[Russt]

G"day all,

My wife has kindly let me post a couple of shots

These were taken with the canon 50mm 1.8. I am still working my way round this lens, switching between MF and AF. The light is natural window light. I would be happy to hear your thoughts on set up, post process etc.

Set up was 1/250 sec f2.5
#1


#2 I know this sort of thing is done to death.............but I just had to do it


#3

[Kombisaurus]

Hey Russt,

Firstly, they are all beautiful shots.

Number 3 is my favourite though, without question. I have very little I can find to critisize about it.

Composition and pose are lovely, the colours of clothes, jewellery and background are also lovely and compliment her hair, skin and eyes, and the you've brought the whole thing together really well.
The lighting is also wonderful. I'm a big fan of natural lighting, and while some people might think the shadows are a bit too deep on the left side of her face, personally I really like that approach. I think shadows help give depth, character and personality, and a good portrait is not just a flattering portrait (sometimes it might not be a flattering portrait at all, but in this case it can be both).

The DOF you got from f/2.5 is also great. There is no background detail to blur so you could've closed your aperture tighter without things getting distracting, but seeing her hair and shoulder go out of focus does give the shot a bit more depth which works for me (but others might not agree with that). Certainly its good you didn't go for a wider aperture than f/2.5 though.

It appears that you have done some minor touching-up of her eyes and teeth and possibly also her lips and jewellery. Generally I think that's fantastic thing to do and you've done them really well. They really have a big (although subtle) impact on the overall image, but I think you might have oversaturated her eyes a little. They are beginning to look a little bit too bright and blue to be real... just a little bit. Apologies if her eyes really ARE that bright!

Great job though! Just my 2c worth...

[Russt]

Thanks Kombi..............for your comments.

I agree lucky I didn't go wider than f2.5. the ISO was 400 to do it again under the same conditions I would go ISO 800 and stop down to about f4. but thats all part of learning, should have tried some more settings. With that said I think the shollow DOF in #1 I find a bit distracting because the eyes are not the same sharpness this is made worse by the resize.

As for post process I did some slight curves adjustment , a little more contrast and USM. The rest of the PP was to do with smoothing out the skin and soften some lines (not that I had to do much of that honey ). The teeth, eyes and lips I didn't touch in #3 but I did play with blue in levels of #1. Come to think of it I may have bumped up the saturation a little which might account fo the eyes.

thanks again Russ

[Schellamo]

Hi Russ, I just love no 1 & 3
I love the shadows and DOF just like what Kombi wrote. This image has depth and your model looks very relaxed and natural.

The only thing I would like to see is perhaps a slighty different colour in the background, to compliment the blues in the image. Its quite easy to do in photoshop, Image>adjustments>selective colour. Then from the drop down box select green or yellow and tweak the sliders until you get something you like.
Again, just my thoughts.

[Russt]

Its quite easy to do in photoshop, Image>adjustments>selective colour. Then from the drop down box select green or yellow and tweak the sliders until you get something you like.

Thanks Schell, I did have a bit of a play with the background but not the way you suggested I will give it a try. Sonya is not a fan of the background. The wall on my screen looks a bit olive but its actually more yellow.

[Rufus]

Kombi said:
The lighting is also wonderful. I'm a big fan of natural lighting, and while some people might think the shadows are a bit too deep on the left side of her face, personally I really like that approach.

I agree. Having said that though, I'm attempting to obtain a less wide-range portrait. Why?

I dunno. :|

[Kombisaurus]

The teeth, eyes and lips I didn't touch in #3 but I did play with blue in levels of #1. Come to think of it I may have bumped up the saturation a little which might account fo the eyes.

Hey Russ,

Wow.. then she must have lovely teeth, eyes and lips if they are "natural" in the photo. My humble apologies for suspecting they had been touched up! (she should take that as a compliment )
Maybe its the white balance or saturation affecting her eyes, or it might simply be a difference in how the colour appears on our screens (is your screen calibrated? Mine is, but I am viewing it in IE which isn't colour-managed, so usually works out only 1/2 calibrated).

Anyway, they are all lovely portraits (but #3 is still my fave)

[Russt]

My humble apologies for suspecting they had been touched up! (she should take that as a compliment )

No worries........was taken that way.........

Hey I am up the coast at the moment viewing this on my Fathers PC, wow big difference...........makes you think about monitor calibration. :/

catch you all soon hope to get some pics


cheers Russ

[shuttertalk]

Nice portraits, Russt, I think they're well executed.

The model (ooo, your wife will be impressed) looks very relaxed and nicely posed. My fave has to be number 3...