kenievans Loc: Dallas

A friend of mine has asked me to shoot her portrait in black and white. She has a progressively dibilitating illness and does not like to have her photo taken but her family has asked her to please have a portrait done. She is very specific about the type of shot she wants. She wants a black background, a black chair and she wants to be dressed in black, similar to a Princess Diana portrait she saw. I really want to do a good job for her so I had a family member sit in for a few practice shots. I would very much appreciate your feedback on this.

I used a big softbox on the right and a white reflector on the left. I think I should have had the softbox more towards the front to reduce the shadows on the left or should I have it directly in front and more above? Should the camera be up a little higher? My friend, like the my model here has deep lines around her mouth. I want to help diminsh them. Should I have lightened the background around her head a little in post or maybe used a soft light on the background to help give it some depth? Any processing or posing suggestions? Please feel free to pick it apart. I don't have a lot of experience at this and this one is really important to me. I am not doing the session until the end of next week so I have some time to practice and make adjustments.

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robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Does she want it that dark? I would lighten it enough to make the flesh stand out and more hints of shapes and patterns in the dark areas.
Is it OK if I do a demo?

kenievans Loc: Dallas

Thanks Robert, please do!

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Actually one of the greatest things about digital is you can produce almost endless variations for the person to pick from.

If you are using Lightroom or another app with the feature make a "virtual copy" of you image, edit and save then for the next version repeat-virtual copy of the OOC image, do the second edit idea and keep going.

So with this image you could do lighter ones, darker ones, ones with only the highlights brought up, ones with the shadows brought up etc.

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flip1948 Loc: Hamden, CT

I thought I would try something a little different by bringing up the skin tones a bit while keeping the black background the subject requested and sharpening slightly and cropping a bit.

Sorry for not getting permission first.

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jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

Your shot is too dark, I believe. Something more along the lines of Robert’s re-do seems more appropriate.

fergmark Loc: norwalk connecticut

I think you have a very nice portrait here. But, it is far too dark. There is a big difference between editing for viewing on the computer, and for printing. I generally edit more with printing in mind, and I know that things always print darker, if not much darker than what you are seeing on your screen. Fine tuning the values is awfully hard to do without doing a test print or two. Anyway, this is my go at it. The first is pretty much as I think it might look. The second I think might be a better crop, and slightly brighter. None of the highlights are clipped, but sometimes you get a better print when they are. Printing will help you determine the darks.

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joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

I think this is beautifully done! A fine portrait about which the subject should be extremely satisfied!

Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

Keni such a lovely rendering of this enchanting mature Princess... superb hair styling... chic ear decor... albeit the choice of plaid wardrobe isn't in harmony with the "elegance" latent within... moving forward please consider plaids for causal candid only, k?

btw, asking for assistance in a photography forum is likely going to generate somewhat narrow minded responses... a.k.a. Maslow's hammer... Commercial portraiture is a team effort involving hair stylist, makeup artist, wardrobe styling etc. The photographer is only one player on this team no more and no less important in all other players. My credentials? I worked for "Glamour Shots" as a makeup artist at the bottom end and as the Key Makeup Artist on many high end Beauty Genre sessions. Enough said.

To answer your query I'm sharing with you some of the wisdom I've gleaned over the years. As other "Photographers" have previously mentioned you've not exposing this capture correctly... The tonal range is compressed nearly entirely into the low half of range. See below... A 30 second tweak in Photoshop brought back much of the missing range albeit at the dear price of stretching data way beyond practical limits... Had this been a commercial shoot the client would have rejected it and you would have to re-shoot it and eat the expense... experience is a brutal teacher..

From your web portal it is obvious you've been in the game for a while...
https://kenievansphoto.myportfolio.com/portraits-2

Your lighting setup is perfectly germane to the narrative here only the exposure and composition are an issue...
As for composition? This Princess' hand is a distraction... In portraiture the face should always dominate and be closest to the lens... few if any exceptions work well... Since there is no EXIF data in this image I'm simply guessing your FL is also way too short. This aggravates the perception of her hand being larger than her face. That is to be avoided in portraiture... Even though you have the hand elegantly positioned it is simply way too large... Always have the talent's hand(s) at the same distance as the face... I actually have them position them slight behind their face.

"... My friend, like the my model here has deep lines around her mouth. I want to help diminish them...
btw "Those Lines" are called the NASOLABIAL FOLD... and are typically professionally corrected with concealer makeup product... This is why Bridal Makeup Artist make the big bucks... Wedding photographers are notorious for not doing much in the way of PP corrections... A "Wedding" event is a women's most epic photo shoot of her life... It's got to be right in camera, period... Yes I had to master facial anatomy to obtain my Cosmetologist License in Makeup Artistry. Commercial Makeup Artistry is a Profession... while commercial photography is merely a craft which does not require professional licensing.

I could go on for hours here Keni but I have client work staring me in the face... Sorry, at the end of the day it's all about money... only hobbyist seek recognition and positive reinforcement... As the master poet of my generation once said. "It's either fortune or fame you must chose one or the other though neither are to be what they claim"

Wishing you all the best on your upcoming Princess session... just take care in positioning hands and try to avoid the plaid wardrobe, k?

And please stay safe... I closed my studio on July 1, 2020 because of the pandemic. Not in any hurry to open it again... Still trying to scheduled a vaccine injection... Even though I'm in Group 1A in my state it is still virtually impossible to find a vaccine source in Northern VA... Trust that your sitter has received her Covid19 vaccination.
.

As shot...


Level's Tweak..


(c) 2021 Keni Evans Photography

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charlienow Loc: Hershey, PA

Keni. I like the portrait although it is way to dark for my taste. For my taste I like what Robert jerk did.

Fergmark brought out the skin tones rather nicely.

And of course Thomas did an excellent rendering.

Good luck. And I am looking forward to seeing your friends portrait posted

Chuck

kenievans Loc: Dallas

Robert thank you so much. I was processing it in a dark room and didn't realize how underexposed it was. I am using Photoshop and ACR with a little help from Nik Silver Effects. Since I use non destsructive techniques I can reprocess the original as much as I need to.

kenievans Loc: Dallas

Flip1948 I have no problem with anyone reworking my photos on UHH. You always have my permission. That is why I came to this forum in the first place was to learn from others with more experience. I like that you kept the background dark and I appreciate you showing me your version. It definitely help me going forward to see other examples.

kenievans Loc: Dallas

Thank you sir. I need to get out of that bad habit of doing my processing in a dark room.

kenievans Loc: Dallas

Much appreciated fergmark. I like the brighter version. I recently bought a printer and I am still learning how to use it to get the best results. I will definitely send this out to be printed and not attempt it myself.

kenievans Loc: Dallas

Thank you! I don't usually do portraits but I am trying to learn.