Valentine's Day Shoot

This was part of my gift to the lady for Valentine's Day. It really was a make-shift studio attempt, as I don't own any flashes or backdrops. I bought some props at the store a few days ago, got a Cal King-sized flat sheet and pinned it to a wall for the backdrop, and used a 500w worklight and some random reading lamps for lighting. Oh, and I also had to use the 10sec timer for every shot. Needless to say, it was a time-consuming process!

First attempt at posed portraits, I'd really love to hear some CC from you vets so I can improve. Don't be bashful! Here's a couple that I liked:

They're very nice, good job on the lighting! My only nitpick (for what it's worth) is that the light in your glasses in the first pic are a bit distraction.

Apart from that I think they're great

Rhi

I agree other than the glare on the glasses I think that the lighting is great.
Good job

Thanks for your comments, Rhi and bmynbr!

I actually noticed the glare when I was reviewing images during the shoot, and I tried to angle my head to minimize that effect. Other than simply removing the glasses, is there a way to completely eliminate glare? I don't own a copy of PS, perhaps its something I should look into.

Excellent- the 2nd shot especially. You wouldn't have know it wasn't in a studio.

You did a great job well done...I also like the 2nd one best.

I echo the mention of the glasses reflection, but also the only other thing that I'd probably change a little is the rose - there was so much red already, that you needed some babys-breath around it to set it apart.

Thank you ajbalazic and dawnrogers, your words are very flattering! The second is also my favorite of our shoot, but #1 is my lady's favorite so it's an obligatory post =) The only element I am unsure if I like is how my backdrop lights are catching our jeans. I didn't notice it until after the shoot, and at first I smacked myself for it. But now, I find myself kind of liking the effect.

lcfr-nl437, I definitely agree with you. When I was trying to arrange the pose for that shot, I had hoped to have some skin behind the rose instead of one of our shirts. However, I wasn't able to accomplish that without making the pose awkward. I hadn't thought about the baby's breath, but that would've been an excellent idea. Thank you for mentioning that, I'll have to keep color contrast in mind the next time I'm working with props!

Very nice pictures sumptimwong. The W/B is a little off though. If the mixed lighting was a homogenous mixture, you should be able to get an accurate W?B regardless of the lights. Also, it looks a bit underexposed.

Here is a quick edit I did in Photoshop using 4 adjustment layers:

Color Balance
Levels
Brightness/Contrast
Hue/Saturation

Without the glass glare - just a quicky on one glass:

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Very nice shots ~

Thank you, Rumrunner for taking a stab at it. Seems a bit desaturated, but the balance is much better.

Thanks for the edit SYS, I think you've convinced me to look into purchasing a copy of PS!

Thanks for your comment, Miniflash.

You could always pop the lenses out.

Very nice shots, how does she feel about them?

Shutter22 wrote in post #2726472
You could always pop the lenses out.

Funny thing is, I actually thought about that! When I was taking my passport photos, a website I read recommend this to eliminate glare. Unfortunately, the frames I have now were always loose and the lens kept falling out, so I just superglued them in, hahaha.

Both her and I love them. It's my first attempt, so I'm reasonably satisfied with the quality. But overall, it's just been way too long since we've taken formal pictures together. That was the whole reason behind the gift, and in that light, it was a great success. Thanks for asking!