Portrait for C & C, haven't posted in a longgg time! Maybe I've improved!

[mc1979]

It's been a while since I posted in this forum at all. Thought I'd post this image I took yesterday.
I've been studying and practicing for 9 months now, I know I have years to go! LOL But I do feel like I've come a good ways since the beginning.

Any critique or comments are appreciated!





Exif : 50mm/ manual mode
f/2.2
ISO 100
Exposure 1/40

[mc1979]

Still no comments?

[Jblackjr]

How do you manage to get such a well focused shot of the face? I am have taken tons of pictures of my little girl and can't seem to get that kind of focus out of my shots? Are you using manual focus or auto?

[Hill Country Hack]

Welcome back. Be patient and hope new posts don't keep pushing yours down the line.

I am not a portrait photographer so consider the source.

Nice composition, catch lights, use of negative space. Nice sharp eyes. Skin tones are good for me. Can you clone out the few stray hairs by her right eye and cheek?

I would love to see some light on the back of the head/hair and the left side of her beautiful face needs a bit more light.

My last comment may just be personal taste. Otherwise I feel this is a well done shot.

[mc1979]

Originally Posted by Jblackjr

How do you manage to get such a well focused shot of the face? I am have taken tons of pictures of my little girl and can't seem to get that kind of focus out of my shots? Are you using manual focus or auto?

I auto focus, haven't really tried much manual focus. But let me say, even with auto..it takes practice!. The slightest thing can throw it off. Also, watch your DOF and distance from you to the subject, than can also make your images appear blurry.

[mc1979]

Originally Posted by Hill Country Hack

Welcome back. Be patient and hope new posts don't keep pushing yours down the line.

I am not a portrait photographer so consider the source.

Nice composition, catch lights, use of negative space. Nice sharp eyes. Skin tones are good for me. Can you clone out the few stray hairs by her right eye and cheek?

I would love to see some light on the back of the head/hair and the left side of her beautiful face needs a bit more light.

My last comment may just be personal taste. Otherwise I feel this is a well done shot.

Thanks! I actually tried cloning out the hairs using LR..just can't seem to get it right in LR.. I have CS5 but have no clue how to use it yet! LOL

Lighting is also something I am struggling with! Right now I have no strobes, using all natural light. I figure once I learn how to use what is available to me in the correct way, I will then learn OCF.

[kevingeary]

The window lighting is good but the hair has fallen completely into shadow. I'd imagine if you looked at this in lightroom you'd be clipping the blacks. A reflector on the subjects right side would throw the proper amount of fill back into those shadows and you'd have a much stronger image.

Also...don't forget to adjust your ISO. You're shooting at 1/40 of a second which is in motion blur territory when you're handheld. Going to ISO 200 would get you to 1/80 which on a 50mm lens is much more doable.

[NicolaB]

I think it is a lovely moody portrait.

Lighting is nice.

LR - hover your curser over the bright spots of her skin. White skin like this should be under 85. Pull down the recover a fraction. Push up the fill light to light up her hair and up the blacks to get the definition back.

Have you smoothed her skin? If not although she has perfect skin, the smoothing evens out all the tones. (cmd M) Also use 'Iris enhance to pop her eyes (cmd 'M')

Run noise softwear - under Detail - noise reduction - detail.

If you don't have it, Scott Kelby's LR book is great (I should be on commission!)

Try content aware in CS5 and cloning to get trid of the hair. It will take some patience but can be done.

I think you have a great image to work on. Beautiful girl

[pwkicker97]

All good tips, I've also found recently that it's pretty easy to fix random hairs like this with some of the beauty retouch techniques. Basically split the image into a color tone and detail image and then smooth the detail image where the hair is located and it's gone. There's a post of DPS forum you can look at for the technique.

Anatomy of a Beauty Shot

Nice shot, TFS

[metoo]

I like it!