Danni

I recently did a shoot with a model I found through Model Mayhem for the first time. The best part was definitely blowing off work (with the boss' approval) for a couple hours and enjoying the nice warm weather outside. These were all taken outside at approximately noon. I used a strobe as the main light (you probably could have guessed that).

Anyways, I'm looking for critique on these shots. How can I make the photos better through post processing? How can I take better shots next time?

I like the lighting on these. A+

A bit too much pancake. Perhaps PS could even that out a bit?

Very, very harsh light, man. It would surely be better, if the light would be way softer and less strong in order to blend in at least a little with the ambient. Also cold as hell.

Harsh light is for drama, there is no drama Just contrasty AF.

Perfectly Frank wrote in post #18574894
I like the lighting on these. A+

Thanks

FarmerTed1971 wrote in post #18574897
A bit too much pancake. Perhaps PS could even that out a bit?

My wife mentioned the same thing, but I wasn't sure what to do in PS? Maybe just decrease the sharpness a bit?

olafs osh wrote in post #18574951
Very, very harsh light, man. It would surely be better, if the light would be way softer and less strong in order to blend in at least a little with the ambient. Also cold as hell.

Harsh light is for drama, there is no drama Just contrasty AF.

I believe #2 and #4 were taken with a large (32x40) softbox. The wind starting blowing shortly thereafter making it near impossible to use the softbox. Since I don't have a ton of modifiers, I was relegated to the standard 7" reflector that came with my Alienbee strobe, which definitely wasn't the ideal choice for shot #3. I also do tend to underexpose backgrounds more than I should. My wife always complains about that in my photos.

One thing I wasn't a fan of, particularly in #3 is how harsh (and long) the shadow is below the nose (and neck). I wish I had another strobe or reflector to add some fill and tame those shadows a bit. I have to admit I'm a bit torn between buying more lights/modifiers for the Buff products and switching brands (Godox). I'll probably stick with my single Alienbee for the time being, but I struggle to justify buying a beauty dish/small octobox/etc for the Buff equipment when there's a decent chance I'll eventually switch to another brand of lighting.

A few questions for those more experienced with photographing people:
1. How much do you fix the hair in post? It was a windy day, so I did need to removed a fair number of stray hairs, but felt I needed to leave some in (the photos looked unnatural without them).
2. In a couple of the photos, the roots of the hair with her natural color were somewhat visible. Is there a good way to touch these up? I tried using the clone stamp tool, and that seemed to tone it down a bit to make it less obvious.

I wouldn't touch the hair at all.

Regarding the skin... a careful selection and a touch of gaussian blur in PS might help.

Not sure what's going on in picture two but her skin looks a little like sandpaper.

Were you trying to create any specific mood or look? Agree that the light looks a little harsh but maybe that is what you were going for?