Photoshoot with Jessica - DPChallenge Forums

Sigma 18-125mm f/3.5-5.6 DC for Canon

09/12/2004 06:48:33 AM · #1

I shot with a young lady Saturday morning. It was her first shoot but she handled the 4-hours like a trooper. Below you can see some of the shots I've edited. There are others but I don't know if it'd be worth the time to post them here as these are a decent sampling of what I'm looking to have critiqued. I shot most of these using natural light as a backlight/hairlight, a Canon 550EX used as key light offset to the left or right of the camera and a Canon 480EX as a fill light to try and knock down the shadows that were produced by the interplay of the Sun and the 550EX. No reflector was used (best laid plans of mice, etc). The 550EX was shot up into a LumiQuest ProMax 80/20 pocket bounce with white insert most of the time but it was, on occasion, shot directly at the model through a StoFen OmniBouce to produce a more homogenous effect. The 480EX was shot through a StoFen OmniBounce the whole time and it was generally directed at the model.

I'd love to hear comments/critiques on any elements of a shot or on any composition as a whole.

Just as a personal interest story I came home from this early morning shoot and found that the whole family was laying down to take a mid-day nap. I decided to join the family and when I awoke I was a sick as a dog. I had to call and cancel my Sunday photoshoot (to my GREAT disappointment). I wrote to the model you saw in the above photos only to find that her mother, too, had developed flu-like symptoms accompanied with migrain headaches. I hope none of the wife and daughter don't contract this.

Kev

Kavey

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

09/12/2004 06:58:15 AM · #2

Poses are lovely as is the backlighting which gives a halo to her hair BUT I personally think there isn't enough light falling on her face in most of these images.

I'd suggest using a good reflector to throw some light back into her face and yet still retain the backlighting effect on her hair.

DougPaz

Nikon D40

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6G ED

09/12/2004 07:32:37 AM · #3

I tend to disagree a bit with Kavey, I think that most of the poses looked forced, especially with her head. The first one is the only one that really looks like she is natural and enjoying herself. A couple of them look almost painful in the way she is turning her head away from her body. I like the backlighting on her hair in some of the shots as it really brings out the color. I do agree with Kavey that you need more light on her though. The fifth shot on the fence is the best that way. Pretty girl and great backgrounds. Hope your are feeling better.

pcody

Canon PowerShot G6

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

09/12/2004 08:54:41 AM · #4

The backlighting is interesting. To me, it looks as if you had some sort of problem with the sun hitting the lens. Did you have a lens hood on? The first three look really hazy and unfocused. I like the feeling of the first one. The last five are better as far as looking crisper. The one on the fence had the best potential, but there is confusion in the shadows. The flash to the left (my view) overwhelmed the light from the sun on the right causing sharp unnatural shadows on her face and chest.
The last pose is not good. She has nice arms but the way she is leaning causes the upper arm to look larger than it is, the angle makes her stomach look larger, the shirt has pulled up and exposed an area on her waist that makes it seem as if she is bulging out of her pants. Sorry, but I think this is the worst pose to use for anybody. The pose itself just looks awkward and ungainly, no matter how perfect the model's figure might be.

DougPaz

Nikon D40

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 55-200mm f/4.0-5.6G ED

09/12/2004 09:16:17 AM · #5

Originally posted by pcody:

The last pose is not good. She has nice arms but the way she is leaning causes the upper arm to look larger than it is, the angle makes her stomach look larger, the shirt has pulled up and exposed an area on her waist that makes it seem as if she is bulging out of her pants. Sorry, but I think this is the worst pose to use for anybody. The pose itself just looks awkward and ungainly, no matter how perfect the model's figure might be.

And how did you get her to lay down on the dirt road in those WHITE pants!! LOL

dwterry

Canon EOS-1D Mark III

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

09/12/2004 09:38:45 AM · #6

Hey Kevin, what do you think of a little post-processing to help with the color and lighting? Here's what I mean:

Original:

Edited:

Selective desat:

These are just quick edits, I'm sure more time spent on the originals could produce much better results. Anyway, was just curious what you might think of these types of changes instead of straight out of the camera shots? (some people are more purists, some prefer editing, I tend to fall in the latter camp)

dsidwell

Canon EOS-5D

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

09/12/2004 09:43:23 AM · #7

I really enjoy the misty look of some of the shots. Kavey's idea of a reflector would would well, too. If you or the model were interested in lightening the face, I suppose you could also just dodge a bit. Nice work, Kevin.

cbeller

Nikon D300

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 16-85 f/3.5-5.6G ED VR

09/12/2004 09:52:33 AM · #8

I prefer the original to the edits. Looks to me the misty look was intentional, as Keving probably shot early in the morning before the fog/mist lifted. The one thing that would help those shots would be, like others stated, a reflector under the models face.

Just my thoughts.

Edit: I hope you get to feeling better Kev.

Originally posted by dwterry:

Hey Kevin, what do you think of a little post-processing to help with the color and lighting? Here's what I mean:

Original: Edited: Selective desat:

These are just quick edits, I'm sure more time spent on the originals could produce much better results. Anyway, was just curious what you might think of these types of changes instead of straight out of the camera shots? (some people are more purists, some prefer editing, I tend to fall in the latter camp)

Message edited by author 2004-09-12 09:52:57.

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

09/12/2004 10:54:51 AM · #9

Thanks all for the comments.

Chris is right about the haze. We intentionally shot early morning in a grassy field that I knew would have dew and some haze to it. I selected those shots out of several to see how others felt about the atmospheric lighitng conditions. I was all set to have a reflector in use at the shoot so that the flashes could merely be used to pop the highlights and create catchlights but that option fell through (believe it or not we overslept and the wife stayed home with our daughter instead of dropping her at the grandmother's house). It turned out that I felt like this was a decent experimentation with the lighting. Other than the lack of reflector the major failing I felt was when the model wore the sundress; I just didn't get enough light on those shots, IMO. I tend to agree with Doug regarding the 5th shot being the best lit of the bunch. Perhaps if we work another shoot together I'll not be rushed (still made it to the shoot before her but didn't get to go through my ritual -- no Hershey bar . . . course it would have been at 7:00 AM but . . . )

David, I'm all for editing and I like the selective desat shot. I tend to like those anyway. To me they are just one other way to work a photo, kinda like the choice of color or black&white. The 2nd version, the "edited" just seems too saturated to me. The reds are overdone in the face on my monitor and the shot seems to have lost some definition between the blue undershirt and the pants just under the subject's elbow. I normally pump up the saturation and then play with the levels on the photos out of the 10D and I've found that the same formula tends to work for shots from the 300D as well. I shoot without any in-camera adjustments and in PhotoShop I throw an adjustment layer for Hue/Saturation on and adjust the Master level up to around +20 (sometimes more, sometimes less). If the shot has a lot of green in the background I then adjust the yellow and green levels down by about -5 to -10 depending on how saturated that color is. This can tend to warm the photo a little, too. The shot that you were working with already had some saturation on it and then it was sharpened so that might be why I think I see red artifacts in the cheeks, wrists and around the fingernails of the "edited" shot. Thanks for the edits and comments, tho.

Doug & Pat, just asked on the white pants shot. :^0
I'm interested to find some other poses and to extend my own ability to direct models who aren't as experienced. Some models have charisma, some just feel comfortable with their bodies and some seem to already have experience and a little confidence. Since I'm shooting TFP for younger models as I expand my experience I find that I occasionally shoot with someone who hasn't loosened up around me and my own ability to aid them in "hitting a pose" seems abbreviated. I continue to work on this. One thing that has helped has just been when I shoot more than one session with a subject he/she begins to get more comfortable around me and we tend to get more natural expressions.

Overall:
As a first session with an inexperienced model I was a little dissatisfied with my performance in this session. She was willing to work hard and kept a positive attitude throughout the shoot. I need to come up with some more poses but I'm still just learning and right now the main element I'm trying to get a handle on is the lighting, hence the early morning shoot with flashes. The reflector is noticeable to pretty much everyone that shoots so I apologize to you now as I already knew that would be a problem and still solicited comments. Thanks for the comments/critiques you've given and the time you spent with these shots.

Kev

dwterry

Canon EOS-1D Mark III

09/12/2004 11:07:28 AM · #10

Originally posted by KevinRiggs:

The 2nd version, the "edited" just seems too saturated to me. The reds are overdone in the face on my monitor and the shot seems to have lost some definition between the blue undershirt and the pants just under the subject's elbow.

Although that might be because I naturally tend to favor reds, I think that some day I gotta get my monitor calibrated. :-)

Thanks for the feedback!

I also hope to post some pictures of my own and get your feedback on my shots. Perhaps the batch I'm working on now... I'll let you know.

pcody

Canon PowerShot G6

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

09/12/2004 02:02:31 PM · #11

Sorry about being so blunt. You are so very helpful to everyone. Hope I didn't hurt your feelings and that you feel better soon.

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G DX VR

09/12/2004 02:14:51 PM · #12

Dude,

Don't worry about it. No one hurt my feelings. I'm feeling much better today, thanks.

I just don't think that this session was one of my better sessions but honestly right now I'm working on understanding lighting in outdoor portraiture. Everyone's comments whether they are element-by-element evaluations or just stream-of-consciousness statements about what they like and don't like contribute to my understanding of what I produced. It all goes into that gray matter upstairs and hopefully next time I'm standing with a model whether he/she's 15 and inexperienced or 23 and already shot some national work I'll know better how to direct her and setup the shot to get something for which we can both be proud.
In that interest I'll continue to work with lighting and ideas and hopefully I'll be able to give the models something to complement their portfolios. Remember, they're getting prints for this and I'm getting experience. How useful would it be if all my experiences were "good shoots" every time? Doubt I'd learn much.

Thanks for the comments and the honesty,

Kev

aerogurl

Nikon D300

09/12/2004 06:13:04 PM · #13

These are beautiful shots, as usual. I love the set up of the last one, however I don't care much for that pose. I love the early morning lighting, especially in the 2nd photo, very interesting. I don't want to sound like a guy here, but my goodness that girl has a huge bust for such a young age! Her smile is very beautiful, nice shots!

Nusbaum

Fujifilm X-T1

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

09/13/2004 03:36:37 PM · #14

Kevin,

I have far less experience, so just take these comments as thoughts rather than criticism.

Have seen the results of your other sessions, it does look like you has some challenges with getting the model to loosen up so the poses would not look so stiff. Did you try describing a scene or situation you wanted her to fit into rather than specific poses? That helped me once with somebody who was too worried about the camera and posing.

In the first three images I think the color of the light used to fill the subject's face is as much of a challenge as the quantity. If you were early enough to catch the morning haze and dew, the sun was probably still very low in the sky and produced a very warm light. The flash used to fill the face was probably cooler, more like daylight.

Anyway... I think you good some good results from a challenging situation. You'll probably learn far more from this than from the sessions that flow easily.

Message edited by author 2004-09-13 15:42:07.