Thanks for the kind words Jim. All you need to do is come to Colorado and I will make YOUR portrait!

I posted a photo of the lighting setup.

Wellll...I am pretty sure I could make the same images with my 11 year-old twelve megapixel D3 and 24-70 f/2.8. But the added pixels in the 810 and 850 sure are handy when clients order a 20x30 and you can see every little detail in the eyes. The ability to shoot "loose" and crop is also a benefit. These were all shot at f/8-f/13, but it is also nice to have the ability to shoot at f/1.4—f/2.0 and have tack sharp eyes and that beautiful transition to OOF. The more advance and accurate AF systems in the newer bodies is also a huge plus. Not so much for studio work, but certainly for those high school seniors outdoor sessions where the wide aperture shots are so appealing. The keeper rate is improved for sure.

As a matter of fact, for corporate headshots, I STILL use that D3 since using 47mp for web images is dumb. And the images look just like these with not so dramatic lighting and processing.

Great image. Well done.

Thanks to all for the nice comments, but I can assure you this is not a selfless act just to honor the vets. As a working (part-time) pro, having a personal project is a way to practice, try new techniques, and stay creative by doing what I WANT to do. Over the two years I have been working on this project, I have kept a similar "look" but changed lighting, backgrounds, posing/positions, processing, etc. So while they have that similar look, I get there in different ways. Now I can apply what I have learned to the people that pay.

So projects like this are a real win-win: I get to play and experiment while the vets get free portraits.

Here is the setup. This is in a large room at a college one of the vets arranged. hidden by the 4x6 reflector is a 12x36 gridded soft box used as the kicker/accent light. The main light on the left is a Photek Softlighter. Strobes are Buff Einsteins. I shoot most studio work tethered to Capture One—far superior to Lightroom. Camera is a Nikon D850 with either a Nikkor 70-200 or the Nikkor 105 f/1.4E.

The background I use for the session is obviously not the background you see in the finished image. Those are digital backgrounds I make by combining different textures and manipulating the HSL and blend modes.

I usually post these in the Advanced Portraiture area, but that seems to be slow lately. This is the latest crew—a group from a VFW that invited me to make portraits of several of the members. I hope when they see these they invite me back for more. These are all done at no charge. I think I am up to just over 50 so far.

Nicely done. Thomas902's comments are spot on.

Superb work as usual.

These are great. The only minor adjustments I would make would be to VERY slightly lighten her face and then tone down her shoulder blade. As it is, that bright shoulder draws more attention than her face. Those two things are not a huge deal, but IMO, correcting them will improve the image.

To address the shoulder, there are a bunch of ways, but two easy ones are to use the clone stamp in Darken Mode at about 33%, sample from her arm, and then carefully paint in that shiny shoulder area. Another method is to use the Brush, hold down the option key and click in the dark tones of her arm. That will set a Foreground color. Change the brush mode to Color and paint over the shiny shoulder area.

Well, you could type "Canon Repair" in your search engine and get:
https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/support/service-repair/!ut/p/z0/04_Sj9CPykssy0xPLMnMz0vMAfIjo8zifQM9LDw8nQ18LCyCnAwcfV0M3AwDTYzcQwz1C7IdFQG5Nucn/

That edge-of-the-hand thing is true for women but not so much for guys. Certainly with young guys, the hands are pretty smooth and not distracting.

Great. Lit with flash but does not look like it—just the way it is supposed to be. Love the highlight on the hair and you still have detail in the hair. Good pose and hands are fine. Background is super. Great job.

I have used Nikon repair several times over the last 15 years and never had a problem. Turnaround was quick. No drama—sent it off and it it came back repaired.

I think so. If you have seen my work you would know i agree with you that I prefer dark, low key portraits. But we still want to keep the face lighter than the rest of the image—usually the brightest part of the photo. So darkening the image but keeping the face brighter woks really well for the look I think you are going for. Here is my approach. Now that I see it, I might lighten the chicken just a touch. As it is no harm, no foul. I just could NOT resist.

I understand. But there is dark and there is underexposed and this seems to go more to the latter.