post your favorite high key

Bobster wrote in post #7305215
i see a uniform light in my photograph

I think the word "uniform" is being misunderstood here. Your image has fairly EVEN lighting. Which is different from the way a high key image would be lit. Your image still carries a range of tones throughout - there is still a difference in highlight and shadow areas - there is still some modeling to the child's face. What is being said is that all that should be removed or diminished. It has to be shot that way most of the time - though I am sure there could be a work around in PS?

JFusion wrote in post #7305327
Usually there is low contrast between the subject and its back ground as well...

I mentioned something like this as well in my last post - I am not sure if my image counts either as it was my first try. But this thread does seem to carry all high contrast images instead of high key.

well that being said the bride shot isn't a high key image either then, has more modeling light than my shot..

Bobster wrote in post #7306635
well that being said the bride shot isn't a high key image either then, has more modeling light than my shot..

I thought the same thing as well.

Hmmn... it gets interesting.
Lets hear some tips from the experts, so we can all get this right.

Ok to be honest I take everything I am told on EVERY forum, be it photography, bikes, people, computers whatever with a pinch of salt.

Benji, you may be right, you probably are and as such you have your opinion as do the rest of us, you take a little too much of a high and mighty attitude in pointing it out and as said by another member having to sign up to another forum just to view the images is not something I am going to do.

what IS high key? using a very well known piece of software on an image I took the other day and processing it to the HIGH KEY setting brought out a VERY contrasty image with quite a few shadows and of course highlights, so this goes against your definition! the fact that nearly every person posting on this thread put something up that does not fit in your definition(the correct definition) shows that the term is misunderstood. do we need your self righteous "Fourteen images and still only one high key image" posts? I would say no, I was very happy with my misunderstood thoughts about what made a high key image thank you very much!

I am not saying you should not inform people of an error or at least educate when needed, but there are ways of doing it without trying to insult! "maybe they cant read" maybe you came at this topic with an attitude that put others off even trying to read your famous post on another forum?

just my 2p do with what you will and take it however you want, no skin off my back!!

Well, you know what.. I took the time to register in the other forum... wow, I'm so glad I did. Benji and others have some reeeaally nice tutorials, I'll spend a good deal of time reading thru them.

Having said that, I'm sure Benji could have been a bit nicer here lol..

anyways, thanks Benji.

Bravo Daniel.

Thank you for taking the time to voice what I've been thinking ever since this thread, which could have been fun and interesting, was trashed. Why would anyone post a photo here and risk insult and humiliation by a lurking jerk?
Chris

Benji,
Just because you have your own special definition of high-key, doesn't give you license to insult people. I happen to like the photos I posted here, and after doing a little research on high-key methods, I still consider them high key photos. Do they comply with your special criteria? Apparently not. Your style of photography does not comply with mine, but I didn't get abrasive, try to humiliate you, and look small in the process.
Chris

my daughter.. first time trial with my alien bees strobes, is this high key, benji ?

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gosh... i guess no one has the same definition of high key...
Some REAL high key pics to me are like these : http://www.olivier-chauvignat.info/2009/6​/gallery2.html (all i can say is that guy is a god)

For me it's just the majority of the tonal range going on the right of the histogram... and NO burnt part on the skin, but the histogramm is the most important... that means : GET A CALIBRATOR ^^
I'd say rmr21 got the best HK shot here ^^

blissonearth wrote in post #7315743
my daughter.. first time trial with my alien bees strobes, is this high key, benji ?

Bliss,

Well I guess it depends on what definition of high key you want to use. I have copied my posting on Photocamel below for one definition (which happend to be the one I use.)

"In Norman Phillips' book Lighting Techniques For High Key Portrait Photography we find a definitive definition of the photographic term high key, and I quote; "High key is the term used to describe photographs with white or bright backgrounds and usually with bright lighting situations that render subjects in a light tone similiar to that of the background. The ultimate high key portrait is one in which the background is a clean white and the subjects are also attired in white. High key exists wherever the predominant tones in the image are somewhat brighter than the middle key."

(The middle key in the digital world is 128 which is 18% gray and is exactly 1/2 way between pure black "0" and pure white "255.")

Kenneth Hoffman in his internet article on High Key Photography states: In photography [High key] can easily be acheived by choosing elements of a white or pastel color placed on a white or very light background."

From DIY Photography.net. "To create a high key image you need to set your exposure levels to a high degree but watch out not to overexpose. High key images lack contrast and also there is a lack of shadows in the picture."

About.com Photography says, "High key pictures [can] contain small areas of dark tones, for example in the iris of the eyes in a portrait."

New York Institute of Photography Dictionary of Photography says under High Key: "A photograph made up entirely of tones above the middle tone with no heavy shadows."

Lastly a definition from the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers (UK) and the British Professional Photographer's Association."High Key A scene with delicate tones or pastel colors. A photograph which contains large areas of light tones with few middle tones or shadows."

So according to the above, a high key image must have:
1. A white or very light pastel background.
2. Subjects(s) dressed in white or light pastel clothing.
3. Little or no contrast.
4. Little or no heavy shadows.
5. Few middle tones."

Now for the definition one gathers from reading postings on POTN and other photo related websites. Keep in mind most of these image makers are accountants, mechanics, automobile salesmen, and school teachers, (and assorted other occupations) during the day and photographers at night and on weekends. A high key image is any image with white in it. It usually has a white background and overexposed skin tones. I base this on the images posted in the above thread.

So in my opinion while your image has a white background and white clothing, it is overexposed, so it is a high contrast image not a high key image. It is beautiful however.

Hope this helps.

Benji

lack of contrast in a high key image ? what the....

a real GOOD high key pic with a decent lightning + decent reflector or softbox (octa3 for instance, no bigger or it's gonna be too soft) got a high level of acutance, or "micro-contrast" call it as you want, you don't lose details. It's super light, almost overexposed, but you still got full details of the skin.
Take a look here : http://www.eos-numerique.com …utance-des-sources-54454/
It explains the acutance of every modeler ^^ hope it helps

Benji wrote in post #7317017
So according to the above, a high key image must have:
1. A white or very light pastel background.
2. Subjects(s) dressed in white or light pastel clothing.
3. Little or no contrast.
4. Little or no heavy shadows.
5. Few middle tones."

Now for the definition one gathers from reading postings on POTN and other photo related websites. Keep in mind most of these image makers are accountants, mechanics, automobile salesmen, and school teachers, (and assorted other occupations) during the day and photographers at night and on weekends. A high key image is any image with white in it. It usually has a white background and overexposed skin tones. I base this on the images posted in the above thread.

So in my opinion while your image has a white background and white clothing, it is overexposed, so it is a high contrast image not a high key image. It is beautiful however.

Hope this helps.

Benji

I'll have to disagree that list just based on your own quotes. This is mostly because you described them as must have. The first 2 in your list are not requirements in a high key image. They are personal preferences for certain photographers, like wedding photographers for example where there can a good number of whites and pastels particularly in the brides party.

These three are consistent with each other and with the film definition and are probably the most accurate especially when referenced against each other and the actual definition found in the other quotes.

The Norman Phillips and Kenneth Hoffman quotes lean toward what is the ultimate high key or how high can be achieved NOT that those elements are necessarily required. The "definitive definition of the photographic term high key" in the Norman Phillips quote describes something that can can be described as high key as in it falls in that category. This is backed up in the last sentence where high key is actually defined in that same quote, "High key exists wherever the predominant tones in the image are somewhat brighter than the middle key." and this also falls in line with the second sentence of your last quote, "A photograph which contains large areas of light tones with few middle tones or shadows" as well as the first three that I quoted.

So even just based on your own quotes (and even not being a full time photographer) it's easy to tell your list and some of the comments are opinions of ultimate/extreme high key, not necessarily the just actual definition.

Jeremi,

(Copy from above) "....The first 2 in your list are not requirements in a high key image. They are personal preferences for certain photographers..."

Sorry, but you are wrong. A high key image MUST have an all white or a light pastel background, and all white or light pastel clothing, period. And that is just for starters.

Mr. Norman Phillips the above quoted photographer illustrates a high key image on the cover of the aforementioned book. It is a little girl dressed in all white, with an all white background . http://www.amazon.com …=1234544859&sr=​1-4#reader

Then after several intro pages he gets to the meat of what a high key image is with the quote I quoted earlier and posts this image on that same page to illustrate a high key image. http://www.amazon.com …=1234544859&sr=​1-4#reader

Benji

I have those requirements, pastel color clothing, white background... the skin tone is almost the same with clothing.. the only thing she has brown hair, there is no way you can make this hair color like blonde, now I am confused.