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01/23/2009 03:12:55 PM · #1 |
I'd really love some advice.
I find digital photography (vs 35 mm film) VERY harsh when it comes to portraits. It tends to pick up every pore, wrinkle, line and imperfection in a person's face. While in some instances, that is desirable, for the most part, especially for women, it's not at all appreciated.
My question is, how can one take a good portrait shot that doesn't bring out every line, pore, wrinkle and imperfection without compromising the focus (ie: too soft) or exposure (ie: overexposed to lessen fine detail)?
Any tips and hints would be very appreciated as I'm struggling with this aspect...and frankly, ticking subjects off who want to rip their shots into tiny pieces!!! ;) |
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01/23/2009 03:15:44 PM · #2 |
Lighting has a lot to do with it--a soft, even light will do wonders for anyone's skin.
And of course, ease of processing is one of the better things about digital--get real familiar with photoshop (or some equivalent), and you'll find your portraits looking better than film ever could.
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01/23/2009 03:27:24 PM · #3 |
I have a friend who puts what amounts to a nylon in the front of his lens. It's an old school solution to the problem, but he swears by it. Myself, I prefer to shoot as sharply as I can and to soften the image in post. That way I get to decide which parts are soft and which are sharp.
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01/23/2009 08:15:47 PM · #4 |
Thank you for these tips! They are really helpful!
If I may just ask, how do I soften up a portrait shot in Photoshop without detroying detail or the sharpness. I find it quite difficult to maintain the sharpness/crispness and soften a skin's look. I know that there are programs that will work for portraits but, other than using a brush with picked up skin colors and "air brushing", I'm not aware of how else to do this legally (for DPC) and not have it look blurred or over softened? I've come into some criticism in challenges for too soft a look to the skin. Anyone know of any tutorials on portrait editing for Photoshop?
The nylon idea is a great one! I'm going to have to do a search and find out more about this.
As for the lighting....any tips and hints on how to work with the lighting? I've only got the built-in flash (hoping to get another flash unit at some point when I can afford it). I don't have any umbrellas so, I'm hoping to find a way to bounce or reflect regular lighting (workshop metal reflector units from Home Depot *smile)off of some white stretch canvas? I've seen someone else mention that in one of their set-up explanations in here.
Thank you in advance for your help! |
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01/23/2009 08:32:00 PM · #5 |
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01/23/2009 08:47:37 PM · #6 |
My suggestion would be to switch to a Pentax system. You automatically say goodbye to major sharpness! ;D
OK, I'm kidding.
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01/23/2009 08:58:45 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by K10DGuy:
My suggestion would be to switch to a Pentax system. You automatically say goodbye to major sharpness! ;D
OK, I'm kidding. |
ROFL that is so totally not what I expected to hear from you!
Matt
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01/23/2009 09:20:45 PM · #8 |
Portrait Professional is a great program - it makes retouching easy and looks fantastic, and it's quick too.
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01/24/2009 05:15:25 AM · #9 |
I use this Photoshop action I made from the How to Photograph women by Kevin Ames.
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01/24/2009 05:33:16 AM · #10 |
Originally posted by K10DGuy:
My suggestion would be to switch to a Pentax system. You automatically say goodbye to major sharpness! ;D
OK, I'm kidding. |
you might be kidding but it is true for k100d that i have. I am soon going to throw that and replace it with something good.
Message edited by author 2009-01-24 05:35:03. |
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01/24/2009 05:34:44 AM · #11 |
Originally posted by PhotoInterest:
I'd really love some advice.
I find digital photography (vs 35 mm film) VERY harsh when it comes to portraits. It tends to pick up every pore, wrinkle, line and imperfection in a person's face. While in some instances, that is desirable, for the most part, especially for women, it's not at all appreciated.
My question is, how can one take a good portrait shot that doesn't bring out every line, pore, wrinkle and imperfection without compromising the focus (ie: too soft) or exposure (ie: overexposed to lessen fine detail)?
Any tips and hints would be very appreciated as I'm struggling with this aspect...and frankly, ticking subjects off who want to rip their shots into tiny pieces!!! ;) |
try applying noise reduction , it seems that sony a100 has little weaker AA filter so images are sharper than others but they are bit more noisey. |
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01/24/2009 08:58:45 AM · #12 |
Originally posted by PhotoInterest:
Any tips and hints would be very appreciated as I'm struggling with this aspect...and frankly, ticking subjects off who want to rip their shots into tiny pieces!!! ;) |
An inevitable side effect of portraiture is that sooner or later you will annoy someone whose concept of what they look like doesn't match reality.
You're best off getting what's there, and trying to make them happy through careful post-processing.
The camera being able to get every minute detail is not a bad thing on any level.
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01/24/2009 10:58:42 AM · #13 |
Originally posted by PhotoInterest:
As for the lighting....any tips and hints on how to work with the lighting? I've only got the built-in flash (hoping to get another flash unit at some point when I can afford it). |
Look at a decent sized umbrella when you get that other flash (they are really cheap)..... Make the apparent size of the light larger will make it appear softer.
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01/24/2009 12:00:58 PM · #14 |
You've gotten some good advice... Like dwterry, I prefer to capture all the detail I can and post-process to the desired state. In general, what I do is:
- Make a duplicate layer above the image.
- Apply a gaussian blur (4 to 10 px radius depending on image size) on the duplicate image layer
- Scale back the opacity of the duplicate layer to about 35-45%.
After doing this, I bring back detail in hair, eyes and lips:
- Apply a layer mask to the duplicate layer
- Paint in black on the layer mask with a very large, soft brush set to low opacity (<10%) to gradually reduce the effect of the duplicate layers in areas where you want more detail.
For spot blemishes that don't respond to this treatment I just clone 'em out. Even rather severe acne can be dealt with in this way, and though it can be time-consuming the results of manually spotting out blemishes will almost always be superior to any automated process.
ETA: I agree with a previous post that when properly done, the results from a modern DSLR will be beyond anything achievable with 35mm film, more like medium format film with significant post-process retouching, just infinitely faster. If you get things right with lighting, exposure, etc., you should not need to spend more than 10 to 15 minutes for basic retouching, even with some spot editing.
Message edited by author 2009-01-24 12:04:07. |
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01/24/2009 02:54:04 PM · #15 |
| Has anyone used this Imagenomic software? Just wondering if it is a good tool or not? |
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01/24/2009 06:25:35 PM · #16 |
| Try going to Retouchpro.com |
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01/25/2009 01:54:39 AM · #17 |
Start with a good makeup artist and a subject with great skin when possible.
I'm not a fan of blur techniques and methods that rely on filters. Good retouching takes time. There is no quick and easy if you're going for quality.
//www.retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=272
//www.retouchpro.com/forums/photo-retouching/11553-high-end-digital-retoucher-nyc.html
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01/30/2009 12:19:57 PM · #18 |
Digital cameras can appear more harsher - compaired to ISO 50 or 100 film, but I can shoot at ISO400 with no grain/noise. That's a big plus to create smooth skin.
Also, the Portrature Plug In is really is great. I was skeptical, what - with it costing almost $200, but it really does a great job. Here are 100% crops before and after Portrature. This is an out-of-the-camera JPEG file with nothing else done to it. And I could have turned it up even stronger and her nose would be completely clear of "splotches". I can run a batch of photos through this plugin automacally in photoshop, and it fixes most skin flaws and is like a digital make-up artist! See here what I'm talking about:
Before
After
Message edited by scalvert - Changed huge images to links. Please do not post large images directly to the forums.. |
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01/30/2009 12:39:50 PM · #19 |
Originally posted by eric-sorensen:
Digital cameras can appear more harsher - compaired to ISO 50 or 100 film, but I can shoot at ISO400 with no grain/noise. That's a big plus to create smooth skin.
Also, the Portrature Plug In is really is great. I was skeptical, what - with it costing almost $200, but it really does a great job. Here are 100% crops before and after Portrature. This is an out-of-the-camera JPEG file with nothing else done to it. And I could have turned it up even stronger and her nose would be completely clear of "splotches". I can run a batch of photos through this plugin automacally in photoshop, and it fixes most skin flaws and is like a digital make-up artist! See here what I'm talking about: |
While that's done a great job with the blemishes, it's completely destroyed the chin line on the model's right side. Looks totally unnatural in that area...
R.
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01/30/2009 04:23:50 PM · #20 |
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:
Portrait Professional is a great program - it makes retouching easy and looks fantastic, and it's quick too. |
Yes, it can do wonders, ask Idnic and others (search) for forum threads on it.
Use a Makeup Artist or do Digital makeup after.
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02/01/2009 10:40:57 PM · #21 |
So many wonderfully helpful tips! Thank you all!
I purchased Portrait Professional after a trial version for a bit and it DOES work wonders! I have to learn to use it sparingly though because I tended to be heavy handed and that came out a nightmare as while it looks like the person has no flaws LOL...it also loses chins! ;-) I'm just learning it better now and lightly.
Jeb, you're right....people don't tend to like themselves in photos (myself included) so, the better one can lighten up harsher features, the better they tend to like their photos. I've been doing some family photos lately and it's been really helpful to have this type of software lest I be STRANGLED. LOL
I guess from what you've all said...it's lighting, ISO and post processing that softens the features. So, going to learn these techniques. :)
Thank you all so much! You may have just saved me from being HUNG by family!!! ;) |
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