cuppa on the spot

[katsclass]

Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1250)
Aperture: f/1.8
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0/2 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

really on the fly portrait, but would still like to know what you think of it- Skin tones, noise, pose, and blurriness are main worries but all other thoughts are welcome and appreciated. This portrait has a sister on my flickr that is not a closeup if you have time to look at that as well.

As always Thanks!

[prince]

The colors of the outfit are looking good. The skin tones look kinda washed out in places. The lady's hand looks unreal. The overall tone is pleasing. Might want to try a tighter crop like upto lady's waist.

Good shot. I am still waiting to get a good portrait shot :S

[ttosifa]

You have a definite cyan (blue-green cast) throughout the picture. You can see it best in the top part of the fence and lower portion of her arm near her wrist. This means the picture does not have enough red. You can also check the CMYK numbers for the skin -- normally lit Caucasian skin never has cyan (C) higher than magenta (M) and yellow (Y), and in spots the numbers here are more than double C for MY. (Red and cyan are opposites -- too much C means too little Red.)

I had a quick go at increasing the red and parts of the picture looked better, but there seems to be a remaining cast that seems harder to identify -- it looks sorta green to me, perhaps caused by reflections from the grass, her shirt, and/or nearby greenery.

[imagesbyjk]

As an "on the fly" portrait, if I understand what that means, its decent. The light is good (perhaps coming in from a little too much above them), the background is simple and well controlled, and their expressions are very nice and relaxed. I'm not crazy about the crop of the lady. It gives the impression of severed legs. And I'd like to see their faces closer together.

[katsclass]

Originally Posted by ttosifa

You have a definite cyan (blue-green cast) throughout the picture. You can see it best in the top part of the fence and lower portion of her arm near her wrist.

Yeah, part of that at the top of the fence was a vignetting that didn't work out so well. I think part of the issue was I decreased the reds b/c of some blotchy skin that didn't seem to want to "heal" so I took it out alittle- not a good decision obviously- I increased them again, but it does still have a green cast that I really don't know where it came from. I struggled with the skin tones b/c she is so pale and without makeup (blotchiness) and he is so tan and red.

I agree on the crop, I have one closer in in now, not like the background was special.

imagesbyjk- on the fly meaning "I'm working on a portfolio, Mom really wants a pic of these two, but we're at a church our movie starts in 20 minutes, hey look there's a grassy spot in the shade"- kindof on the fly- not my choice but I need experience in posing and oh just about everything so voila! Love your website by the way, very nice portraits.

Thanks! Any other thoughts...

[imagesbyjk]

Thanks. You're off to a good start. Posing multiple people is a challenge. Keep at it.

[ttosifa]

in my opinion, either you or the camera brightened the image too much -- it doesn't look overexposed to me as much as it does overbrightened. When important parts of the picture are overbrightened, there is not enough differentiation in texture to the eye.

Her arms and face and the top of his head suffer this problem. The brightness of the top of his head, for example, sort of blends in with the brightness of the fence behind him. Her arm has virtually no form or texture. Her face goes from very bright to very dark without much transition.

Have you tried the Shadow/Highlight adjustment? You would want to do this on the original, not the brightened one. (You'll probably have to play with the default values of Amount and Radius since it almost always makes the picture icky.) If you work in RGB, you'll probably want to use a luminosity layer (cmd-J to copy layer, then change the blending method from Normal to Luminosity). I don't know if this would work, but it's worth a try if you have not yet done so.

[ttosifa]

Originally Posted by katsclass

it does still have a green cast that I really don't know where it came from. I struggled with the skin tones b/c she is so pale and without makeup (blotchiness) and he is so tan and red.

As in my earlier post, I stand by my assertion that the image has been overly brightened. I do retract, however, my claim that the image was not overexposed -- I think her arm and his right shoulder have been. No matter what I threw at those two areas I could not get good tonal and color variation.

I was able to overcome the green cast, however, by, well, decreasing the green using Curves. It seems counterintuitive to me that by decreasing green and thereby increasing magenta (which are opposites like cyan and red) that the faces would appear less red -- but it works here and I've seen it work elsewhere. I guess it is a relative thing so that making the surrounding areas more magenta makes the red areas less prominent. Anyway, you might try a curve in the Green channel to decrease the greens, instead of a red channel curve to decrease the reds.

Best of luck. This can really become a nice picture if you overcome the contrast (brightness) issues and the color casts.

[katsclass]

went back to the original and tried again as I had a feeling I got more right in camera than I did in pp last time. How does this one look/feel?

Same concerns as last time- tones, blurriness, pose, crop?
Thanks again!

[lissykeeper]

Kat,
It is so hard to photography people with differnt skin tones. I shot a set of twins that were like that. the little girl was very pink toned and the little boy was definetly golden toned. I like the last image you posted the best, but her arm still looks a little odd. It has almost a plastic look. But I think the skin tones overall are better. And the crop is more flattering for the lady. I know you didn't ask about the lighting, but I think a little bit of fill flash might have helped with your skin tones. Keep working at it! You definetly have a good start!!