Candlelight portrait

[Hlop]

D70, 50mm f/1.8, ISO1000, 1/20 handheld. 4 candles as light sources

[anubis]

Love the shadows the candles cast....really good shot.

[big pix]

nice image......... have you tried one with some color correction to see what it looks like, just a little so to retain the glow.......

cheers
bp

[sirhc55]

Excellent Mikhail

[kipper]

Nice mikhail. A bit soft, probably due to low shutter and shallow DOF. It is a tad orange, wonder aswell if you could shift the hues a bit as already requested.

[Hlop]

Thanks guys

Actually, I don't want to do any color correction - we (me and the model) like it as is - warm and bit soft. That's why we did session with candle light. Otherwise why would we bother to use candles? I could use SB800

[Killakoala]

Excellent portrait Mikhail. The lighting has created an almost magical, surreal, mystical look to her. Superb.

[BBJ]

Hey Mikhail, I like this pic as the candle light has soften her face and looks very good to me. I am not a portrait person, but if i was her and well even you i would be happy at the way it looks.
Well done mate.

[kipper]

Mikhail, I didn't mean go to the extent of removing all warmth to the image. I just meant ease it off a bit so there was a bit of natural color to it, with some of the candle warmth.

[big pix]

but have you even tried to change the hues......... if you don't try how will you learn......... and I don't need the practise.......

bp

[Catcha]

Nice shot

[kipper]

This was about a 2 minute job in Photoshop. I had a quick go at doing it for the whole scene but the color shift in the background and the highlights in the girls hair didn't look right. So I did a selection of the girls face, shoulder areas, ears etc using a tolerance of 16. Then I tidied up some of the selection using the magnetic lasso. Once done I feathered the selection using around about 10-15px. Then I used the color balance tool on both the midtones and the highlights, didn't touch the shadows. For the midtones I shifted the top slider to the left by a fair bit around -60 to -80 so more towards Cyan than Red. Then the middle in the positive around +40 towards Green and the third slider around +80 going towards Blue. I did the same for hightlights but not as drastic about 15-30% of the shift from 0 (center).
While I was doing this, I was keeping an eye on the girls necklace aswell to ensure the gold came out like gold. I think I might of gone a bit to much green as the necklace has a tinge of green. Anyway I think it's not bad for a quick go at it, and I think it retains some of it's candlelight warmth.

[sirhc55]

Sorry Kipper, I can see where Mikhail is coming from and your work has destroyed the effect. IMO Mikhail has captured the moment as seen, so why change it to be conventional. . .

[kipper]

Like I said Chris, it was only 2 minutes. You could still retain some of the candle warmth, without losing the candlelit effect and not having it look like a jaffa. However some bacon and sausages were calling and I couldn't be bothered spending any more time on it.

[sirhc55]

Like I said Chris, it was only 2 minutes. You could still retain some of the candle warmth, without losing the candlelit effect and not having it look like a jaffa. However some bacon and sausages were calling and I couldn't be bothered spending any more time on it.

Now you have made me hungary - what a way to destroy a person on a Sunday morning, who’s fridge is bare

[whiz]

The original is very smooth and warm. Excellent work.

[PiroStitch]

Prefer the original

It took me a while but this photo certainly started to grow on me. First impression was a bit urky but then had a look at it more and definitely grew on me. Nicely done.

[gstark]

Mikhail,

I think that the basic wb for this is wrong. Did you shoot this in raw? If so, please play with the wb settings. It does need wartmth to bring out the candle effect, but the cast should be more towrds the red end of the spectrum, rather than the orage that you currently have.

This would also look very nice as a B&w image, btw, but one other thing I might consider (for necxt time) is to include a candle in the image.

WSithout the inclusion of the candle, you need to explain that the image is hot be candlelight. Throw a candle into the FoV, and regardless of whether or not it's the light source, the presumption will be made, and the story becomesmore complete.

[shutterbug]

Hi Mikhail,

Great image, abit too yellow for me...but that is just me

Maybe change it to a touch of sepia with some G-blur? Hope you don't mind.

[MCWB]

Mikhail,

Great shot, it works for me! After seeing the other versions posted I think it's maybe a tad too orange, especially the highlights on her face, but that having been said, I loved the original before I saw the rest! Well done!

[Hlop]

Thank you everyone!

Sorry, Kipper I don't relly like your version (I hope no offence mate )

Gary, I've tried to shoot with the candle in the frame, it's blowing highlight

Accordingly to orange color .... OK, I'll try to play with it but I like this image as I see it right now

Thanks a lot again for your feedback!

[kipper]

Yeah that's ok Hlop, I looked at it after and wasn't overly impressed myself.
Btw, talk to BigPix, he showed me a version that I really liked.

[Alex]

Mikhail,

Nice shot. I really like the original. Was it Auto WB? Did you use any noise removal software like NN?

Thanks
Alex

[Matt. K]

Hlop
Beautifil mood.lighting and model. Well done. One thing that I think would have made it a stronger image....have the model look into the lens. Eye contact is very powerful. Your image....the model looks out of the picture area and my eye follows...out of the picture. Anything that leads the eye out of the picture is not good.

[Mark T]

One minute in Photoshop.

Adjusted curves to reduce the red.

[Matt. K]

I think the colour balace of the original is great. It has a Rembrandt feel to it. Looks like old gold. It's the white of the eyes that distract. The model needs to look directly into the lens....which relates into the eyes of the viewer. Take it a little further Mikhail....there is a masterpiece in there somewhere.

[Hlop]

I've tried few different options in Photoshop but didn't get any result that I would like. Still love original color version.

Alex,
WB was set to auto, but I did some correction with NC. Also, applied some minor noise reduction in NC

Mark T,
Sorry, don't like it - with the yellowish skin looks like she has a problem with liver.

Matt K,
Agreed and gratefully accepted your note on look into the lens. I'll keep it in mind in the future

[sirhc55]

Not often I disagree with you Matt but IMHO the eyes looking to the side give the shot a wistful look and is quite acceptable as a portrait shot

[beetleboy]

Just trying to satisfy Gary!



Sorry to mess with your pic!

Liam =]

[flipfrog]

i appologize in advance for being too lazy to read through this whole thread, so sorry if it was aleady covered, but the hair shadow down the side of her face is very distracting.... it almost looks like a prominant vein stickin outta her face running down her cheek

[ozimax]

To be honest Flippe, I never noticed the hair shadow, like the original, it's different and, well original.

Max