with your prime minister ) you must shoot. Then Nicola, you change the dial to C1 and you are ready for the go.
-
Regarding your picture, I am afraid but if it is blurred it is blurred and that's it ! There is very little to do. Don't despair Nicola. You will do better next time.

Some guide lines for the next time you take pictures of your son (it's your son isn't it ?) indoor and at night (tough situation): ISO 800 Aperture priority and lens at the position it is wider opened (that is if it is aperture variable when you zoom), make yourself stable using your elbows on the table, stop breading when you shoot and shoot in a row of 3 at the time. Perhaps the middle one is the one as your finger is not traveling at that moment.
Better yet: get a flash off camera.

One more thing: sometimes blurred images are also nice images. Try to convert it to black and white and if you print it, place it rather far and you will see how beautiful the child is

[Nicola]

Nicola I think I did not made myself understand correctly.
You understand: a Portuguese and an Italian in a written conversation in English !

Assuming I have correctly understood your problem here we go.
First Nicola you have to read the darn manual. Yes I know it is a hell of a bore. Better: don't read it: make consultations from time to time to get used to read it and to know where things are. This is what I do.
But I am going to try to write something about those C1 and C2 sets and anyone will correct if I don't explain correctly.
Suppose you are going to take pictures in two situations: A and B
A is on the beach and B is inside a house with little light.
For situation A (beach) you will need 100 ISO and Speed priority for example.
For situation B (inside the dark house) you need 800 ISO and Aperture priority.
Then, you set in your camera the dial
C1 for situation A (beach) and
C2 for situation B (inside the dark house).

Then, when you come into the room (from the beach) you switch your dial to position C2 and you are ready to shoot.
Suddenly you need to go outside because there is a nice beautiful girl (I just remembered the scandal with your prime minister ) you must shoot. Then Nicola, you change the dial to C1 and you are ready for the go.
-
Regarding your picture, I am afraid but if it is blurred it is blurred and that's it ! There is very little to do. Don't despair Nicola. You will do better next time.

Some guide lines for the next time you take pictures of your son (it's your son isn't it ?) indoor and at night (tough situation): ISO 800 Aperture priority and lens at the position it is wider opened (that is if it is aperture variable when you zoom), make yourself stable using your elbows on the table, stop breading when you shoot and shoot in a row of 3 at the time. Perhaps the middle one is the one as your finger is not traveling at that moment.
Better yet: get a flash off camera.

One more thing: sometimes blurred images are also nice images. Try to convert it to black and white and if you print it, place it rather far and you will see how beautiful the child is

Antonio
thanks once again! you are wasting a lot of time with my photo-trouble!
if you haven't understood something it's for my bad english, I'm sorry for this, but I haven't still found the time to improve it (I can't quit from my hobbies and sports...)
About the use of C1 and C2 is exactly what I've done, but in the shot I've shown you upon, I forgot to turn from Aperture priority to C1 (that I would like to use for interior shots)

the only difference between your words and the situation I lived is the beatiful girl outdoor.. unfortunately

About the scandal of "my" prime minister, I omit any comments because I would like to say too much...
let me say just that I'm happy that all over the europe these facts are known, I think that could help Italy to escape from this bad ten and more longlasting story and from this bad governance, like it happened in some other cases.

coming back to photography, I usually shot in dark places many pictures at a time (setting camera drive to multiple shots), sometimes using TTL flash, so it can follow the gust.
In this case, I turned off the flash when also the light has been turned off, in order to let the candle lights the face of my nephew(I'm still quite young to have a son... I'm only an uncle )
but I forgot to turn to C1 or to increase the ISO. The other 3 pictures I took in that moment aren't usable because the first is much blurred, in the 3rd and 4th the subject is covered by the other little boys and girls that were runnning, dancing and clapping hands around my nephew. It wasn't an easy moment to take a picture!
anyway thanks for your suggestions, next time i'll be faster in my decisions and actions!

finally
this afternoon I'll post a version in B&W of this picture I edited yesterday,
I haven't post it yet in order to follow your suggestion to do not post many picture at a time, to let you watch and comment the previous image...
at least, something I've learned!


best wishes
see you soon
Nicola

[Katy Noelle]

Firstly, I wanted to thank you for all of your help on my "portrait" of Ida!!! I've learned enough that I'm a little overwhelmed to put it all down. sorry. Just one comment, though. I was glad that you guys discussed the blurring of the background and the shadows on the face. The light coming through the stained glass window is very soft and I would rather not accentuate the wrinkles in this sweet old lady. Her smile is always young - even though she is a wisp.

Now, what do you think of my young friend, Kyrionna? (My dog thinks that she's the 'cat's miaou'!



Too blurry? The photo looks darker, here, than it does in iphoto. Is the absence of a catchlight wrong?

[Antonio Correia]

...

Too blurry ?...

I don't think so. It is a bit blurred indeed but it doesn't bother me at all.
What is more important here is the atitude - if I may call it so, or shall I say pose - of Ida and the dog.
Hide the dog with your hand you will understand how important he is in the composition of the picture. If the rules are broken ? Oh yes perhaps they are, but does it matter when the message is there, right in front of you ?
I can only regret that the dog is not "complete" as he is cut by the nose.
Using lenses or photographing with large apertures for small DoF can sometimes be frustrating if you are looking for sharp focus. One has to be very quick on choosing the focus point on the spot/moment and that is difficult sometimes without practice. Better yet would be manual focusing.
Good work Katy

[Nicola]

Nicola I think I did not made myself understand correctly.
You understand: a Portuguese and an Italian in a written conversation in English !

Assuming I have correctly understood your problem here we go.
First Nicola you have to read the darn manual. Yes I know it is a hell of a bore. Better: don't read it: make consultations from time to time to get used to read it and to know where things are. This is what I do.
But I am going to try to write something about those C1 and C2 sets and anyone will correct if I don't explain correctly.
Suppose you are going to take pictures in two situations: A and B
A is on the beach and B is inside a house with little light.
For situation A (beach) you will need 100 ISO and Speed priority for example.
For situation B (inside the dark house) you need 800 ISO and Aperture priority.
Then, you set in your camera the dial
C1 for situation A (beach) and
C2 for situation B (inside the dark house).

Then, when you come into the room (from the beach) you switch your dial to position C2 and you are ready to shoot.
Suddenly you need to go outside because there is a nice beautiful girl (I just remembered the scandal with your prime minister ) you must shoot. Then Nicola, you change the dial to C1 and you are ready for the go.
-
Regarding your picture, I am afraid but if it is blurred it is blurred and that's it ! There is very little to do. Don't despair Nicola. You will do better next time.

Some guide lines for the next time you take pictures of your son (it's your son isn't it ?) indoor and at night (tough situation): ISO 800 Aperture priority and lens at the position it is wider opened (that is if it is aperture variable when you zoom), make yourself stable using your elbows on the table, stop breading when you shoot and shoot in a row of 3 at the time. Perhaps the middle one is the one as your finger is not traveling at that moment.
Better yet: get a flash off camera.

One more thing: sometimes blurred images are also nice images. Try to convert it to black and white and if you print it, place it rather far and you will see how beautiful the child is

hi!
here below my new version of the previous pic.
I think it's quite more sharp.
I've changed it to B&w, but the steps I followed are the following (in a few words)
in ACR I reduced deeply the noise (colour and luminance) even if it blurr a bit the image
then a bit of sharpening (radius 2, amount 35, threshold 50 or something similar)
then in PS I made some global contrast enachement only in the red channel, which is the most blurred of the three (about radiu 50, amount 90).
some LCE on RGB channel in the eye
I cloned the flare in the eye
finally I do B&W reducing lightness on blu (-130) and a bit on red (-20)

I think I'm in the correct way to try to make a bit sharp the image..
I'll try to change some values...

what's your opinion?
thanks
N

[Antonio Correia]

...

Clearly better. Much better.
Please clone the grey area on top right, will you ?!

I would like somebody else to drop some lines on this photo.
Ali my friend, will you please be so kind as ....

[Katy Noelle]

I don't think so. It is a bit blurred indeed but it doesn't bother me at all.
What is more important here is the atitude - if I may call it so, or shall I say pose - of Ida and the dog.
Hide the dog with your hand you will understand how important he is in the composition of the picture. If the rules are broken ? Oh yes perhaps they are, but does it matter when the message is there, right in front of you ?
I can only regret that the dog is not "complete" as he is cut by the nose.
Using lenses or photographing with large apertures for small DoF can sometimes be frustrating if you are looking for sharp focus. One has to be very quick on choosing the focus point on the spot/moment and that is difficult sometimes without practice. Better yet would be manual focusing.
Good work Katy

Thanks, Antonio! I'm doing better than I thought, then. You've given me some things to concentrate on and to keep working on. The one thing that I'm afraid to try, on the fly, is manual focusing..... (Of course, I use it when I'm on a tripod - landscapes, macro, etc.) Thank you, again, for your feedback.

[Nicola]

Clearly better. Much better.
Please clone the grey area on top right, will you ?!

I would like somebody else to drop some lines on this photo.
Ali my friend, will you please be so kind as ....

hi Antonio!
thanks for appreciations
yes i will clone that gray area! this afternoon...
bye

[Nicola]

hi everybody
I keep on posting from where I left... in the last month I shooted only 100 photos,
(from october to december 3000..!)
this is one of the last, of my 7th nephew, she is 7 month old..
do you think it is a too tight portrait?
C&C welcome!
thanks
N

[Hans]

No. I love it. It's priceless!

Some people love to have space around the head. Others like to crop a little tighter. What do you like? Its your camera, your subject, your interpretation...your art. In the above photo I am totally compelled by the face and my eye moves around it as it is very interesting and expressive in itself so needs nothing else.

Good tight cropping can help to exclude some distractions present in the background (in candid shooting, sometimes you have to take the shot and can't really move the subject and regardless of changing your position there may still be things you want to exclude). Obviously, if you have all the time in the world and can move the subject and alter the environment you can do all kinds of things like varying the cropping and orientation etc. and select your background (or place your own).

[Nicola]

No. I love it. It's priceless!

Some people love to have space around the head. Others like to crop a little tighter. What do you like? Its your camera, your subject, your interpretation...your art. In the above photo I am totally compelled by the face and my eye moves around it as it is very interesting and expressive in itself so needs nothing else.

Good tight cropping can help to exclude some distractions present in the background (in candid shooting, sometimes you have to take the shot and can't really move the subject and regardless of changing your position there may still be things you want to exclude). Obviously, if you have all the time in the world and can move the subject and alter the environment you can do all kinds of things like varying the cropping and orientation etc. and select your background (or place your own).

thanks Hans for good feedback and suggestions!
this is a "quite candid picture": I saw her smiling so I went closer to her in order to capture the expression of eyes and mouth, and I tought that crop should works well (I must be sincere, I don't like very much the hairless head of so young girls/boys )
but I'm not so sure on my judgements, so I had fear that someone else didn't appreciate the cropped head...
but now I know at least that you also like it
bye
N