Aspiring model - photoshoot - DPChallenge Forums

12/05/2004 08:55:13 PM · #1

I worked with a lovely young lady this afternoon who is building her portfolio. Here are a few shots we got from our session.

Thanks for critiques/comments.

Kev

nico_blue

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

12/05/2004 09:00:03 PM · #2

my favorites are 1,3 and 7...

i really like the lighting in 1, and the dof draws you instantly to her face

in 3 I like the mood created by the space she is in

and in 7 i like the happy look on her face, and the warm tones as well.

She is a very pretty lady, and you are a good photographer... the best combo for a photoshoot :-)

cbeller

Nikon D300

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

12/05/2004 09:01:19 PM · #3

Great work as usual, Kev. Looks like she worked well with you. #1 looks like the white balance is off just a tad. I see a slight green cast. How'd did you get the lighting effect on #4?

Man, I wish it wasn't cold an miserable up here, so I could get out and shoot some more.

samtrundle

Canon EOS-50D

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

12/05/2004 09:01:52 PM · #4

They are all excellent shots in the technical sense - lighting and dof are teriffic, in some of them (i.e the first one, the train one, and the fourth one) the model appears a little too artificial or posed for my tastes. The setting for the third photo is really great.

The last image is far and away the best.. both you and the model should be really proud of that one.

Cheers

Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO M.Zuiko

12/05/2004 09:11:18 PM · #5

Originally posted by cbeller:

Hey, Chris. It's cool down here; poor girl was pretty cold 'til I told her to keep her coat on between takes. On the first one I noticed the green tone, too. The more I tried to take it out the more I lightened the photograph. I may go back and try Curves on that shot. I have several photographs in that series but I liked the facial expression and exposure best in this one. I'll repost if I work it to a better conclusion.

The 4th shot is really a stretch for me. I put a 20 degree comb into one of the AB800's and aimed it at her head. I played with the readings on the light meter as I wanted to photographically single her out in a bust shot where everything else would be underexposed. Either the 20 degree got too wide over the distance I used or I didn't stop down the lens enough but when I got back in the separation that I thought I'd gotten from the focused light really wasn't as noticeable on my monitor. Therefore I dropped another layer on top, used an oval selection tool, inverted the selection, feathered it something like 30 or 35 pixels and created a fill layer using black. I then applied it at about 30% to keep from blacking out everything else around her. This was my attempt at creating (with lighting at the time of the shoot) or adding (via layers and selections) a vignette to a portrait. I know that several of our local "volume" portrait shops make a mint selling photographs that have children or teens vignetted and I wanted to try producing the same effect. I feel like its overdone here but whatcha gonna do? I figure I'll practice and see what works and what doesn't.

Thanks for the comments,

Kev

Brenb

Canon EOS-60D

12/05/2004 09:24:39 PM · #6

Lovely young lady is right. Very naturally lovely. I like them all but think my favorite is the last one. Her beautiful brown eyes just sparkle in that one.

Brad

Olympus OM-D E-M1

12/05/2004 09:42:37 PM · #7

Beautiful model and excellent shots Kevin.
Guess I'm a sucker for a nice smile, and rank all the ones of her smiling much higher than the serious looking ones.
The Train shot & last one are my favorites.
Well Done!

magnetic9999

Canon EOS-20D

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX Aspherical DF for Canon

12/05/2004 09:43:56 PM · #8

hey kevin.

you have come so far with your model photography! your degree of polish has gotten very good. great job, man !

bledford

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

12/05/2004 09:49:27 PM · #9

Hey, Kevin. You have horizon lines going through her head in 4 of those shots. I know they are mostly blurred out from the awesome DOF, but it's the first thing I noticed. :) It's great work, though.

eswik

Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT

Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

12/05/2004 09:54:07 PM · #10

Wow, you have no idea how inspirational that is to me. Now I want to go out and try that too. A few questions:

What kind of lighting equipment did you use?
Do you have any advice for making homemade lighting equipment? Or is my only option spending gobs of money on equipment?

Your model is beautiful. I love her eyes :]

Eric

cbeller

Nikon D300

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

12/05/2004 10:04:41 PM · #11

Originally posted by eswik:

I'm nowhere near as skilled as Kev, but I just use two speedlights and a 5in1 reflector for my lighting. All the portrait work in my portfolio was done with a single speedlight and reflector.

I think Kevin uses some Alien Bees.

Message edited by author 2004-12-05 22:05:08.

12/05/2004 10:08:27 PM · #12

Brad,

Good catch. I'm going to look back through the series and see if I might have some better compositions without those horizons running through the background.

Eric,

You don't have to spend gobs of money; attractive models do more for a shot than equipment and an artistic photographer does even more than that. Being that I'm artistically challenged I steal ideas on poses and settins from others. At your age I'm betting you have tons of places that you see that would create an interesting setting for portraits.
In these shots I used pretty fast glass (f/2.8 or f/1.8). Shots 2, 3 & 4 were all taken with the Canon EF 17-40 f/4 and were shot at f/5. The other photos were taken with either the Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8 L IS or the Canon EF 85 f/1.8 lens. To achieve the lighting I used an AlienBee B800 light with a PhotoFlex softbox (36x48") with the internal baffle but not the diffusion front panel. To use the light in the field I brought along the AlienBee portable battery system. Most shots were taken with the light set around 1/32nd up to 1/4 power depending on distance and ambient lighting conditions. Some of the shots also utilized a 48" reflector with the silver cover to bounce light back onto the model (so the reflector was opposite the light).
Now that tells you the basics of how I took these shots but you can save yourself money by buying some white foamcore board at WalMart or a local craft store for a couple of dollars. $75-200 bucks should get you a decent flash with some way to control it from a distance and maybe even a tripod so that you can set the flash off to one side of your subject. There are some ideas on starting to shoot outdoor portraits on a budget.

I'll be looking for some portraits from you.

Thanks for the comments, guys.

Kev

riotspyne

Nikon D80

12/05/2004 10:11:00 PM · #13

these are nice, i like 7 the most and i really like her red sweater :)

Nusbaum

Fujifilm X-T1

Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM

12/05/2004 10:14:32 PM · #14

I've been wondering when you would post some more of your work with models, but the results are workth the wait. Your work has always been good, but this series shows that you are still improving. I like the 3rd the best. The lighting appears natural, but it has a nice pop to it. The model also seems like part of the environment rather than just being posed in it. 1 and 7 are nice headshoots, of the two I like 7 best because that hood adds a little something extra. Thanks for posting!

graphicfunk

Canon EOS-20D

12/05/2004 10:17:40 PM · #15

Very nice. Just keep clicking away, you are certainly on the right track. Very good!

KiwiChris

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

12/06/2004 12:06:43 AM · #16

Nice photos, as always it seems...

Out of curiosity, are you doing your model work commercially, TFP? or paying the models?

I have a friend who does a lot of work for prints, but has never managed to cross over into actually charging, although his work is very professional. Or at least it is compared to my efforts at portraiture.... :-).

Cheers, Chris H.

parrothead

Canon EOS-40D

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX Aspherical DF for Canon

12/06/2004 12:13:38 AM · #17

Just a great job kev!!! I think that ya may have the same vision as I do??? I dont show my senior shots on here too often, cause there doesnt seem to be a good response on them....but those were great shots, and if they dont like them...........Get their glasses cleaned, or calibrate your monitor!! Good stuff Kev!

Neil

Fujifilm X-T30

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

12/06/2004 12:37:37 AM · #18

Here's my critique, I'll be a little harsher than most, for feedback reasons, but overall, most all are "very good", and you can just pre-pend "Very nice" to each of my statements below. She's a pretty model, and I always try to separate out her "appearance" from the aesthetics (though it's difficult!)

1) I like her pose and the DOF in the first shot, but I find the lighting on her face a bit flat here.

2) I think this is great; love the setting, colors, pose, etc. However, she's small there so harder to see details, but I suspect they are great.

3) I like this one a lot as well.

4) I like this, but again, to me, the lighting and color on her face seem less compelling to me.

5) Like the lighting here, but not the expression.

6) Great scene, nice color, could use catchlight or more light in her eyes. Not as thrilled with the pose, as...

7) This one is simply fantabulous. Fantastic. 10. Beautiful light in the eyes, beautiful expression, wow-factor color, etc.

Hope that helps.
3)

EDIT: I missed one, so the numbers were off!!!!! Fixed above.

Message edited by author 2004-12-06 11:40:44.

doctornick

Apple iPhone 13 Pro

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

12/06/2004 01:23:35 AM · #19

Great shots as usual kev. Only thing that has been mentioned already is the WB in #1, it`s a tad on the green side. Do you shoot JPG or RAW? If you shoot JPG then shooting a white card or gray card at the same time can help you later to get the colours right. If you shoot RAW then it`s a trivial matter to adjust the WB. GReat shots still though, the poses are bang on.

12/06/2004 07:30:15 AM · #20

Thanks, everyone, for the comments and critiques. I'm still working on my lighting and consistency.

Here's another one from the first setting of the shoot; still trying to get that green cast outta the first 20 shots or so. Does this look any better than the closeup by the RR tracks that has the cast to it?

Thanks,

Kev

Nusbaum

Fujifilm X-T1

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

12/06/2004 09:20:12 AM · #21

Originally posted by parrothead:

I have found the portraits don't always get a great response here as well, but please keep posting them so we can all comment and learn from them. I have learned a lot from Kevin, both from comments made on his images and the comments he has left for others. I'll critique any portrait that I see posted, unless it slips off the first page of Individual Photograph Discussion without me seeing it.

Neil

Fujifilm X-T30

12/06/2004 11:41:14 AM · #22

Kevin--See my corrected numbers below in my original post. Pointed to the wrong photos with my comments.

GoldBerry

12/06/2004 12:03:15 PM · #23

What type of modelling does she want to do? I think that'd be a key piece of knowledge to do a critique for a portfolio. She's gorgeous and these are nice shots, certain shots might not work depending on the type of modelling, but that's up to her in the end.

The light is quite nice, very flattering.

Nusbaum

Fujifilm X-T1

12/06/2004 01:03:29 PM · #24

Originally posted by GoldBerry:

What type of modelling does she want to do? I think that'd be a key piece of knowledge to do a critique for a portfolio.

This is actually a very good point. I have worked with a couple of models lately, but I tend to focus on the areas where I need practice rather than helping them with a portfolio for a specific purpose. In fact, I still struggle with some of the terminology used to describe the types of photos that models need. (portrait, headshot, fashion, editorial, print, glamour, nude, artistic nude, fine art, fine art nude, artistic, lingerie, swimsuit, casual, runway, sport) I'm sure there is overlap in that list and that some, such as swimsuit, are obvious. To me they are all photographs and I have a hard time catagorizing my work in these terms.

GoldBerry