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As Arthur already posted his photos from the model shoot we did on Sunday, I am posting mine. Thanks again to Arthur for the expertise and thanks to Alisa for being our model. All photos taken with 50 mm f1.4, SB800 and Nikon D70. Several people already mentioned that I overexposed her face. Critique away.







Alex

I think the second last one is the best out of all of them.

In the beginning, your flash is too strong and your losing some detail as well as it seeming a bit soft, in my opinion.

Your second one is nice, but the background is too bright and my eyes are drawn to the sides more than the face.

The third is a lot better with detail kept and it fairly sharp, but your crop is too tight and your colour seems a bit off.

Your fourth is a tad too bright, you need that grass in focus (in my opinion) and the crop is way too tight. We need to see more of her body in that shot.

Your fifth... this is the one I think worked for.
Nice lighting, fairly good DOF, very sharp, and the composition is fine.

Your last one is nice, but once again, the crop is too tight.

I'm thinking for this series that controlling the maount of flash you use as well as knowing composition are where you will need to improve, but these are a good series of images to start with.

I agree with Leigh about which shots work and which don't. Overall, it's a good learning exercise for you, as much in PP as in the initial positioning and lighting of Alisa. I found the green tinging of her hair in the last two shots a bit distracting though.

my pick would be the last one except for the flash reflection [mainly on the top lip]

Alex,
You're not in total control of the lighting when doing model shooting or your assistant who holds the reflector did not beam into the right angle.
If you have a Lightsephere, the lighting will be more nice with her real skin tone.
Good to start with something new!

Next time, take her to the beach and doing model bikini shooting.

Alex

These are all very bright - I'm wondering if your monitor calibration may be out. Otherwise I agree with the observations already made.

Alex - if you shot these in RAW it might be worthwhile going back and reprocessing. The young lady is very pretty and most of the poses are very natural

I also agree with comments posted Alex and as Birddog mentioned the LSPJ really can make a big difference Overall it certainly would have been a very productive experience.
cheers
marco

Alex,

Might be worth playing with these in PS a bit more to remove the excess flash (or reprocessing the NEFs). This was a 1 minute job, 'multiply' duplicate layer with around 25% opacity, improves the 'OMG I just got blasted with flash' look.

Thanks a lot every one for so much help and suggestions. The main mistake I made was too use too much flash. They look bright on my uncalibrated CRT and even brighter on my wife's laptop. The face is very bright in most photos which is a pity. I initially thought my CRT was way off but I think it is simply the case of too much flash.

Leigh: Thank you for such a comprehensive analysis. Gee this forum is great!

Birddog: I will have to buy LS from you.

Peter: Monitor is not too bad, but I think I just overexposed shots with flash to start with.

Chris: I may want to reprocess , I've still got a lot I need to start processing.

How would you deal with too much flash in NC and PS ? Would you use D-lighting?

I think I also stuffed up some colours while play with curves in LAB, in PS.

I need to improve my pping.

Thank you all

Alex

MCWB,

Thanks for this. Nice imporovement. I just tried it on jpg. How would you do that in RAW?

Thanks
Alex

Alex wrote:
Birddog: I will have to buy LS from you.

I'm sure you can order it on the NET or at one of your local shop.

Alex, did you try some images without flash on the day?

shutterbug wrote:Alex, did you try some images without flash on the day?

Not really? Why? I probably should have!

Alex

Not really? Why? I probably should have!

If you had, maybe post some of those.

shutterbug wrote:

Not really? Why? I probably should have!

If you had, maybe post some of those.

I'll have a look. I remember always using flash though Mind you Alisa herself likes the overexposed face as Thai people like to have light skin. Go figure... Thanks. This is a good lesson for the next shoot. I should use much less flash or none at all.

Alex