Self-Portrait C&C please

I've been humbled by how hard it is to nail focus on yourself.. especially when trying to check critical focus on my 5D is pointless. I thought I was settling for a slightly soft image from the look of it on my LCD, but to my surprise it looked pretty sharp when I uploaded to LR!

C&C please, I am working on my studio lighting skills.

5D + EF85/1.8
ISO100, F2, 1/200
YN-565EX in 32" bounce umbrella to camera left & 580EX II in 32" bounce umbrella to camera right

Selfies are tacky at best.

The yellow dots on the right are distracting. My eyes are pulled directly to them, instead of your handsome face. I really like the portrait otherwise. So if it were me I would probably try some additional compositions with less distracting backgrounds.

Looks like you got the focus. That *would* be tough.

I'm no expert but may I humbly offer a few constructive suggestions?

• Light is a little hot on your right side. Is it diffused?
  
• Symmetrical poses just don't work for most people. I see your head is ever so slightly pointed to the right but a little more might help - maybe a slight tilt if that can be done without looking contrived.
  
• 85mm on a FF gets you a little close, causing a little distance distortion (big nose). Suggest 135mm on FF - gives you the same FOV and similar DOF but a little more camera distance. Either that or back off and crop later.
  
• I like how beautifully the lens has boke'd the XMAS lights but I agree that it's slightly distracting.
  
• The blurred ears is a look, but I think portraits work equally as well without so much blur of faacial features as long as the background is still blurred. I think I would have bumped up the aperture a little to get a little more DOF to play with.
  
• Sharp is nice, but too much clarity starts showing the flaws, particularly with the harsh lighting. I think I'd select those areas and apply a little negative "clarity" in LR.
  

The fact that is a selfie is irrelevant, as you stated, your working on lighting skills, I have use myself for this purpose also. I also have a mannequin at time, and anyone else I can rope in.
I say good on you, doing what it takes to learn!

I feel the lighting is ok, but will offer some suggestion you could try.
The key light height and angle is ok, if your not limit for hight, try slightly higher, aim for a 45 degree from front, and 45 degree elevation.
Try using the other flash for fill, I would try getting it as close to camera view as you can, having light the subject ( you in this case) at 1 stop less than your key light.
For a little more lift, I light hair lighting, you could experiment with a reflector above to see how it works for you.

The above are suggestions you may try more so that errors I see with your photo
I'm ok with your pose, but I have a lot to learn about posing.

NBEast wrote in post #16584307
Looks like you got the focus. That *would* be tough.

I'm no expert but may I humbly offer a few constructive suggestions?

• Light is a little hot on your right side. Is it diffused?
  
• Symmetrical poses just don't work for most people. I see your head is ever so slightly pointed to the right but a little more might help - maybe a slight tilt if that can be done without looking contrived.
  
• 85mm on a FF gets you a little close, causing a little distance distortion (big nose). Suggest 135mm on FF - gives you the same FOV and similar DOF but a little more camera distance. Either that or back off and crop later.
  
• I like how beautifully the lens has boke'd the XMAS lights but I agree that it's slightly distracting.
  
• The blurred ears is a look, but I think portraits work equally as well without so much blur of faacial features as long as the background is still blurred. I think I would have bumped up the aperture a little to get a little more DOF to play with.
  
• Sharp is nice, but too much clarity starts showing the flaws, particularly with the harsh lighting. I think I'd select those areas and apply a little negative "clarity" in LR.
  

Selfie - brave. I posted one once, about 10 years ago. Deleted it after re-consideration LOL.

This feedback has been helpful to me also, thank you.

Thanks everyone for all the great feedback and advice! I will take most, if not all, of these suggestions and give it another shot to see what I can create. Perhaps my gf who has returned from vacation will model for me

chauncey wrote in post #16583246
Selfies are tacky at best.

Wow, that's helpful.

DamianOz wrote in post #16596324
The fact that is a selfie is irrelevant, as you stated, your working on lighting skills, I have use myself for this purpose also. I also have a mannequin at time, and anyone else I can rope in.
I say good on you, doing what it takes to learn!

I feel the lighting is ok, but will offer some suggestion you could try.
The key light height and angle is ok, if your not limit for hight, try slightly higher, aim for a 45 degree from front, and 45 degree elevation.
Try using the other flash for fill, I would try getting it as close to camera view as you can, having light the subject ( you in this case) at 1 stop less than your key light.
For a little more lift, I light hair lighting, you could experiment with a reflector above to see how it works for you.

The above are suggestions you may try more so that errors I see with your photo
I'm ok with your pose, but I have a lot to learn about posing.

And this was helpful to me

However, I didn't understand the instructions for hair-lighting. Reflector above?

I've always thought of "hair-lighting" as a bright light source lighting the subject's hair from behind. Expose for the subject and let a rim of blown-out exposure through the hair. Example here.

However; I'd love to learn about this reflector-above trick. Do you have an example per-chance?

Your idea of hair lighting is correct.
In your photo, the darker exposed hair caught my eye, I felt had it been back lit, a hair light used or slightly more exposed, it might not have drawn my attention as much.

My suggestion of trying a reflector is more so to see if it will give you some better separation than as a spot light. I do use a dedicated hair light with a snoot my self, but I was guessing you may not of had a 3rd flash, so suggested the reflector to see how it worked out for you.
If you do have just the 2, you could try a reflector for fill and one flash with a snoot for hair also, or even as a back light.
A reflector for fill works quite well.

chauncey wrote in post #16583246
Selfies are tacky at best.

Ignore this. Thats my advice.

Other than that, it is sharp but the lighting is a bit flat.

Loxley wrote in post #16582617
YN-565EX in 32" bounce umbrella to camera left & 580EX II in 32" bounce umbrella to camera right

Were you satisfied with your modeling with only one light? How did you decide on your ratio?

DamianOz wrote in post #16598869
Your idea of hair lighting is correct.
In your photo, the darker exposed hair caught my eye, I felt had it been back lit, a hair light used or slightly more exposed, it might not have drawn my attention as much.

My suggestion of trying a reflector is more so to see if it will give you some better separation than as a spot light. I do use a dedicated hair light with a snoot my self, but I was guessing you may not of had a 3rd flash, so suggested the reflector to see how it worked out for you.
If you do have just the 2, you could try a reflector for fill and one flash with a snoot for hair also, or even as a back light.
A reflector for fill works quite well.

OK - so you weren't saying to use a reflector from above for hair-light. I thought there might be a new trick here.

It sounds like you're saying to use a reflector to lift the shadows - reflecting the key-light.

Thanks for the comments on my photo. It wasn't a framer, just an example. I like it, but I agree that full hairlight would have improved it.