Hey Matt,
I just bought my first strobe the other day myself so I am no pro, but here are some of my first impressions:
-Overall: look pretty good to me. Perhaps not convinced about the background (colour and pattern is maybe a little too distracting), but lighting wise it is lit nicely, creating a nice glow around the portrait to give it a little pop. Perhaps centering the 'glow' with your head slightly in some of them would improve it slightly?
Numbering from top left to bottom right in your post:
1: I really like this one. The light plays really well on your eyes, they really stand out, and have a great translucent blue-ness?, adding quite a lot to the picture, and the catchlights are nice and bright and a good size without being overpowering. The angle of the light gives a good contrast between the two sides of your face, adding dimension without losing detail on the left of the photograph.
2: Similar to the #1. I know you asked not to talk about pose etc but I think had your head being pulled up a bit the light would have played nicely on your eyes and made for a good shot. The slightly softer light compared to #1, and with your eyes to the camera make for a more personal shot.
3: The lighting here isn't so good in my opinion. The lack of a catch light in your right eye, with such a large one in your left makes it all look a bit lopsided. Perhaps going for an even stronger angle to get even more contrast between the lighting on the two sides of your face, but with some careful reflector placement to keep a little catchlight and eye detail in your right eye, would make for a more dramatic and powerful lighting setup.
4: This is nice, good catchlights (also on the teeth :)) and just good lighting generally in my opinion, don't know what else to say.
5: Very similar to #1 and also very good. Drawing the light round to fill more of the front of your face gives a slightly less edgy and more friendly portrait. There is still enough angle, however, to define your nose and face in general rather than blowing it out and making it feel flat.
6: Along similar lines to #3 perhaps, although the stronger contrast between the two sides of your face manages to make the effect appear more intentional. On direct comparison with #5, this angle really flattens the face. As with 3 I think you would want to push this more into black-half/white-half territory to make it more interesting.
7: Again similar to #5 really: just good, shaping light. Its a shame that at this angle your eyes don't pop with the intensity that really defines #5 imho.
8: I like the edgier angle here, unfortunately with your right eye being so dark, whilst your left is bright and translucent, the balance is thrown and it makes your left eye look a little strange. I think even just if you had been looking at the camera your left eye could have avoided the bionic look, and with a reflector giving a catchlight in your right eye this could be an ok angle.
9: I appreciate the angle of your head is slightly different, but this setup is what #3 and #6 wish they were. An edgy light, with strong contrast between the two halves of your face - but the addition of that little catch light amongst the darkness of your right eye really helps to bring the image together. The slight angle of your head also helps prevent the flattening effect seen in #6.
Hope I havent rambled too much, have helped a little, and haven't been too harsh :). Feel more than free to rip my small portfolio apart anytime.
Phil
(edit:to finish)
Message edited by author 2007-09-07 22:41:50. |
