C&C

[anthonyi]

My daughter wanted a picture of her against a bright white background, so I used one of my lights with a softbox to blow out the wall behind her and lit her with a reflective brolly and a reflector.

I didn't get as much shadow as I'd wanted and I would have liked her to have been further forward from the wall but it was a smallish room so...

I'm always looking to learn so C&C is welcome.

[HeleneD]

Very nice. I like it a lot

[hawk911]

Anthony, nice shot, but image left seems a bit hot.

[anthonyi]

Thanks Hawk...yes it is a tad hot on that side. I've burnt it down a bit but I think I was getting too much light back from the background. I'm no expert on this type of lighting but I suspect what I needed was more space between subject and background...but room size didn't permit.

That sound right?

[Karl Johnston]

It's a nice image but I'm seeing it to be very very oversharpened.

[anthonyi]

It's a nice image but I'm seeing it to be very very oversharpened.

OK...is there something in particular you can point out to me, please? That version was reduced in CS4 using Bicubic (best for smooth gradients) and then sharpened with a web output action from "The Light Is Right"...I then masked off the skin and reduced opacity on the sharpened layer.

Edit: In hindsight perhaps I should have applied some heavy-ish masking to her hair, also.

The version below was simply reduced using Bicubic...better?

[anthonyi]

Swapped the version that was above for this one, after a little more thought.

Any C&C on the sharpening as it stands now? Her hair looks better to me now, but perhaps I need to add back a little sharpness to her eyes?

[hawk911]

Anthony, you're correct on the bg contributing to the hot spot. too close to the BG lighting and you got some extra bounced onto her head.

[anthonyi]

Thanks...another one to try and improve when the opportunity presents. :)

[hawk911]

how big is the space you shoot in?

[PBB]

Nice shot - agree with comments above, maybe trying using a lower DOF next time?

[anthonyi]

how big is the space you shoot in?

About 8 feet from the wall which forms the background to the camera.

[hawk911]

what's the total room dimensions? Not a lot of room. Can you use a hallway?

[anthonyi]

It's pretty much the biggest space I can use. Walls and ceiling are light in colour too, which does nothing to help control light.

[Michael Bottoms]

Your second image is a little better... the oversharpening really show in the hair in the first edit. Selectively sharpening the face without doing the hair might be the best image... but might not as well lol... She's a cutie--must take after her mother...

[anthonyi]

Your second image is a little better... the oversharpening really show in the hair in the first edit..

The second image only has default capture sharpening from ACR (I did up the masking applied so less than default, I suppose) - but you still think it still looks too sharpened?

The first I suffered from a touch of brain fade on...too long staring at the monitor perhaps.