Meet Flavia

[KevC]

http://individual.utoronto.ca/seraphsheaven/flavpromweb/

First ever portraits shot and "directed" by me. Yes, I've got my own complaints (see Critique Corner), and no, they're not that soft from camera (way overkill with gaussian blur) hehe.

[skade]

Nice work KevC. There are some fantastic shots there!

[Skip Souza]

Nicely done, my man.

[Eric DeCastro]

little too soft for my taste (i guess that's why I don't like wedding pictures either) but they look good.

[Andy_T]

OMG, I LOVE this one (so much I had to put an image link :wink: )

http://individual.utoronto.ca/seraphsheaven/flavpromweb/images/CRW_4721-copy.jpg

I just love the colour of the hedge against the white dress...

Very nice shots of a pretty lady ... great first job ... just some thoughts ...

- I don't like the soft look too much ... you might at least add some USM to the eyes.
- You might use fill flash to eliminate the shadows in the face
- she looks a tad dramatic in some of these ... doesn't she ever smile?

So ... one question remains ... are you the one who's taking her to the prom :wink: ?

Best regards,
Andy

[AjP]

Really good shots!!!!!!!!!!
do u use any filters, or post processing?

[TxLerman]

I really like these shots. I like the one (#4724) with her smile and tilted head. Did you soften on purpose?

[BLINN]

GRRRRREAT JOB love all the pictures, the fact that she is very pretty helps too I guess. One thing, I am not sure how you created the gaussian blur but if you use Photoshop, try this. Take the original picture create a new layer via copy, use gaussian blur the same as you did then use the erase tool with a soft brush and remove the blur from her eyes and lips to sharpen them. Keep up the great work.

[sixshot]

You have done well Kev. She looks great.

[KevC]

Hey, thanks for all the replies :) Much nicer than in the Critique Corner, but then again, that's expected. I'm a firm believer in Plato, learning *must* be painful :) Or else you don't learn! hehe.

Andy: I love that picture too! I wasn't sure what she was doing, I was telling her to look down but she seemed confused and was in the middle of looking at various things, but I just snapped it :) That's a Sonnar, it renders the colours in a strange sort of way, makes them seem surreal.

Yes, I did way overkill with the blur, for the final prints I'll definitely tone that down a bit. The nifty fifty images were sharp as a tack, but weren't too flattering.

As for the date (;)), prom was two years ago! She just really wanted to wear her prom dress again, and no... she wasn't my date hehe. She's actually one of my best friend's girlfriend. Oh well, works for me! ;)

[BottomBracket]

Great work Kev. That Sonnar is an interesting lens. I agree with an earlier post that the eyes should at least be sharp, perhaps even oversharpened a bit. It might bring a new dimension to your photographs. Nevertheless, I think your shots are excellent.

[Andy_T]

KevC,

ok, now you mentioned you took the images with the Sonnar, it maybe was not a soft focus effect, but the difficulty I also normaly have to get a really focused shot :lol:

Very nice shots ... I really admire your guts to use the Sonnar on a paying (ok, I assume) gig. I use it for family snapshots and really love it.

Best regards,
Andy

PS: Bottom bracket ...

I don't have any litespeeds with/without bridgestone, but a really nice Rancilio Silvia and Gaggia MDF mill :wink:

[KevC]

Andy: I actually did soften the image in photoshop, but here is a 100% crop straight from camera: *eeew noisy and underexposed*

http://img151.echo.cx/img151/4947/sonnarcrop7wd.jpg

Now here I did some postprocessing.. (minimal)

http://img151.echo.cx/img151/7800/sonnarcropfiltered3wl.jpg

And no, not paying yet :) But I do intend to use this baby for my paying ones hehe.

[Sledhed]

Kevin,

Just found this forum today, so please forgive me if you did not want them edited. I like the images but I also think they are alittle soft. Did you apply the G Blur to help with the noise? What ISO did you shoot these at to get that kind of noise? I ran this through NeatImage to reduce the noise and then tweaked the levels slightly in PS. NeatImage is a very cool program and best of all they have a free version.

Chris

[Andy_T]

This is what (free) Noiseware community edition came up with ...

Hope you like it...

Best regards,
Andy

[Claire]

Love the shots Kev. Very nicely done!