Outcropped From a Candid

This is an outcrop from a candid captured by a 70-200 f/4 L

Photoshop was used only to enhance eyes and to create a subtle light ratio that assimulates "short" lighting. Original was existing light.
Comments, suggestions, advice, and critique please.

His ear and the top of his hair are just kissing the frame - calls more attention to those points than is deserved or wanted.

Very little in the way of facial shadows, so the facial contours are not as 3-dimensional as they might be.

I don't know how you got the lighting on his face to be so diffuse, but while it is normally good to not have too harsh shadows on the face, I would prefer a little darker shadows just to give the modeling needed.

I think I am seeing some sort of artificial light, horizontally long, that is the source of some of the flat lighting. I don't know what that is.

The background is ideal - very nice bokeh.

Nonethless, this is an excellent portrait - congratulations!

Great portrait! I see that your 70-200 f/4L gives you the same hi-quality pictures that mine does. I absolutely love it. And the bokeh is always fantastic - this picture is another perfect example of it.

In terms of critique, the only thing I would do is what Bob suggested with moving him over to the right and down just a smidge.

I do, however, really like the soft uniform lighting in it. Gives the picture a very "gentle" effect, if that makes any sense.

Nice job!

I usually like to play with other peoples images in this critique section. But I won't in the case of this portrait, since the soft lighting and shadows here are lovely.

wow, A+!!!
very haunting but in a good way
has almost a lyrical quality
and i like the hair and ears
its what gives it that
ability to stand out
its half art and half candid
which works very very well

Robert_Lay wrote in post #5723078
His ear and the top of his hair are just kissing the frame - calls more attention to those points than is deserved or wanted.

Very little in the way of facial shadows, so the facial contours are not as 3-dimensional as they might be.

I don't know how you got the lighting on his face to be so diffuse, but while it is normally good to not have too harsh shadows on the face, I would prefer a little darker shadows just to give the modeling needed.

I think I am seeing some sort of artificial light, horizontally long, that is the source of some of the flat lighting. I don't know what that is.

The background is ideal - very nice bokeh.

Nonethless, this is an excellent portrait - congratulations!

Thanks for the help and comments, everyone.

In regards to Bob's advice, I totally agree with his comments in their entirety. I just want to say that I think his advice most appropriate.
But this is the result that was closer to what I was going for.

Bob, If you pixel-peek this image, try lowering the global light level and you'll be able to differrentiate a 'rembrandt' model from the subtle 'short' model that are both present. The 'short' lighting model is just more dominant here because of the flatter light ratio. This result is more hi-key than lo-key while not really being either/or. I liked where I ended up. I could redo the edit according to Bob's excellent suggestions and I would like them both equally as well. I would love to see your renditions--it's absolutely ok to edit my images.

I try to use the kiss/kisses in my comps whenever it is possible. The kisses are widely accepted in the portrait circle. Actually, I prefer the kiss to the crop that removes halve the face as in a lot of portrait shots.

The resulting outcrop and how I got there:
I didn't see this image as it currently exists when I shot it. I recognized it as an outcrop within the image after it was downloaded and thought it would be fun to develop.

The lighting levels were deliberately PS'd in order to keep only a subtle ratio between the highlights and shadows. As it presently exists, I would say that I obtained my goal (a ratio of less than 1:0.25).

Here's the exifdata....
Exposure Bias: +0.33
shutter: 1/200
exposure: f/4.5
ISO: 400
mode: Av
workspace: sRGB
meter: pattern
Lens: 70-200 f/4 L
FL: 70mm
camera: 20d

Yea, this lens is the biggest single jump my photography has ever taken. It's changed my entire perspective. But it's still so dammed unpredictable for me. My next outing will be shot with tri-pod only. I'm suspecting that I have a bad shutter release procedure.

midnitejam wrote in post #5725272
Yea, this lens is the biggest single jump my photography has ever taken. It's changed my entire perspective. But it's still so dammed unpredictable for me. My next outing will be shot with tri-pod only. I'm suspecting that I have a bad shutter release procedure.

I love my f/4L, every time I use it I think "man I am happy I bought this". Once you get the use of the lens down the images you capture with it will astound you. It truly is an awesome lens. Shooting hand-held at 1/200 is pushing it without IS, anything lower than that you will definitely get some blur (unless you are amazingly steady).

Anyway, nice image. Well done.

You know me MJ, I play

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

Here is my play

Flo wrote in post #5731284
You know me MJ, I play

Flo wrote in post #5731284
Great portrait....is he getting tired of having the camera pointed at him.lol.well done.

Great edits. Flo, yours is incredible.

Is he getting tired of having a perpetual camera in his face? The pictures started since before he was even dried off from birth. He's quite accustomed to it by now. Especially since I rarely ask him to pose. He has his own camera and we sometimes make a game of shooting each other.

He goes with me on shooting expeditions. He shoots with a canon rebel and I shoot with a 20D

Flo, the web site below pretty much describes the relationship he and I share. Please visit

http://www.pbase.com/m​idnitejam/saga