peeking out in color

thank you for looking.

But this works really well too. I like that there are reddish highlight showing in you hair. But I also seem some sort of colouration on your skin coming round from your chin and up the side of your face that perhaps doesn't look intentional. Did you use coloured lighting for this?

I used a normal light bulb.

 

YEP

 

The kind you use to read a good book with on the side of my face. I toned the picture down with a warming filter but it doesn't do too much for the white balance nor the hot spots but that is kind of the charm of this look.

 

It really works well on the B&W conversions.

 

I have several of them that I did. It is all the art of self portrait. But then again you are a professional self portrait person. :)~

Unclear what you're after here. I get a little confused looking at it even though I like the idea a lot and see you wanting to express something kind of cool and creative. The hair seems very sharpened to me and I'm not sure if that's intentional or a posting problem you're having. I agree with Pete on some of the color stuff. To me, it looks as though the eye that we can't see has been photoshopped out because there's a different quality to the hair and the color where the eye would be. The eye that we do see looks quite tampered with and so a bit artificial. And the background here feels a little odd too, the way everything is in such black shadow except for the odd strands. Sorry for all the details but I know you can take it. Still, though, with some of those details refined, I love the idea of it and it is a very Micki self portrait. (I haven't done one in a long time, so who am I to talk?)

aha ~ the original ~ actually the one under the hair is totally untouched like not even a bit.

 

The one on the right is sharpened.

 

WHY?

 

Well the whole reason I do any of this is mostly for practice because I end up doing this stuff on other people and if I use myself as a "model" and it works than I know it will work on someone else.

 

I did NOT touch the color at all but I did adjust the sharpness of the eye. I did put a slight warmer filter on the picture just to add to the warm tone of the picture itself.

 

Since it was a self portrait it was hard for me to get the "points" of the face recognition on the lens. I got several really cool shots off. I'll probably post a couple more (maybe).

 

hmmm

 

:( ~ it kicks me out to homepage ~ WEIRD!!!

 

:(

 

sad

Micki, One of the reasons I always laugh when the subject of post processing comes up and how it's use is somehow not staying true to reality is that digital cameras, depending on the default settings, need all kinds of post processing to undo some of the weird stuff they do. This kind of color thing is part of it. Do you shoot RAW? Whether you do or not, your camera and conversion software is automatically making all kinds of color and sharpening decisions for you. That happens less in RAW so that you are forced to make them when you convert to jpg. So, precisely, the color is off because you haven't done anything. You would need to compensate for the weird color situation that the combination of the digital world and your lighting has created. There is a distinct line toward the edge of your face where the pink goes to yellow and then there is a sharp reddish edge along the edge of your face. That most likely comes in from the sharpening process but could also be coming from lighting and shadows.

 

As for uploading the original, have you sized it down? That could be the problem. Take the original and don't do anything else to it but save it down in size to a max of 600 pixels. Then you should have no problem. If you have trouble posting and want to email it to me, I'd be happy to take a look at it and also post it in a comment for you if you'd like.

hmmm

this one was not shot in RAW

 

I did some in RAW

 

This one was in JPEG

 

I did no adjustments on the camera.

 

It was all normal.

 

This is as is the one I uploaded last.

 

As you can see on the one I uploaded up top it is the eye I sharpened.

 

YEP~ I am working with select sharpening and such.

 

(personally you know me I like my original)

 

where you can find the other self portraits I did in this group.

 

http://www.mvisionphotography.com/gallery/3807951_RQXpx#355572569_uuMVT

 

"I did no adjustments on the camera."

 

Whether you are doing any adjustments or not, your camera is making all kinds of decisions which you have control over. Not doing any adjustments simply means you've left your camera settings at the factory settings, so actually those fabulous photographers at the factory have made your decisions for you. Your camera is sharpening, it's color balancing, it's white balancing, it's saturating, and on and on. You can change any of those settings and by not changing them the camera is still doing stuff it would be better for you to be conscious of.

 

What kind of camera do you have? That red line is pretty severe on the original, but that's what shooting in jpg will do! Did you use a flash? That will also cause those lines along edges.

 

The question still remains, are you going for an overtly oversharp look? If so, you're achieving it. Not my taste, but it does make a statement and may very well be a Micki thing. If you're just trying to sharpen more reasonably, you're overdoing it, both with the hair and the eye. The hair kind of screams "digital," it has no softness, no gentle luster (like Sarah Jessica Parker in the commercials - HAH). But again, you may be going for a harder edged, more contemporary out there look. So it all depends.

Now what I was working on was the focus (for this self portrait).

 

The whole idea of doing this with the Nikon D300 was to play with light and play with texture (hair) and play with slight dof (eye being farther back) and mixing it all.

 

So this all worked.

 

Since I didn't have anyone else around but Callie (the dog) I used myself (which I don't mind doing and I don't have to pay me). I would have to bribe the daughter and then she would HATE me for posting the picture.

 

So what I was really trying to do was focus on the eye but it kept wanting to focus more on the hair (which is why it is sharper). I have a way of doing this thing called face recognition (doesn't work unless you look through the it to do it).

 

Here I just looked and slowly clicked in several different setting points.

 

My lighting was normal room lighting and a light bulb from light your read with (little book light 40wat).

 

This was a study in light for me and transferring to B&W mostly (that was the plan) I succeeded in doing what I set out to in the other picture which I really love. But after doing THIS and seeing my eyes I went hmmm

 

Yep, totally not your normal way of doing it.

 

I think the angle of my actual camera was maybe tilted some so maybe the line is caused a bit because of the angles.

 

I am posting another picture so you can see the lines. NOW I will tell you I am OLD! 41 years old and my face has flaws. LOL

 

I have blue splotches that the color normal light bulbs catches nicely (love them) and I think the line that you see can be seen clearly in this picture I will post below this. (OMG I can't believe I'm doing this ~ but for you whom I love I will do anything). I do think my eyes will captivates you enough that you won't see any other flaws anyway. Please note I have NOT done ANYTHING to this other than crop it a bit.

 

You are going to owe me a self portrait (ha) :) ~ I kid ~ I learn from this.

see...

 

study in light and color and now maybe you see. All the different angles might help with how I took them.

 

 

I don't quite understand your talk about focusing. It sounds like you're using auto focus even on a self portrait? Is that right? If so, why. Why not manually adjust your focus, try several shot to get the eye just the way you want it, and then go for it. You can try putting a vase where your face will be and picking a spot on the vase to focus, then leave your lens focused like that and get your face into the picture. Maybe I'm misunderstanding you and you're already manually focusing.

I wish I knew which was which.

 

I know for sure THIS photo was an attempt at AUTO focus. I was trying to get it to do face recognition. The reason for this is the D300 will cause it to have an increased dof (there is a weird 52 point focus on it. That might be the weird sharpness you see.

 

This is an incredible thing that it does.

 

On several of the photo's like the one of my side picture that I uploaded (not attached but alone in my New Folder) it is not on the auto focus but select.

 

I was just messing with the settings and light.

 

Mostly trying to play with shadows and lights.

 

Have you not figured out yet that I speak with light and shadows (lol).

 

Kind of like music. HA

 

Hmmm ~ See part of me wants to go back and do this again like you said after I have learned some of this. I accomplished what I did.

 

I got my B&W pictures and I got this and the others but boy I could spend forever doing this.

 

NOW if I could just steal Andrew or Torrey away to practice.

 

But nobody has the patience.

 

Just so you know I also do this all hand held so I know your next suggestion would be do this with a tripod.

 

Excelent self portrait.

 

Best regards,

Vandi