Studio Portraits

[MattL]

Tonight was my first go at portraits in a studio.
How did I do?

#1
http://matts-photos.nzpages.net/generated/Misc/Danielle/IMG_6480__scaled_640.jpg


#2
http://matts-photos.nzpages.net/generated/Misc/Danielle/IMG_6490__scaled_640.jpg


#3
http://matts-photos.nzpages.net/generated/Misc/Danielle/IMG_6494__scaled_640.jpg

#4
http://matts-photos.nzpages.net/generated/Misc/Danielle/IMG_6465__scaled_640.jpg

C&C Please!

[MattL]

*bump* Comments please?

[JohnEBongo]

They look pretty good to me although I think your hair light is a little too strong. Good job separating the model from the background in shots 1 and 4. In #2 there is a little squiggle just above her left shoulder that is distracting. Ginally, get you model to give a great big SMILE sometimes. Keep up the good work.

John

[Zeke]

I think they have great potential, and with a little post process work in Photoshop, you could end up with something along these lines:

[MattL]

Zeke, thats a very natural looking bit of work. I cant get mine to look quite that natural - could you please share how you did that? Thanks

[ayotnoms]

Nice job on the hair lights.
Overall though, they seem a little over sharpened.

Regards

[Zeke]

Zeke, thats a very natural looking bit of work. I cant get mine to look quite that natural - could you please share how you did that? Thanks

I never know how to answer that question, as every photo is different and needs different attention. I generally use a combination of Heal Tool, Clone Tool, Gaussion Blur, Dust & Scratches Filter, Noise & Brushes. I'll often put a warming photo filter over the top of the final product as well.

[MattL]

Cheers. Perhaps ill just keep trying different methods.

[ryno4youth]

Are those images over shaprened, or did you forget to interpolate the crops? I think that you are headed down the right path. Maybe backup a little and give her some freedom. Good work!

[MattL]

#4 is the only image to have sharpening done to it, and yes it is waaay to much. not sure what happend there. None of them are crops. They were shot in jpeg however, perhaps my camera sharpening is cranked way up.

I've only resized them to get them here. Jpeg compression maybe?

I was already a fair distance away from her, exif says I was at around 90mm.

[PhotosGuy]

Good start. General "Rule" (made to be broken): Soften the skin (a touch) & sharpen the eyes (a touch), is a good place to start. ;-)

[Wavy C]

I like the first and second - good natural looking expressions and that's probably 90 per cent of getting a successful portrait. I also like the lighting, especially in the first, where the dark background works well. The poses/expressions don't work quite as well for me in the third and fourth pictures.

Unfortunately all the pictures look a little soft to me - don't know if it is focus or camera shake. I suspect perhaps the area in focus is too far back (her hair looks sharp but eyes don't). If you were shooting more pictures I'd try to take extra care to focus on the eyes.

You have a nice looking model and this is a good result for a first attempt.

[SuperFly]

Hi Matt,

I'm unable to see the pictures in the first 4 posts, however, the one by Zeke looks very well done.
One thing i've noticed is all the little individual hairs on her head reflecting light. I think for next time you could use semi dry hair so as not to have those stray hairs affecting the final image.