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. . . at the risk of boring you all to death I need to post again a picture from the recent model shoot for the purpose of feedback.

I know there are some people in digitalSLR land who do this for a living and others far more advanced than I and therefor qualified to give feedback.

Comments on this one please.

Hey Bob,

I know that you're using Portrait Professional (PP) here, and there's something wrong, but I really can't put my finger on what it is..

PP's a very powerful tool and I had a few bad experiences in my early days when using it... I've discovered, over time, that very much less is more... - I still get a couple of bad images, but, hopefully, less often

If you'd like to PM me a link to a large original or JPG image, I'll have a try at it with PP and send you the session file and also let you / everyone else know what I do / did in Photoshop to complement it... I'd prefer the RAW file, but, a large JPG will do...

Bob
I do not think I can offer anything constructive but am interested in if you used a flash or reflector in you lighting.

Bob,

This is very bloody nice, but while the lighting is good, you have an issue with the placement ... look at the catchlights in the eyes ... as well as the hotspots on the forehead and nose. Also, I still think the wb is a tad on the cools side - but that may be what you're looking for.

You appear to have used a smallish flash above the model's head (on camera strobe?) perhaps as a trigger for the other lights? While not fully overpowering your mainlight (see the lower catchlight in the model's eyes), I suspect that the power setting was a little too high/close, hence the hotspots.

leek wrote:Hey Bob,

I know that you're using Portrait Professional (PP) here, and there's something wrong, but I really can't put my finger on what it is..

PP's a very powerful tool and I had a few bad experiences in my early days when using it... I've discovered, over time, that very much less is more... - I still get a couple of bad images, but, hopefully, less often

If you'd like to PM me a link to a large original or JPG image, I'll have a try at it with PP and send you the session file and also let you / everyone else know what I do / did in Photoshop to complement it... I'd prefer the RAW file, but, a large JPG will do...

I appreciate your offer and will send you a file a bit later today.

CraigVTR wrote:Bob
I do not think I can offer anything constructive but am interested in if you used a flash or reflector in you lighting.

No flash used Craig. Just a large silver reflector.

gstark wrote:Bob,

This is very bloody nice, but while the lighting is good, you have an issue with the placement ... look at the catchlights in the eyes ... as well as the hotspots on the forehead and nose. Also, I still think the wb is a tad on the cools side - but that may be what you're looking for.

You appear to have used a smallish flash above the model's head (on camera strobe?) perhaps as a trigger for the other lights? While not fully overpowering your mainlight (see the lower catchlight in the model's eyes), I suspect that the power setting was a little too high/close, hence the hotspots.

No flash at all Gary, unless another togs flash went off during my exposure (unlikely though). I was part of a fairly large group of people from a camera club I recently joined and we were all jostling for position.

We used a large silver reflector hence the large lower catchlight - I guess a little PP would fix it.

I am keen to take up Leek's offer and see what he can do with the files.

Thanks for the comments - appreciated.

Agree with Gary re: catchlight placement. The natural position is either higher or at the level of the iris. The catchlights being lower detracts from the image.

It is unusual to get a female (flattering) portrait with light coming from the bottom as your key. Nicely done. But then again if you tried the light from above (not reflector) you may or maynot see an improvement in the shadows etc.

Just my two cents.

Bob G wrote:We used a large silver reflector hence the large lower catchlight -

So the reflector was set somewhat low then? What sort of reflector was it? Smooth? It almost seems to be quite highly reflective, going by the level of light seeming to come from it, rather than the more subtle diffuse light that I'm used to seeing.

As Surenj suggest, setting the height of the reflector at somewhere around eye level (or a little above) is quite typical, and leads to very pleasant outcomes.

Yes. Low, smooth,silver and large.
Rainy, overcast.