Frank,

I have to admit I agree with Dave. The very first thing that caught my eye was the dead on center placement of the catch light in her eyes, which seems to shout on camera flash to me. This may not have been avoidable if this was taken on the spur of the moment.

Also, taking pictures of young models is very difficult and often times the photographer has to take what he/she gets! The flash would be much better raised up a bit and 45 degrees to one side or the other and then pointed down at a 30 - 45 degree angle, depending upon the effect you are trying to achieve . . . and if you have time, which was probably not the case.

Best Regards,
Tom

Greetings Delderby,

I often times use the High Pass filter to sharpen images of mine as the last step, both portrait and landscape shots, and snap shots as well. However, when I do, I am very careful as to how much I use (the pixel radius setting), and usually use the overlay blend.

In addition, I will most times add a layer mask and brush in, selectively, where I want to apply the sharpening from the High Pass filter. This way I try not to over sharpen and make the image look unreal. I have found that if I do over sharpen an area, it looks absolutely awful, basically grainy or pixelated, for lack of a better description, and anyone viewing the image can most certainly tell that the image was very poorly enhanced/adjusted.

Another thing I sometimes do even after using the layer mask, I will adjust the opacity for the individual layer until I find the percentage that best fits the image selections.

Best Regards,
Tom

Thank you pt for your words of explanation. As I had said, I think it is an intriguing shot. Your original you posted seems too dark in the face in all honesty. Frank's version is much better, but I feel the man in the shot is still wearing a mask around his eyes, kind of like Zorro or The Lone Ranger.

Also, because I have taken a lot of portrait shots, the extreme brightness of the whites of his eyes just is opposite of what I was trained to do, but I realize this is not meant as a portrait - just an innate feeling I get when I look at Frank's rendition. Just a tad more lighting around his eyes and face just seems to be appropriate to me.

Thanks for posting, and it is interesting to read the various comments by all, and especially those made by the two different genders.

Best Regards,
Tom

Hey Frank,

If he wants to have a darker more menacing look or presentation, I believe perhaps a happy median between your version and mine might be in order? Mine is too light and yours seems to be just a tad too dark. Both are good in their own rights, but just depends on what pt wants for his final image outcome.

Here again, it just comes down to interpretation, likes, and dislikes, and what the original photographer hopes to achieve for his final product. Right now, I'm not really sure what he wants and what is too dark and too light, so I guess I'll let him reprocess his own image and see what he really wants. Not much else to say or do concerning the image he posted. He did achieve some results and some discussion from the forum, so maybe that was his intent and goal - just searching for other possible ideas?

Best Regards,
Tom

Greetings pt,

I decided to do a little post processing in Photoshop using a camera raw filter, selectively, to your image to bring out his face just a little more, but still keeping a little mystery to the image. By doing so, I feel the man is portrayed just a tad more, but the mystery and the foggy type background light from the windows on the walls camera right and camera left is still kept so the atmosphere is basically the same for me. I actually kind of light the shot and find it somewhat intriguing.

Please download for best viewing - Thank you.

Best Regards,
Tom

(Download)

From my experience, there doesn't seem to be much difference in resizing photos for many image editing programs. It basically depends upon the original aspect ratio for the image when it was taken in the camera. One thing that may be beneficial when resizing is the ability of the image editing program to perform a content aware fill to expand the image size of the original shot.

Best Regards,
Tom

Larry,

I honestly thought that was the look you were trying to achieve with the 25 sec exposure, and seems to fit into the scheme of things for your image. Sharpness on the camera left orangish-brown colored rocks might be a plus, but the rest of the image seems to work quite well for the feeling and mood of the image. Any thoughts?

Best Regards,
Tom

Larry,

As already said many times, exceptional photography - very nice image. Your Post processing puts it over the top! This is another one for your portfolio adding it to your Mabry Mill, Virginia, image!

Best Regards,
Tom

Thanks Mike,

Tom

Mike,

Was the water and background really as blue as it appears in the image? Maybe it was taken during the blue hour? Perhaps your WB was not set correctly when the shot was taken?

Best Regards,
Tom

Mike,

Very nicely naturally framed. There was a topic, posted not too long ago, addressing natural framing of images, and this one is very good. I also like the reflection you caught. Personally, I would crop just near the bottom of that large limb leaving just a tad on camera left side, and, possibly cropping up from the bottom removing just a little of the shoreline about where the dock starts appearing in the image (where there is seemingly a dark straight horizontal blockish/rectangular 'line'). This is quite a nice landscape with great timing on capturing your shot.

Best Regards,
Tom

Mike,

Once again, I agree with Cliff. It looks like you grabbed your camera, quickly brought it up to see through the viewfinder, and snapped a shot at the spur of a moment catching what was available at the given time.

Bets Regards,
Tom

Mike,

Once again, I have to agree with Cliff. In addition to what he said, I find the bright light at the top to be distracting as well as the background - just not a portrait shot background. It is very difficult to get a true portrait shot with on camera flash.

Best Regards,
Tom

Hey Mike,

I tend to agree with Cliff on this one. I would like to say that a portrait shot may sometimes be achieved if you have the flash mounted on the hot shoe by bouncing the light off a side wall at the correct angle, but it takes some time and thought before pressing the shutter release button. Also, a small diffuser of some sort attached to your speed light that is mounted on your hot shoe is usually best in trying to achieve a portrait shot using this method or set-up.

I believe that the best portrait shots are achieved by using off camera lighting with properly diffused mono lights, modeling lights, beauty dishes, etc.. Don't forget natural lighting can be used from a properly positioned subject to window light, which can be very soft light depending upon the situation, perhaps use of a white sheet over the window, the position of the subject, and the size of the window.

IMO, to me, this image you posted looks much more like a snap shot than a portrait shot.

Best Regards,
Tom

Rob,

I like them both, but personally find the second one looking a bit hot/overexposed on her forehead and to each side of the bridge of her nose under her eyes before reaching her cheeks. It may be a difference in monitor settings, but without the download button, it is difficult to tell for sure. Hence, it is a question in my mind? I don't find the triangular catch light pattern offensive in the least . . . actually quite interesting.

Best Regards,
Tom