BB4A

Hi All,

This is my first post to this area; looking for some constructive feedback for the portrait, below.

I should perhaps preface this with a very short explanation. I'm interested in natural light and natural beauty portraiture; I enjoy working out light challenges and opportunities presented to me by "The Man Upstairs". I believe that any minimal PP I introduce should complement, rather than cover up, the natural beauty of my subject. As all people are beautiful (but some, like me, have to be "intelligently and sympathetically posed AND processed"!), I try to introduce the subject as an image with a story or question.

Thoughts and positive, realistic feedback welcome!

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rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I like your philosophy. The quality of your work, at least this photograph, it quite good, as well.
--Bob

BB4A

Thanks Bob. I believe this is an average representative of my work quality; so I’m very pleased with a “quite good” rating. I have occasionally achieved a better result... and, I’m (in)famous for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, too.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Trying to create natural and realistic portrait and the use of natural light and a minimum of post processing manipulation is commendable. A natural approach to lighting and and a good original file are the tools to accomplish your goal.

In this image, there are number of aesthetic issues that I would like to discuss. The subjects pose or position, the camera, the view of the face that will result in a good likeness and attention certain body mechanics are part of producing a natural , flattering and comfortable portrait. Even natural light needs to be controlled as to the angle at which it strikes the subject. There are also issues of KEY and tonal harmony.

To establish a natural stance and a flattering angle of the subject's figure, it is best NOT to shoot into the side of the subject but rather have her posed at at an angle where the frontal shoulder line is approximately at 45 degrees to the camera. A side view in this image has revealed an unflattering view of the chest/arm junction and has added weight to the arm. The skin tone of the arm is competing with that of the face.

The facial position is not a clean profile nor is it a 2/3 view of the face. This crosses the nose and the far cheek and shows only part of the far eye. The face should be turned more toward the camera for a 2/3 view or slightly away from the camera for a better profile.

In a planned portrait session, clothing colors and tones shod be planned. The dark background is good for a low key portrait, however, the subject would be better rendered in a dark or black dress. With the background dark and the clothing dar, the face would become the most outstanding highlight of the portrait. A totally black background tends to look lie a "cut and paste" job but a subtle lighting on the background, just enough to add a bit of tonal or color mass would give better separation and more dimensionality.

SInce we can't see the far arm, the far hand apears to come out of her midsection.

The eyes should be better center so the do not show too much white.

The lighting is rather flat. I don't know what your light source is but if the lighting is more directional, coming form an angle anywhere from 35 to 90 degrees to the camera/subject axis, you will have more modeling and dimensionality due to the play of light and shadow. If you are working with flash or other artificial light, you need to move the main light source off camera. If you are working with existing light, you must move the subject into the best lighting pattern.

In you porcessing, you must have applied some additional sharpening- it is a bit excessive and has formed an exaggerated edge all around the subject.

I hope this helps and thank you for posting this image.

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

THIS is why some of us mostly shoot birds and other wildlife: we take what we get in terms of lighting, setting, and whatever costume the bird is wearing that day (breeding coloration, immature coloring, etc...). It is too much like work to do good studio work! So much detail to control! Bravo to those good studio artists who present here and it is great to have explanations of how they set up the photo.

berchman Loc: South Central PA

I learned a lot from your analysis. You really know what you're talking about.

BB4A

Thanks for the feedback; It’s definitely good advice for achieving a good portrait.

This portrait was one of the “nearlies” that didn’t make the Series, for some of the reasons you mention. It was a close decision though; although an unconventional portrait in terms of model clothing, position and pose, this was what the client wanted. Good call on the post processing; on reflection I’m not too impressed with what I did here, either! 😖

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Gang!

The responses in this thread makes me glad- happy that I started this section. The photographs, remarks and responses bring out lots of good point for discussion and improvement.

I can understand why some photographers are daunted by “studio” work and portraiture- there can be many complexities and hard work, Truth is, that once you get into it ain't all that difficult and it can be challenging and good fun! Sometimes the simplest of lighting and gear make for the best results and much of the posing is natural once you get the gist of it. I will, however, will let y'all a secret:

After days after days of shooting portraits, weddings, active children and self-conscious folks- “people” studio work and my head is ready to explode, I am so happy to work on my commercial jobs- A bottle of wine, a toaster or a bowl of cornflakes, don't move around, throw up in the middle of a session, and worry about it's double chin showing in the portrait! To relax and still enjoy photography I grab my smartphone camera and shoot whatever and fool around with all those cool aps- we all need a break!

Learning about portrait lighting can be beneficial to all photographers even if the do not want to specialize in formal or studio portraiture. You get to recognize, more acutely, natural lighting in random and serendipitous situations. Sometimes you may notice that really great images made in street photography, photojournalism, and even wildlife work are exceptional in mood, texture and dimensionality due to the photographers recognition and use of naturally occurring lighting.

Another thing I am impressed with, around here, is that folks are not necessarily showing their best or most satisfying work but looking for feedback and advice on the images they want to improve on.

Sometimes, if possible, it may be a great exercise to bring back the subject of a critiqued portrait and do ta re-shoot, incorporating the tips and suggestions offered by all the participants. That is seldom done on forums- that would be SO COOL if we could do that!

Thanks folks- please keep on posting here! Birds, eh? Gonna get me a longer lens! Ed

BB4A

I thought it might be appropriate to show another portrait from this shoot, where I have attempted to follow a more conventional solution to the opportunity. This also might explain why I was OK trying to hide the model's right arm in the first portrait, LOL.

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