Portrait session today

[ozimax]

Hello all in DSLRusers land.

I shot some photos today with a spectacular model (the missus, who incidentally but unsurprisingly hates having her photo taken), and these are some of the results. I would be interested to hear some opinions on the use of the "shadows/highlights" adjustment tool in Photoshop, which I used with these. All the images were processed in camera raw, then PS CS5, then run through Portrait Professional.





I couldn't quite get the colour right here. Any suggestions?


Not sure about the green post here.

[photomarcs]

Nice!

With the colors, I use color balance, or niks color efex to correct color cast.


Great images love the eyes in all your images, you've certainly captured the eyes beautifully

[ozimax]

niks color efex to correct color cast.

Thanks, Can I ask where we might find this fx?

[sirhc55]

Ozi - just love the last shot and the green post justs adds to the overall feel of the shot.

[aim54x]

I like what you have done. Which camera was this?

i agree that the green post actually works well

[surenj]

Hey Ozi, these are great.

Looks like a 5D 85 bokeh...

#1 it would have been great to see the arms in the bokeh areas to tie it all together. That particular pose with the arms by the side (and out of the frame) doesn't quite feel right to me.

I prefer the last one as the expression is very relaxed.

[surenj]

(the missus, who incidentally but unsurprisingly hates having her photo taken)

This seems to be a common symptom. The only temporary cure is alcohol according to what I've heard.

[ozimax]

Looks like a 5D 85 bokeh...

Spot on!

#1 it would have been great to see the arms in the bokeh areas to tie it all together. That particular pose with the arms by the side (and out of the frame) doesn't quite feel right to me.

Yeah, this one is cropped. By this stage of the afternoon, I was perched up a tree to get the shot, and Robyn had had enough. She was kneeling on some very sharp bark and wasn't too happy so I took a quick snap and there we ended things!

[petermmc]

Hi

I like them all. I like the last one the best. She is very 'photographic' and the eyes say it all. My wife treats me like the papparazzi and I am constantly being heard saying...just one more photo.

Well done.

Peter Mc

[ozimax]

My wife treats me like the papparazzi...

She breaks your camera over your head?

[gstark]

Hi Oz,

The first one here looks a little over exposed to me. I'd like to see the exposure pulled back about 2/3 stop; Look at Robyn's right cheek and forehead an you will see where you seem to have blown highlights, or are very colse to blowing them.

You're querying the colour in #3. How was this one shot? With AWB? I'm suspecting AWB, but with the large expanse of green here, the camera is going to try to compensate for this. Go back to your RAW file, and see what happens as you change the WB settings.

Cheers

[ozimax]

The first one here looks a little over exposed to me. I'd like to see the exposure pulled back about 2/3 stop; Look at Robyn's right cheek and forehead an you will see where you seem to have blown highlights, or are very colse to blowing them.

I just checked the raw file, and it's not overexposed. However, I have overdone the facial highlights in Portrait Professional. I will try and re-do the photo again and see how it goes.

You're querying the colour in #3. How was this one shot? With AWB? I'm suspecting AWB, but with the large expanse of green here, the camera is going to try to compensate for this. Go back to your RAW file, and see what happens as you change the WB settings.

Yes it was in AWB (the light constantly changing) and I did warm the WB initially in processing. I actually don't mind the greenish tinge here, but each to their own. I will muck around with the photo and see how a warmer WB looks.

Many thanks for the feedback.

[the foto fanatic]

She was kneeling on some very sharp bark and wasn't too happy so I took a quick snap and there we ended things!

Gee - hope it isn't permanent!

Nice work here - well done.

[ozimax]

Gee - hope it isn't permanent! .

thankfully not permanent, but kneeling on bark chips is now on the prohibited list

[barry]

My pick is #4 - nice colour and lighting

I also like #1 however I think it would be better if you cropped all the bark above the head, it not doing anthing for the shot. A square crop would suit this shot.

[Aussie Dave]

Ozi,
For photo 3, you could try:
- creating two layers in photoshop
- pasting the photo into both layers
- goto layer two and select the area of her face, left arm and right hand (perhaps with the polygonal tool, depending on how quickly you want to do this ?)
- invert selection (Ctrl+Shift+i) then erase the entire background from layer 2
- open the color balance tool and move the first two sliders more towards the reds (until you are happy with the colour in the face and arm)
- select layer 1 and add some saturation (which will enhance the grass), and maybe even a touch of contrast...

This should make the grass pop a bit more and bring back some red in the skin tones.

Nice photos by the way. I can appreciate how hard it is to coax the other half in front of a camera...so you have done very well !

Is she happy with the pics ?

Cheers,
Dave

[wendellt]

i think the 2nd one is the most interesting shot because it shows an incidental moment
which looks natural to me and the composition is good as well as the use of shallow focus with the extreme bokeh

the 1st one is a good idea but it has a little too much space at the top, for a portrait it's a bit odd in that way

and in the last she great

some look overexposed a little but it's easily fixable

when yiur shooting portaits try to match the colour tones as neautral as possible
contrasting colours detract from the subject

well done