My oldest daughter

[FranDaMan]

This is a shot my wife took of my oldest daughter.
We were planning to shoot with flash but decided that it would be better do just use natural light coming in from a window on the left of her.

Camera Canon EOS 550D
Exposure 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 44 mm
ISO Speed 1600
Exposure Bias 0 EV


Breanna by Francis de Beus, on Flickr

What do you think of the lighting ?
Post processing ok ?
Next time, I would remove that piece of her hair that covers her one eye, but she thinks it's cool

[EOBeav]

I agree with you, that piece of hair needs to be moved. The lighting looks good, but it might have benefited from just a single, diffused strobe coming from the right side. Just a thought.

[FranDaMan]

That would have brightened the darker side.
I kinda like it the way it is. It gives a bit of texture to the face.
Worth experimenting though.

Anybody else ? Trying to learn here

[MrJones]

if it's all natural light, how did you overexpose the background so much?
the light bouncing off the background is "eating" into her hair.
besides, you've got three different lights in this photo (left, right and back) so i think I can give a better answer if you'll describe your setup.

[RLucas]

Originally Posted by EOBeav

I agree with you, that piece of hair needs to be moved. The lighting looks good, but it might have benefited from just a single, diffused strobe coming from the right side. Just a thought.

I think a strobe would have flattened it out too much. I like it as is.

The only thing that is really bugging me about it is her eyes. They almost look over sharpened to me. Can you explain your processing steps?

BTW: I like the hair over the eye too! It adds a little more personality.

[FranDaMan]

Originally Posted by MrJones

if it's all natural light, how did you overexpose the background so much?
the light bouncing off the background is "eating" into her hair.
besides, you've got three different lights in this photo (left, right and back) so i think I can give a better answer if you'll describe your setup.

Sun is shining and coming in from both windows. Left is the keylight, and the window behind her has a white curtain. This is the backlight. The curtain curls a bit and one of the creases must have reflected light on the right side of her hair.

[FranDaMan]

Originally Posted by RLucas

I think a strobe would have flattened it out too much. I like it as is.

The only thing that is really bugging me about it is her eyes. They almost look over sharpened to me. Can you explain your processing steps?

BTW: I like the hair over the eye too! It adds a little more personality.

Just some minor postprocessing in Lightroom. I use the adjustment brush to up the exposure, contrast and clarity in the eyes. She has a natural black rim around the iris which especially comes out in the left eye in this image.
Her right eye had a bright spot in it, so in photoshop I put a little rim in to make it look more natural.