Portrait Critique

[evader]

Would love some feedback on this portrait I took on the weekend.

Strobist info: SB-600 in front and slightly above model shot through white umbrella. SB-600 with homemade snoot, camera right slightly behind model to act as hair light (first time attempting to use hair light).



Would love some tips on how to improve and or what I could do differently next time.

Thanks

[Niresangwa]

Lighting looks pretty good to me. What were you using for fill (if anything, because it looks like 1 key high camera right)? As always, when shooting against a backdrop, especially a dark one, some rim lighting can really make the difference.

There seems to have been some PPing done around the hair. Were you painting out wrinkles in your backdrop or something else?

[zona5101]

The skin exposure looks great. Nice big catchlights too. Typically I put the hair light opposite of the main but thats not a rule just a preference to balance it a bit. As you can see in this shot the hair on the back left away from the main is dark, the hair light on that side would have provided a nice separation from the background. But just my personal ppreference!...as far as your hair light position it certainly is effective - you achieved a nice highlight on the hair. Nice work on keeping the hair light from skimming the face - you can see where it is coming across on the sweatshirt and neck.

[evader]

Thanks for the feedback...I really appreciate it.

Yes, there was some post production done to darken the black backdrop and remove some wrinkles from the sheet. I didn't notice that little halo around the top of her head when I did the work.
I'm having some issues with my new laptop...I can't seem to get anything consistent because depending on the angle the monitor is open things are lighter or darker. I have just picked up a new monitor that i will be running my laptop through for post production work so hopefully that will fix that issue.

I will try the hair light on the other side next time. Thanks

[ajax_andy]

Originally Posted by evader

Thanks for the feedback...I really appreciate it.

Yes, there was some post production done to darken the black backdrop and remove some wrinkles from the sheet. I didn't notice that little halo around the top of her head when I did the work.
I'm having some issues with my new laptop...I can't seem to get anything consistent because depending on the angle the monitor is open things are lighter or darker. I have just picked up a new monitor that i will be running my laptop through for post production work so hopefully that will fix that issue.

I will try the hair light on the other side next time. Thanks

Yep really like the picture, good consitant lighting that produces really good natural tones.

I have the same problem with my laptop... I've now resorted to checking my work on a pc with a proper monitor before publishing, as the laptop monitor just doesn't have a clear enough resolution