C&C: Dramatic Female Portraits, need your opinions please !

[irina_sh]

<p>These are from my second studio session with Anna, we decided on dramatic look and light setup, with black background.<br>

Please tell me what you think.... All comments and critique are very welcomed.<br>

<img src="http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/af225/irina-sh/1-IMG_2761-111_zps4b6b211d.jpg" alt="" width="682" height="1024" /><img src="http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/af225/irina-sh/1-IMG_0251-4300_zpsafccbb80.jpg" alt="" width="682" height="1024" /><img src="http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/af225/irina-sh/1-IMG_2652-43C0_zpsd7bc890a.jpg" alt="" width="682" height="1024" /><br>

thanks for looking !</p>

[SCL]

<p>Irina - that first one is really stunning, at least to me. A classic painterly portrait. If I was your client, I would be pleased with the result.</p>

[Lou_Meluso]

<p>Nice work Irina!<br>

There is a Photo Critique forum here in photo.net. I see you are a new member so perhaps you did not know that is where you post images for critique. Check it out.</p>

[starvy]

<p>The first one has a real sense of the eye-catching.</p>

[irina_sh]

<p>Thank you, Stephen. Glad that you liked my photos.<br />Thanks for the advice, Louis.<br />I agree, Starvy. The first photo is my favorite too.</p>

[igord]

<p>Too much fill light to call it dramatic I think, on the third one clothes are casual not dramatic.<br>

Legs on the second photo looks strange ;)<br>

Otherwise cool.</p>

[michaelmowery]

<p>The only thing dramatic is the black background. The lighting is still lit in a high key style for the most part. There is barely shadow an no ratio. The only shadow I see is the fall off of the main light in the back parts of the subject. You need to grid your lights or soft box and move it more to one side or the other so it sweeps across the body and creates shadow and texture. A simple classic rule is to place your main light on the side the nose is pointing or facing.</p>

[Ian Taylor]

<p>Well lit, but not dramatic for me.</p>

[bob_bill]

<p>Irina, a different look than the "hat" shot in your other post. There you had 3 catch lights in each eye, here, I'm not sure if there is one and it makes the eyes seem less alive. Here's a universal lesson, you should respond, but I intended it so to make it more dark and brooding. Just kidding. Possibly because the irises are all the way to one side and for my taste, too much white of the eye. I would bring them back to camera very slightly. I would probably whiten the whites a bit as they appear slightly gray. I would like to see a bit more separation between the hair and the dark bg. So either a kicker on camera right, a light or reflector or as Michael had mentioned in a prior post, by moving her closer to the background and pulling the light back, you will brighten the background. Will want to watch out for casting a shadow though. Her right arm is pretty bright and competes with her face so I would feather the light so just the edge of it hits her arm. This will darken the bg on the left, highlight side and brighten it on the camera right shadow side and possibly help with her hair that is somewhat blending into the bg. I really like the pose, you got the edge of the hand to the camera so you reduced the competition with the face from that. You have some beautiful subjects. Note the difference in the appearance of the nose in the first shot and the other 2. I would guess you got pretty close on the first shot and stepped back on standing and even further back on the chair shot. Note how her nose gets progressively smaller each time you move back. It is the camera distance alone that controls that. If you only have a fixed lens, step back and crop. For me, I would prefer the chair distance. Having been blessed with an ample, and multi fractured nose, I like a long lens faaaar away. On my business card, I nearly have Michael Jacksons nose. Change to a longer lens to fill the frame as you want or crop in post. I the first shot , the chest is a bit hot so consider hanging a flag to knock that down or darken in post. Her face is the subject so you want it the highest contrast or brightest but here the chest is that. Like in the hat shot, before that camera goes to your eye check the hair because a strand over the hand. You left enough room in the upper right corner for her to look into but I am thinking cropping in a tad on the left side would help with balance. I'd leave some of the darkness on the upper arm to show its connected. Try seeing what you think about cropping up from the bottom say half way into the cowl. I'd use the burn tool for highlights on the chair arm to eliminate that distraction as well. You have led off both posts with dynamite shots. Next time, look at your first shot and ask yourself, what do I want the viewer to look at? Then look to see if it's the brightest area. Feather or obstruct your light accordingly. Same for areas you want to be less obvious or not seen. In my photo, there is a dark shadow under my chin so there is only one. Good job on not moving the camera any further left, too much and you would have lost the skin on her left temple and the eye ball would have been hanging out in space. Nice job of tilting her head on the seated shot to produce butterfly from what appears to be the same loop lighting. I don't find it as flattering as the loop for her though. The first shot was shot from the broad side, light side. I wonder if it would be better with the main light on camera right with same camera position for short lighting loop or even rembrandt and then slowly increasing the power keeping the fill the same for darker shadows and more drama? She also could handle harder light as well so you could go to a reflector with grid/and or barndoors. The darker shadows and harder shadow edge transitions would contribute to a more dramatic image. You are doing fantastic work, these are just some fine points to think about in the future. These are some fantastic first efforts and I see real promise in your work.</p>

[irina_sh]

<p>Igor D. , thank you for the response . The shoot was kind of experimental to try out fresh ideas... some worked, some didn't :)</p>

[irina_sh]

<p>Michael, thanks much for your comments and suggestions. I'll keep in mind the light positioning next time.</p>

[irina_sh]

<p>Ian, thank you. Dramatic would probably mean she's not joyful, smiling, laughing, etc.<br>

We didn't have in mind tears, grim looks, grave face expressions, etc.</p>

[irina_sh]

<p>Bob Bill, thanks a lot for detailed comments and suggestions.<br>

I'm only starting to learn how to use studio lighting properly, so all suggestions are very appreciated.<br>

thanks again!</p>

[Ian Taylor]

<p><em>"We didn't have in mind tears, grim looks, grave face expressions, etc."</em><br>

"Dramatic" to me meant lighting. This is not dramatic lighting, quite the opposite. </p>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[irina_sh]

<p>yes, sorry, English is not my native language.</p>

[marcinwuu]

<p>I have to agree with Ian - this isn't exactly dramatic. Try using some hard lights, barebulb is the way to go if you really care for strong, striking effect.</p>

[irina_sh]

<p>I agree the name Dramatic was not completely appropriate for this lighting. Marcin, thank you for advice. This is my first experience .. Some mistakes are possible.</p>