Looking for any suggestions/advice on the technique at the link below

[andrea_javarauckas]

www.angelacrutcherphotography.com

 

The work of the photographer at the above link is, to me, the epitome of artful, beautiful, candid photography. I had

the opportunity to speak to a local photographer who has the exact same style as Ms. Crutcher. She was willing to

share that she mostly used an 85MM, f1.4 lens on her Nikon camera, all natural light and that the camera was hand-

held....indoors and outdoors. That was all she was willing to share.

 

I was curious to know whether any of you might be able to evaluate this style and share what other techniques are

giving these photos that special "look" (that I can't put into words, other than to say the contrast, depth, bokeh, and

focus are simply AMAZING). I would love to hone my skill enough to be able to mimic this style...just looking for any

advice that others would be willing to share....thanks.

[rffffffff]

Honestly, most of her stuff looks good on the web, but I have serious doubts about it in print... The 'trick' here is mostly post processing, although many of the shots are pretty good out of camera, some are not, and there is some vast oversharpening on some. (a side effect of getting a great picture when shooting wide open, but it being slightly out of focus) Others have distinct halos from less than careful editing as she changed background versus subject relationships.

 

The other problem with this style, less now than a year ago, is that the 85 1.4 indoors, with moving kids, in many instances requires ISO 1600... Its another reason a lot of these types of shots don't print well... The noise isnt visible at web sizing, but is plain as day in prints.

 

I sound pretty harsh, but only because those details frustrate me in my own photography, so they are easily apparent to me.

 

To answer your questions further, continuous focus for me, 85mm usually f/2 (a little easier than f/1.4 to keep things sharp), shutter somewhere above 1/200, ISO wherever it ends up... afterwards, up the contrast, blacks, vibrance in the raw editing program, add vignette to suit and you are pretty close...

[andrea_javarauckas]

Thanks, Robert. The thing is, the one other thing that my local photog told me was that she was pretty much opposed to much post-processing. I found that a bit difficult to believe, but I had no reason to doubt her. Do you really think that's where most of the impact is coming from?

[rffffffff]

it depends how you define post processing... Almost ever photo I take gets tweaked a little in adobe camera raw... perhaps a little white balance, perhaps a little exposure adjustment or contrast increase. The effects in most of those photos are just a little more exaggerated. You could even set the defaults in ACR to do that just about automatically. It wouldnt be as ideal, but the point is that tweaking a few sliders in the digital age really isnt much post processing, it could even just be termed color correction and exposure adjusments.

 

cloning out background elements, merging different kids from different photographs, changing colors of things.. thats a whole nother thing, and I think the photographer you referenced does that too... But if done right, no one should be able to tell, so you can say you don't do much . =o)

[Damon DAmato]

I agree with Robert. Look at the childhood link, go down to the bottom of that thumbnail list and look at the photo on the left side. It's well lit, but the childs hair has no detail.

 

I'm not making a value judgement on her work, but simply saying that for the hair to lose all detail in a shot that is otherwise lit, to me, makes me think she is "crushing the blacks" in Photoshop. You can see this in other shots-- clothes and swaths of hair that go black while adjacent areas are lit.

 

She seems to depend more on that technique, along with extra 'vibrance' for her outdoor stuff. Other photos are more natural looking-- mostly her very nice indoor stuff, which seems to be lit with window light.

 

She really has a way with her subjects, and that may be her real secret.

[nathan_stiles]

Agreeing w/ Robert and Damon-- she's definitely crushing the blacks (curves or levels) and over sharpening. Not to mention the very visible halo around the kid in the childhood section (Robert mentioned), which is a tell tale sign of photoshop (and "quick" photoshop). Although the halo could be on purpose, b/c the wall matched the kids skin tone so much as to have him fade into it otherwise.

[john_frie]

Andrea,

 

I've been a pro photographer for many many years and have taught many classes from beginner to very advanced

students. Photographers are a very strange bunch of people. They all think that they hold an untold secret to something

absolutely amazing and different. Fact is is that it's all been done before again and again and again etc etc.. The

beautiful thing about art is that no matter how many times the the dew laced spider web is shot in the early morning ,

there is always a slight degree of originality to it that's brought about by the person who interpreted it. Making it fresh and

seemingly new again.

 

The person who you shared the link with us is an excellent photographer. I bet you her clients LOVE her. Why? It's not

that she's doing anything that hasn't been done a million times. It's that she has the ability to express her love for her art

in her chosen medium. Thousands could set up exactly the way she's set up even side by side with her and never

reproduce what she's able to do with her subject. The people who's buying her product couldn't care less that the

shadows have little detail or there is too much post processing or the highlights are washed out. They look at her work

and see a beautiful character study of a loved one or even of themselves and realize she's captured an emotion.

 

Every one copies someone's work even if they don't want to admit it. Something and someone has influenced them. The

great ones take that learning and add their own creative signature to it. But it still has a foundation.

 

Ok that was a bit long winded but believe me there are many great artists out there who are willing to give you there

recipe because they know that no matter what you do you'll never be able to do it with the same signature whether good

or bad. Copying is also a great way to begin determining a style of your own.

 

J