portrait w/ octagon au naturel

[castaren77]

Just took these 2 pics of my wife while in my make shift studio. I shot both w/ AB 800 & octagon. the second shot has a black reflector w/ a red gel filter attached to a AB 400. I would appreciate any opinions and critiques of the lighting, pose, composition. Thanks.

[jiminyClickit]

castaren77, Welcome

Your color portrait is warm, relaxed and flattering. At this and Flickr small size, it looks sharp, well framed and lighted. Second b/w is sharp, but suffers from comparison. None of the goodness in first shot is here.

[clockdoc]

Hi. I have to show my ignorance and ask what you mean by "octagon". Is it some dort of lighting system? Is an AB800 a flash unit? Also, do I understand you correctly saying you bounced the flash, covered with a red gel filter, into a "black" reflector? I am familiar with using large black flats to act as "subtractive" reflectors (if that combination of terms make sense). 8-) In other words, the large black panels reduce the amount of ambient reflected light falling on one side of a model.
I took the liberty to run your color shot, which is very nice, through Picasa2's Filter Effects using the red filter. Red filters were used years ago in black and white photography to reduce freckles but that often left a pale skin tone to contend with. Here is the result.

My only observation would be to remove the small lower catchlight in her eyes and see how it looks to you. It is unusual to see catchlights at 11 and 6 o'clock. Can you tell us how you positioned the lights for the portrait? Thanks for sharing this comparison with us.

[wulf]

The colour portrait is much more flattering. Apart from the catchlights noted above, it might be better if she was a little more over towards the right (still leaving space on the right hand side but with less of the side of her head cropped off). However, I think it is a very good portrait.

In contrast, the B&W version makes her look quite unwell. The lighting is stronger, overexposing some areas and casting shadows that deform the shape of her face and I suspect the red gel is responsible for highlighting her freckles and making them look like a rash.

I wouldn't have immediately guessed that they were the same woman at all! Oh what power the photographer has... ;-)

Wulf

[castaren77]

Originally Posted by jiminyClickit

castaren77, Welcome

Your color portrait is warm, relaxed and flattering. At this and Flickr small size, it looks sharp, well framed and lighted. Second b/w is sharp, but suffers from comparison. None of the goodness in first shot is here.

I want to thank you for your thoughts, especially coming from those whose work I enjoy. I use Bibble Pro to do 95% of my editing and it works great with the exception of the sharpening tool. I have to double whatever I like.
I agree that both are very different but what I enjoyed about the 2nd one was her look, all those freckles and her eyes.

Clockdoc, sorry for the confusion. I used an Alien Bees 48" octagon softbox to light my subject. It was placed to camera left 7 ft. above me flashing downward. The reason for using a black reflector behind her was because I only have a white backdrop so whenever I used it with the gels it looked to bright to me. I flashed the reflector with a red gel attached to an Alien Bees 400. There was a silver reflector to model's right as fill light. I also placed another reflector on the ground in front of her to have catchlight in her eyes. Truth is I am still learning about catchlight.

Thanks Wolf, I did overexpose some parts and I plan to work on that. I do have a question, when would shadows work so as to not to deform the head?

Thank again for your responses; what a great site.

[clockdoc]

Thanks for the explanation. Now I understand why the catchlights are in the shape and in position they are in. Best wishes for success with your portraits.

[wulf]

Originally Posted by castaren77

I do have a question, when would shadows work so as to not to deform the head?

When they emphasise the shapes you want and not the ones you don't - in other words it is very subjective (but also very important).

Comparing the two shots, the deepest shadow on the colour version falls between her hair and the side of her jaw, emphasising the firm but not overly angular shape and echoed in a softer fashion by the lighter shadow on the opposite side.

On the B&W alternative, although you can trace the same line, there is a lot of dark shadow falling on the face round the same part of the jaw. It softens the shape and emphasises instead the curves of the flesh. That makes her look younger but, if it doesn't sound too harsh, the resulting image becomes that of a slightly gormless teenager rather than a beautiful woman!

Other elements come into play (including more shadows - for example, the lips look pouted and a bit petulant because of how they are formed by the light and shade) but this is a good example of how lighting dramatically changes the nature of a face.

Wulf

[xysmas]

Your wife has a wonderful expression in the 2nd portrait, although the bnw conversion could have done her a bit more justice. As was suggested - use a red filter to help let her face shine through and not to exaggerate the freckles (which really add to her in the first photo and detract in the 2nd.)

[clockdoc]

Wulf made some excellent points regarding light and shadow. Here are some things to think about when placing your lights. Larger reflectors will produce more 'wrap-around' lighting and minimize shadows. So if you are looking to define facial features with your key light, use a smaller reflector/diffuser. Also, the distance the light source is from the subject has an effect on shadows. The closer the light, the less effect it has in creating more defined shadows. You generally use at least two frontal lights in porture, one being the main or key light and the other is the 'fill' light. Using the two, you can regulate the amount of shadow on the face by adding more 'fill' light (generally placed close to the camera, above the lens, and on the opposite side from the key light. Experiment with these placements and you will see the difference.

[ELAY]

Castaren77,

Lee's post made me think of where I had heard that exact same advice recently -- over at the Strobist website, where David Hobby is running Lighting 102 this summer. If you are interested in working through some lighting exercises, you could do worse than going over to there, here, and checking out the Lighting 102 online tutorial course happening this summer (free!).

It is oriented to people using strobe units, but the principles are the same, and the sessions are great. They are a few weeks into it but it would be easy enough to catch up. Personally I am learning tons.

EL