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

[Antonio Correia]

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Thank you Kay
A portrait nicely done
You should ask someone for a nice gift on your birthday, you deserve it.
It was a good idea to take advantage of the wind.

[Alis]

Here is my friend's daughter - My friend held my 'light on a stick' for me.
It is the 430Ex into a shoot through umbrella off camera left.
The 7D on camera flash is what triggers it - this seemed to work a wee bit intermittently - I'm not sure if that is due to not getting the line of sight it needs to work, as we were moving around - or if I was shooting quicker than the recycle time.
My Birthday is in a month or 2 maybe I should ask for pocket wizards and an external batter pack for the flash.

The in studio fan effect - is due to using the natural wind that was blowing in the right direction - if I remembered to face her the right way



I tried a bit 'less is best' approach to the newly learned post processing techniques this time

Absolutely beautiful, Kay! I like the combination of the light green, the red dress, the blonde hair, the blue eyes, everything so lively and vivid. Well done!

[wilgk]

Thank you Kay
A portrait nicely done
You should ask someone for a nice gift on your birthday, you deserve it.
It was a good idea to take advantage of the wind.

Absolutely beautiful, Kay! I like the combination of the light green, the red dress, the blonde hair, the blue eyes, everything so lively and vivid. Well done!

Thankyou both very much indeed for your very kind words and encouragement

[speedneeder]

Kay, this is a wonderful portrait! Good work.

[MiniChris]

I love those freckles!

[Colin Southern]

Here is my friend's daughter - My friend held my 'light on a stick' for me.
It is the 430Ex into a shoot through umbrella off camera left.
The 7D on camera flash is what triggers it - this seemed to work a wee bit intermittently - I'm not sure if that is due to not getting the line of sight it needs to work, as we were moving around - or if I was shooting quicker than the recycle time.
My Birthday is in a month or 2 maybe I should ask for pocket wizards and an external batter pack for the flash.

The in studio fan effect - is due to using the natural wind that was blowing in the right direction - if I remembered to face her the right way



I tried a bit 'less is best' approach to the newly learned post processing techniques this time

Oh brother ... where to start!

When I first saw this my first thought was "I know this style" and then I realized it was MY style ... I'm a bit slow some days!

With regards to the triggering - you're going to find the 7D limited - simply because the on-camera flash shoots the light forward when communicating, and your not normally taking pictures of flashes firing; so "by default" the flash usually isn't going to be in the direction the flash is pointing at, which isn't a great start. I find it (and the ST-E2) a bit like those space-saver spare wheels for your car: great in an emergency, but pretty useless if you're trying to use it all the time. Bottom line is that NOTHING beats the Pocketwizard, especially with the new AC3 zone controller. I know they're not cheap, but it's really a case of do you buy them now, or later -- because eventually you'll be getting them

With regards to external battery packs - it all depends on how often you're using it. It's even easy enough to make your own (it's only a 6v gel cell battery) - failing that, consider a Canon CP-E4 if you're using 580EXs (original or II) - I don't think the 430 EX family has the external port, but I could be wrong. Failing that - get a brick of 40 AA batteries from Dick Smiths ($20 here in NZ) - that's a lot of shooting for $20. PS: You can also get cheaper CP-E4 look-alike units online.

With regards to the image ...

... well done

Seriously, I think this is the best work I've seen to date from any School of Portraiture participant -- and the first to actually "hang it all together". In the past we've had people get certain parts right - but leave others below standard ... and this is the first I've seen that hits all the buttons (composition - lighting - capture - processing & presentation). If a parent hired a professional photographer to photograph their child & put it on canvas - and this was the final result - they'd be pleased with the result. So with this result I hereby declare you "graduated" from the inaugural CiC School of Portraiture! The training wheels have now been removed - and now the learning really begins ... your final assignment is to now start producing this result consistantly; and remember too that you now no longer settle for merely photographing the scene you have - you now have the tools to grab the bull by the "horns" and manipulate the scene to give you the scene YOU want (that's where the learning and experience really start, and you also start to develop a style of your own). Unfortunately it's also where "with great power comes great responsibility" ... but nobody will be killed or injured when you muck things up, so just get out there and do it!

PS: Almost forgot to mention ... one final tip from the teacher ... tight framing like this pushes the DoF limits more than we'd like - so when you push in like this - generally - on a crop-factor camera like the 7D you probably won't want to be on anything less than F5.6 for safety ... I can see here that the eyes are sharp, but the chin is just starting to go - so I'd guessing you were probably at F4 or slightly wider. I shoot @ F11 in the studio and even then I get bitten by DoF issues when doing head shots.

[MiniChris]

Yet one more foray into people...a mother (Mandy1973) and her very squirmy daughter, Mallory (30 months). I was trying out a new lens and couldn't get the focus lock to work well but was still able to get some 'decent" (IMO) shots, this one of the better.

All natural light, late afternoon, shade. F5.6 @ 1/400 ISO 200 Nikon D5000. It's okay, but could use some good PP work or a whole new reshoot..so, some of you resident portrait peeps out there, show me your stuff!

[wilgk]

Thankyou Brian, Chris & Colin for your kind comments....
Chris - having only just 'qualified' - I will leave critique of your image to the experts
And Colin...I will research the pocket wizards, we knew I was going to.....
question 1) - I know you need a transmitter and receiver type setup - but if you were to use 2 flashes - do you then need 3 wizards.....off I go to Mr Wizard's google site

p.s when I saw your "oh brother" I thought oh no!....
but 'phew' it turned out ok
next assignment is a Mum with 4 daughters....
I am spending my time now, with these volunteer subjects to - as you suggest 'make sure I can repeat it' so there is still a long way to go - but I have to say - it is great fun

now back to that Birthday wizard shopping research

[Alis]

Yet one more foray into people...a mother (Mandy1973) and her very squirmy daughter, Mallory (30 months). I was trying out a new lens and couldn't get the focus lock to work well but was still able to get some 'decent" (IMO) shots, this one of the better.

All natural light, late afternoon, shade. F5.6 @ 1/400 ISO 200 Nikon D5000. It's okay, but could use some good PP work or a whole new reshoot..so, some of you resident portrait peeps out there, show me your stuff!

This is a beautiful picture, Chris! Both in terms of composition and technique, I think you have done a great job. Your WB seems to be off a bit, at least on my monitor (I am looking at it on my work laptop, not calibrated).

The only thing that bothers me is the dark area in the mid upper section. I wish you had more detail on that area but it is still a great shot!

[speedneeder]

Hi Chris,
I really like the composition of this shot! I think a little more light on mandy's face would help for sure. Per Colin's portraiture class, I am now the proud owner of a collapsable reflector. I wouldn't think of taking an outdoor portrait without it - not a planned one anyway. I'm sure Mandy loves this photo and will for many many years! This makes it a special shot indeed.

[MiniChris]

This was much more a spur of the moment, "Mallory has her favorite dress on - let's shoot some pics of us together," shot than formally planned. Mandy really wanted the shot to be about her daughter and less about her so I "posed" (as much as you can pose a worm on hot concrete) them in a manner where the best light was on Mallory. I think, l either I should have had more light on Mandy or less on her, but as it is, it makes the viewer want one or the other, but not what I have.

Shooting this kind of portraiture is a new ball game for me. Prior experience involved a set of strobes, in a typical 4 light setup (main, fill, back and hair lights), a "set" background and generally, drugged kids (n-no, I didn't say that, but I suspected it on more than one occasion). Catching the little buggers out in the open, and getting results like Kay did in the shot preceding this one, that's a little more down the road for me...but I'll get there.

Thanks so much for the encouragement and positive comments/critiques...I need it.

[stevewe88]

[Antonio Correia]

Nice picture Steve with the young man looking at the flowers (daffodils) ...
Thank you for posting

[stevewe88]

Thanks Antonio

[stevewe88]

I thought I had better put the other half of the pair on here so that he doesn't grow up feeling left out!

Cheers
Steve

[Antonio Correia]

This one Steve is really great
He just looks good, relaxed, at ease, on his own, confident, looking at the future... very well done. Nice moment
I have nothing to say about this photo contrarily to usual
Thank you Steve for posting here once more
Have a nice working week

[stevewe88]

Thank you Antonio for your lovely comments.

Have a nice week too.
Steve

[Alis]

I thought I had better put the other half of the pair on here so that he doesn't grow up feeling left out!

Cheers
Steve

Completely agree with Antonio! Absolutely beautiful, Steve.

Not sure if there was any clouds in the sky that day, but that is something the picture is missing (the sky looks blown out although it might have been just overcast). Would be great with a real blue sky and some white clouds. Anyway, great job!

Cheers!

[Alis]

[stevewe88]

Nice shot Ali, I love the expression on his face like he is thinking, " how am I going to tackle this thing".

Thanks for you comments on mine too. The sky was overcast and just a dirty white colour so choice to get it right in camera was limited. I used a 1/2 CTO lee filter on the fill flash which then brought out the blue in the sky when I corrected the WB in PP.

I like the suggestion for the sky, I will try that when I get a few minutes.

Steve