portrait lighting critique

[billross77]

Here is a photo I took last night. I tried a different lighting setup. I used an SB800 in a brolly box on her right elevated and a 430ex ii in a shoot through umbrella on her left elevated with a white reflector behind and above to try to highlight her hair. I would appreciate any help on the overall lighting and exposure. This was a quick test shot, so dont critique my wife please

55mm
f/16
1/200
both speedlights 1/1


Ross Photography-12 by billross77, on Flickr

[Ridgetop]

Originally Posted by billross77

Here is a photo I took last night. I tried a different lighting setup. I used an SB800 in a brolly box on her right elevated and a 430ex ii in a shoot through umbrella on her left elevated with a white reflector behind and above to try to highlight her hair. I would appreciate any help on the overall lighting and exposure. This was a quick test shot, so dont critique my wife please
r

Absolutely nothing bad to be said about your wife . But, at least on my monitor, the overall color tone is way off and there is a distinct lack of contrast. Almost like their is a very slight opaque colored layer over the picture. Also, seems to be a little under exposed. I like that the light is even and there are no hotspots at all and that her hair is nicely separated from the background, the the complete lack of "pop" bothers me. I'd up the contrast and exposure a little I think.

[billross77]

Sorry to break the one photo rule....but, is this any better?


Ross Photography-13 by billross77, on Flickr

[Ridgetop]

Originally Posted by billross77

Sorry to break the one photo rule....but, is this any better?


Ross Photography-13 by billross77, on Flickr

I'm on my calibrated monitor now, and it looks much, much better. I think you could enhance the white of her eyes a little more. Her teeth look much better though. I like the increase in contrast and her hair has a nice pretty shine to it.

[Nicole]

Originally Posted by billross77

Sorry to break the one photo rule....but, is this any better?

Actually, we highly encourage you to post edits if in the same thread if you've received information from the critique. Much easier than starting a new thread. The 1 photo rule really applies to the first post (and most of the time you wouldn't add a totally different photo unless it was very closely related to the original critique... for example, if you had a similar version of this with different lighting or something like that).

In the second version, the first thing I notice is that the teeth are really bright white. That might be totally natural, but I'd probably still brighten up the rest of the image so that your eye doesn't go straight there. Generally the eye is drawn to the brightest part of an image.

[Ginger Pixie]

On my monitor the teeth are still far too bright compared to the rest of the image. They look unnatural and make her eyes look dull in comparison.

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by Ginger Pixie

On my monitor the teeth are still far too bright compared to the rest of the image. They look unnatural and make her eyes look dull in comparison.

this is my observation as well. Actually kills what would otherwise be a nice image.

[billross77]

OK...third times the charm maybe. I brightened her eyes and lowered the teeth a little. How do we look now?


Ross Photography-14 by billross77, on Flickr

[Ginger Pixie]

I think it is a question of balancing the brightness of the eyes and teeth with the rest of the image. To me - the eyes and the teeth are now unnaturally bright and have almost a blueish brightness, wheras the skin and hair have a warmer, but flatter appearance.

If you shot in RAW, it might be worth going back to the original image and doing a curves adjust or something to brighten everything, rather than selectively.

[shakespear57]

love it looks way better than the first one id say thats just about right