Real and lovely

Hi all,

Today I like to show you this picture of a real and lovely lady using a straight forward approach in posing, lighting and postproduction. Feel free to comment if you like to.



Regards,

Bernhard

Bernhard Rees said:

Hi all,

Today I like to show you this picture of a real and lovely lady using a straight forward approach in posing, lighting and postproduction.

Click to expand...

Bernhard,

I commend you for the natural style of the pose and choice of subject. I do like the picture and your non formal style. Now I will be more critical or rather ask some questions and raise possible alternate ways of showing things without moving away from your intention of value of the subject.

I, myself also like empty space as part of a composition, but here I am wondering about the total form. The face is cut but the space on either side will not allow her being to populate it as she is not free to move. To make the clean space more effective, might not it be better to have it flowing over the top of her head too? Since you have decided on a landscape presentation, which can be more contemplative, why not just go for it and use the clear space as part of your motif?

The sharpening of the hair might be too strong. There is no need for all the hair to the very edge to be as sharp as the hair closer to her skin. It would seem to me that the fine hair should not be more important than her face.Also one could consider opening the shadows in the lit part of the face.

Asher

I like the lighting effect (chiaroscuro is a favorite of mine) but I would like to see the top of her head. I also like black and white! Lovely model with a wonderfully interesting face.

Rachel, Archer,

Thanks for your comments and thoughts about my picture. The lighting setup using 2 lights only seems to be working pretty well according to all the comments I have heard in the meantime. BTW the phrase "chiaroscuro" sounds so much better than "paining with light" since it reminds me on the soft and silky light in the morning and evening around the Mediterranean.

Portraits without showings the full head sometimes tend to split viewers in controvers positions. One part likes it, the other is not so happy with it. I have got some other shots in portrait presentation with her full head visible. I definitely agree these shots work in a very different way. Since I wanted to get more input on the idea of a picture composition with the model's face placed very high I selected this specific picture. Maybe lifting up my camera position by 10-20 centimeter still keeping the same picture composition might work fine. Re-compositioning the picture's format in post production to a square reducing the clear space to her left seems to work pretty good as well.

Asher, after playing around with my picture for a while your remark about sharpening is adressing the right point! In the current picture sharpening is too aggressive for presentation on screen. Using a more moderate parameter set definitely works better since it removes some of the harshness from her hair. On the other side this particular styling of my model's hair is a little bit unusual for her. Bearing this in mind we are currently discussing on how to highlight this detail the best way.

Regards,

Bernhard

When posing and lighting the female subject the main light should enter the face on the same side as she parts her hair, and you did this, but her torso should have been turned 45° opposite of the way it is positioned here. The torso should NOT be pointed toward the main light. One major problem with positioning the main light on the same side of the female subject as her torso is facing is all that the main light will illuminate all that white skin between her chin and her breasts and draw the eye away from her face. Most clothing for females has a rather low cut placket and that area of skin seldom gets as much sunshine as the face does so it tends to be brighter than the face, and the face should be the brightest area of skin in a portrait. Also the MUA seldom applies as much make up to that area as she does the face. By turning her torso away from the main light, only the fill light will illuminate the bright skin on her chest, and since the fill light is less powerful than the main light it will render anything lit by it only as darker.
Lastly the main light was positioned too low. The catchlight from the main light should be at the 11or 1 o'clock position in the eyes.

Benji

I'm printing this out, Ben. Thanks!

Ben,

Thank you very much for your detailed input about positioning light sources. This will help me a lot to improve my setup for upcoming photo sessions! Since I did some shots with her torso turned to the other direction I can compare the differences you are pointing at with ease.

Bernhard