Candi's Portrait

[ChrisAdval]

Candi Dahlia 01 by Chris Adval, on Flickr [EXIF]

Camera Body: Canon EOS REBEL T2i
Exposure/Shutter: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/9.0
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed : 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash: Off-Camera
Exposure Program Manual
Exposure Mode Manual
White Balance Manual
Lens: EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

Post Processed Notes: cleaned up the skin, brighten the eyes' iris area, and cut off a few strings of hair that were out of place.

Lighting Notes: First time using separation light for background/subject to become more separated.

Looking for overall critique.

[sk66]

I feel like the pose/expression seems a bit like "deer in headlights"
Skin appears a little "oily"/shiny..needs some work there.
Separation light "worked" but you could have gone much hotter to blow it out.
She would have benefitted from equal lighting left/rt or single frontal light for a slimming effect. (shadows to sides)
Post work on eyes is good...maybe a touch heavy...skin smoothing could be a touch more..

I kind of feel like she's "hostile"...certainly not "happy"...it wouldn't take much to change that..just a hint of a smile or relaxed.....

[ShannonSky]

I'm not crazy about her expression, she looks bored to me. Love the eyes. Definitely need to touch up the blown spots on the skin, and smoothen more.

[graciousness]

She's also very red. Really red. You can easily fix this in editing with WB setting, etc.

Which reminds me....Chris, is your monitor calibrated? I notice that with some of the shots you have posted here, the photos are slightly underexposed and the skins are off. Just wondering if this is an artistic decision or monitor issue.

[jnoll]

Originally Posted by ChrisAdval

Candi Dahlia 01 by Chris Adval, on Flickr [EXIF]

Camera Body: Canon EOS REBEL T2i
Exposure/Shutter: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/9.0
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed : 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash: Off-Camera
Exposure Program Manual
Exposure Mode Manual
White Balance Manual
Lens: EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

Post Processed Notes: cleaned up the skin, brighten the eyes' iris area, and cut off a few strings of hair that were out of place.

Lighting Notes: First time using separation light for background/subject to become more separated.

Looking for overall critique.

I wish she looked happy,kinda depressing to me.The stare is not good.

[Hill Country Hack]

Originally Posted by sk66

I feel like the pose/expression seems a bit like "deer in headlights"
Skin appears a little "oily"/shiny..needs some work there.
Separation light "worked" but you could have gone much hotter to blow it out.
She would have benefitted from equal lighting left/rt or single frontal light for a slimming effect. (shadows to sides)
Post work on eyes is good...maybe a touch heavy...skin smoothing could be a touch more..

I kind of feel like she's "hostile"...certainly not "happy"...it wouldn't take much to change that..just a hint of a smile or relaxed.....

I fully agree with sk66. I have to defer to others about lighting, but the shiny skin and I feel the whites of the eyes are a bit overcooked.

I'm seeing improvement.

[ChrisAdval]

Originally Posted by graciousness

She's also very red. Really red. You can easily fix this in editing with WB setting, etc.

Which reminds me....Chris, is your monitor calibrated? I notice that with some of the shots you have posted here, the photos are slightly underexposed and the skins are off. Just wondering if this is an artistic decision or monitor issue.

I thought it was calibrated, when I got it, it came pretty accurate to true colors, but her skin truly does look like that color. I'll play with the WB or saturation to not have the redness of her skin over power the photo.

Originally Posted by jnoll

I wish she looked happy,kinda depressing to me.The stare is not good.

in this shot yes, in my shoots I tend to do a lot of diverse (casual) poses, and facial expressions that I ask of the models.

Originally Posted by Hill Country Hack

I fully agree with sk66. I have to defer to others about lighting, but the shiny skin and I feel the whites of the eyes are a bit overcooked.

I'm seeing improvement.

I'm playing with the new technique of making the eyes pop a lot more, hence they may seem over done, but I'll lower them when I play with the redish skin. And Thanks, practice and more experiences.

Thanks to everyone's input!