Attempt at Portraits and fixes

[Sheepshank]

I hesitate a little to post...This is new to me. Anyone with some advice to watch for and clean up?

[Sacred Fire]

1. beautiful!

I do not have advice to offer, but I would like to say what a beautiful portrait it is.

If her ears were a little more pointed, I would swear you traveled between the worlds and entered into the realm of the fae.

[Sheepshank]

5. She read your comment

and waltzed away whistling. I think she liked the idea....very much :)

[flamin lib]

2. Looks pretty good. I'd use a little flash fill to lighten the shadows

and add catch lights to the eyes. Another solution is to use large reflectors to reflect light into the shadows--white cardboard would work, 2'x2' is about as small as you can get away with and bigger is better. Did this quick and dirty via photo editing software:


Don't know what focal length you're using, but it looks like a "normal" lens judging from the facial features. Most portraits are taken with 1.5x normal or longer (75-85mm on a full frame camera).

Only other thing would be to turn her shoulders slightly away from the light. It minimizes the area presented to the lens and has a slenderizing effect as well as putting a lot of skin tone in shadow to drive attention to her face.



'Course with a model like that you can get away with a multitude of sins . . .

[Sheepshank]

4. I really like the "sunnier" look

I don't currently own any photo editing software (other than what is on photobucket and I used to mask some cirlces under her eyes and little on the side of her mouth that seemed turned down a little too far). I would welcome some advice on what to look for or even some brand names to peruse.

[flamin lib]

7. I'm using Corel Paintshop Photo. It's aimed at the casual user

and be as sophisticated as you want. Cheap too. Under $30 as I recall. Lots of automated correction.

[Adsos Letter]

3. Gorgeous model! No need to be hesitant about posting for critiques...

and flamin lib seems to have given some good advice.

I have always found this the most pleasant area on DU.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

6. definitely some fill on the shadows and eyes

the easiest way to do that is with a reflector, if you don't have a flash. you would be surprised how much even a piece of paper just off camera would have improved that pic... you can get as fancy as you want

don't get me wrong, it is a fine shot as it is

also, someone mentioned shoulder angle... yes, we (people that is) don't always like shoulders squared like that, it seems threatening, like a driver's license photo, turned more to the side we seem more pleasing, softer and more natural

hope that helps


as far as photo software, YMMV... photoshop is of course the 800# gorillia, GIMP is free, but to me at least, confusing, I know people who swear by (and at) any number of other programs

you could also go the b/w route... which for this picture is hard without a higher-res copy... see how the highlights on the left side of her face are getting at the edge of jpeg goodness? and I did not spend more than a minute doing this

[Sheepshank]

8. Thanks so much for the input

I don't own a decent flash system...yet. The white cardboard idea is fantastic and I will try it out with my younger model. It may be some time before I get to that one though. Her schedule and mine don't seems to mesh well. But she has beautiful bold features I'm dying to get at.

Looks like we may be going for Winter/snow shots. I wonder if the reflection of the sun on the snow acheives the same results as the white cardboard? I guess there's only one way to find out.....

[NOW tense]

9. I am not familiar with photobucket's tools

But, if there is a selection for a smaller brush to mask around the eyes it could be helpful.