Day 1 of the Feb 08 SP Challenge. I'm going to do all of these in a uniform of some type or at least military based because [user]indic[/user] suggested it.
Completely dark room, camera at about 25 degrees, one strobe at 45 degrees, the other right above me to highlight the hair. Black background.
The only editing is convert from RAW, upped the shadows, NI, and USM.
Mike, good to see you back in this. I'll have to agree with Elvis here, your lighting is much better this time around. The pose is cool and the message is clear, great way to start your 30 days!
I don't feel I have the experience (or expertise) to critique the photo from a photographic stance. I do have design experience however. So, if you don't mind I'll concentrate on addressing those issues.
First off, you have a diagonal. Diagonal always lends a feeling of excitement to it. Which is generally very good. In this case because your face is so peaceful it sort of tugs me towards peace and then towards excitement.
The only other thing that I noticed is that there is more black background on the right side (bottom) than near your elbow, it might help to even that out.
Just going with my first impression ... your pose is very calming, your face is very soft and welcoming and I felt at ease at first glance.
Fantastic, simple works really well. I like the whole military uniform concept, if I still had mine I might have, well lets just say Yeah I would have worn it L()L. I look forward to the images, specially since you said you will be on an exercise for part of this month? Look forward to your images.
The lighting is nice, IMO I think your face looks just a tad bright. Kind of agree with emorgan49 about the way you're sitting, straddleing the chair could always be used for another day though :) Very nice!
What if you straddled the chair and leaned on the back instead of sideways? Although the line of your arm and the line of the seam of the shirt make a nice composition, you look uncomfortable.
Wow, your lighting looks much cleaner than it did a year ago. I see you've been practicing. Thanks for going with the military theme, I think it will be interesting / exciting to see these materialize during this month.
You did a very good job seperating your hair from the bg, the look on your face is priceless... I think the angle could have been a little less awkward if you had straddled the chair, that would have gotten rid of the need to turn your body that far to the right... catchlights are beautiful!! Good colour too... overall, a very good start!!
Dropping the right elbow a bit would make it look a little less awkward. I guess a tighter crop (less of the body) might work better.
But, hey, you've got lights to play around with; good on you. ;-Þ
Light's starting to look good, but in my view is a bit hot on your face. Catchlights perfect, and highlight your eyes well. Your position looks uncomfortable - I think you need to relax more or something. Elbows down, for example. It would also have helped if the shot was tighter on your face, with less from the shoulders down. Some light on the background would help to give this portrait depth - for example, a low-powered spot pointing on the background at a severe angle, a kind of bowed halo behind you or something. It's a good portrait and I only mention all this because you're getting into the lighting part, and these items might or might not help.
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