Natural Light Portrait

[cbanyai]

As I slowly make the transition from inanimate stationary objects to living, breathing, moving objects (specifically, humans), I'm starting to have some fun. Here's a portrait from a recent photo shoot I did. I'm still experimenting and getting comfortable with the idea of shooting people, as I wait for my new camera. Specs on this shot are:

Canon Digital Rebel (yes, the original, 6MP one; like I said, waiting for the new one)
28-135mm IS USM @ 135mm
1/60
f/7.1
ISO 100



After looking at the photo, I can see that I need to pay more attention to details, such as flattening out the strap to the dress. What else should I be aware of in this shot?

[SusanH1970]

This is stunning - I love her pose and the composition. It may be a touch too warm in the skin tones, but that's just me - it's got a lovely glow to it but seems just the tiniest bit on the orange-ish side.

[KathrynWilson]

The only other thing I notice is that between the comp and the lighting I am being drawn to her ear. Nice shot overall with lovely mood and subject, but some small tweaks of light & composition might have made it stand out even more than it does already.

[Tusia]

This is a very nice shot - I specifically like the tone and the soft glow of her skin. The only thing that felt slightly distracting for me was the sharp contrast between the very dark top and much lighter bottom parts of the background. Otherwise, really good

[gdowden70]

Hi

I love this shot for some reason. However, here are the things that I noticed:

The skin tone around the nose, mouth and ear are lighter than the rest of the image. Almost as if there was a direct light source on these spots.

There is negative space at the top of the image that I think you could do without.

The back of the shoulder is too dark. You could have really used a gold reflector coming from frame right. I think that would have taken care of it and maybe completely evened the skin tone.

I think the reflector would have also highlighted the back of the hair more as well. It blends witht the background a bit.

I think the eyes could have been a tiny bit more in focus as well.

Well that's my two cents. Take it for what it's worth (about two cents). A very nice portrait with a beautiful model.

I took the liberty of playing around with the image in PS to see what I could do with it. I ca post the result with an explanation of what I did for you if you like, otherwise I will just erase it. Cheers

[villafane928]

Originally Posted by KathrynWilson

The only other thing I notice is that between the comp and the lighting I am being drawn to her ear. Nice shot overall with lovely mood and subject, but some small tweaks of light & composition might have made it stand out even more than it does already.

Completely agree with Kathryn here even more so with the earring drawing my attention away.

[mandyatm]

I would just reduce the brightness of the ear a bit. There is an odd lighting on the bottom of her face, but I still think it's great lighting overall.

[Craig R]

First of all, I like the photo. It does makes me want to play with the lighting a bit. I also am drawn to wanting to shoot from some different angles. Your model has a strong face that seems to want to be studied more. Good job I think. /Craig

[cbanyai]

Thanks for all the suggestions/tips. I'm taking it all in and learning as I go, so every little bit helps.

The ear: I picked up on that one as well, and of course it's all the more prominent by the bit of jewelry (hadn't seen someone with a piercing there; asked if it hurt, she said oh hell yeah!). I had a couple other shots that had more light on the face, but the focus was off in those, and the light had shifted slightly in this one to take it just a bit off her face.

Reflector: Yes, that is something that I'm quickly discovering to be an essential part of my kit (can't call it a bag any more, there's no way I'll be able to fit all the stuff I need into a single bag!). I don't have one yet, but I'm probably going to ghetto one soon.

Negative space: Yep, there on purpose, because the #@% 2:3 ratio out of camera means a 4x6 or a 24x36. Everything else is a different ratio, and it's killing me when I shoot a good composition and have it ruined by an 8x10 crop. On this one, I left enough space to crop. On many others (I've shot about 400 of this person), not so much. I've really got to work on that as well.

I'll post another shot soon for further aidin' & abettin'.

Chris

[MSidPhoto]

Quite a nice shot,
But i guess its a little bit too warm and if you can use other light sources than natural light then you could use it to remove the shadows on her shoulder, if you want to use only natural light then a different angle might get you the same correction too.
Good work.