jonsommer Loc: Usually, somewhere on the U.S. west coast.

A colleague decided to do get involved in a good and worthy cause, so she decided that she would get some of her students and interns involved in a project that would get wrongly convicted people out of prison - of course, both students and interns provide the labor pro-bono, but it's proven to be an incredibly interesting and worthwhile project for them all. Well, so I have volunteered to do some portraits the day of release from prison for their successful cases. The individual pictured here was accused and convicted, spent 7 years incarcerated, and was released when DNA evidence was made available to the courts, which clearly affirmed his innocence. He's about 6'6", 300 pounds and has a very intense personality. I wanted to capture a the weariness of his countenance, the relief, the anger, the frustration, the unfairness of it all. I had 5 minutes to get this shot, natural light, he was standing against a piece of black cloth.

Any comments, criticisms or suggestions will be appreciated. Bobby, you said something like 'post and grow from the comments, don't wait for the perfect shots" So here goes:

(Download)

PalePictures Loc: Traveling

Jon,

You have three major problems

1) Camera right is technically out front so you need more room there than behind the guy. A crop will fix this.

2) Your highlights are way blown out to camera right. You can help this to a degree by moving your highlights slider all the way to the left in RAW.

3) I would add a little more separation at the shoulders. You are better off doing this with lights. If the shirt is blue you can fix this pretty easy in post.
I'll show you how in Vegas.(if you don't know)

Neat story!

Really round faces can be technically challenging.

Regards,
Russ

Bobby Deal Loc: Loveland Colorado

Under the conditions you did quite well.
The first thing that jumps out at me is not so much the over exposure but that their is an odd color phase shift at the dividing line of his face. Kind of a purple blue shift in the inner half of the highlight. I am unsure if this can be corrected effectively in post but you could try some HSL channel adjustments in ARC to see if it can be balanced out.
If not I would consider going black and white with this one.

Round faces are faces I would typically look to short light, so turning his body on an angle of roughly 45 degrees away from the main light source then have him turn his nose back to the light source until he is in a 3/4 face. This lighting pattern will slenderize the cheek bones and giove a slimmer profile to his jaw. Further I would make sure that he stands really tall and strong with his shoulder back and leaning ever so slightly over his belt, then have him push his forehead toward you and tilt his head a little to the back shoulder to allow light to wrap under his jaw line which will better define it.

Lastly assume a camera superior position and shoot down a bit on him with the longest lens you can use.

Aside from that a touch of toneal weight in the background could be introduced by adding a reflector on the shadow side to help with separation and dimensionality.

Under these conditions the time restraints should not be a hinderance, in fact they make work in your favor by not allowing you to over think the shot. This is a time to stick to the basics and follow the general guidelines of portraiture and you will be fine. Advance planning such as having a reflector or sheet of foam core with you or a speed light that can be fired wirelessly and either set on a stand off camera or mounted to a voice operated lights stand will save you a ton of headache in the end.

waltchilds Loc: Central Florida

I like this photo and think you did a nice job of capturing this shot under less than perfect conditions. The separation of his hair and face from the background looks natural to me and the comments made by both Bobby and Russ are excellent teaching tips for taking a photo like this to the next level. Thanks for this post.

LLucas Loc: Upstate South Carolina, USA

My first impression was that I would love to see this one in monochrome.
His story is heartbreaking and his expression is really complicated. He looks proud, yet sad and angry at the same time. You did a wonderful job of capturing the moment and all the emotions involved.
Thanks for all the tips from above posters. I'm having fun working on my portraits with your help!!

jonsommer Loc: Usually, somewhere on the U.S. west coast.

Bobby, the purple fringing between the core shadow and the bright side of his face perplexed me, as well. I've tried various ways to eliminate it or minimize it so it's not so noticeable - and I've achieved only partial success. I'll keep working on it.

I also found the original image and was able to achieve greater separation from the background in Raw, which makes him look even bigger, to my eyes. I'll also try a vertical crop as well as a different horizontal crop.

In looking at this photo some more, I noticed that his face and eyes are out of focus, but 3" back, his hair is in perfect focus.

As I think back to the moment this was taken, he had been officially a free man for 5 minutes, or so, he was wearing 'civilian' clothes for the first time in years, he was about to see his family as soon as he got by me and to say the whole event was highly emotionally charged, well, I'm sure you can imagine. There were windows about 8' above the floor, flash was not allowed, and they wouldn't let me turn off the overhead fluorescents and the camera was hand held. I was the proverbial pimple on the rump of the elephant that was keeping him from putting the previous seven years behind him, he didn't feel like posing and I was really nervous, and even getting a camera inside was a challenge. Personally, I'll never forget the sound of the reverberating clang the door made when he emerged and was shut behind him.

I bring this up because I have been through this scenario a couple of times since then, I now have a much better idea of what to expect, what I can and can't bring with me into the building (cameras are usually not allowed), and the subject has been told that I will be there to take some photos before he meets his family and friends, so I'm not looked at as papperazzi that should be eaten for dinner. Bobby, your comments about bringing reflectors and such are excellent ones, they are about being prepared as photographers, about scouting out a location and knowing what you will be up against and planning your shots. I didn't do any of those things, but I have learned that lesson, I hope. So, now, I give soooo much thought to some situations that I feel like I do over think the shots (like you warned against), and the result is that I sometimes loose the important element of spontaneity and I'm working to achieve a balance between the two.

Bobby, Russ and Walt, thanks for thaking the time to comment - it's always interesting to see my work through the eyes of others. The more I read your posts, the more I realize I "have miles to go before I sleep" to speak metaphorically.

Thanks,
Jon

jonsommer Loc: Usually, somewhere on the U.S. west coast.

LLucas, for some reason, I've been reluctant to do B&W conversions, but your suggestion, and Bobby's comment about the blue color shifty/fringing going on at the front of his face does make this a good candidate to try it on. Thank you for looking and for your suggestions.