Saija BW

Saija with full glamour attitude...

Hi Olli. I like the soft texture finnish. 2 questions, how did you soften her face but still keep plenty of detail to her hair and what lighting did use use. By the way, tell her from me that she is very beautiful. I must pratice with my black & white.

Steve:

 

(a) to soften, in PS, copy the background layer, name the top layer "blur", blur the "blur" layer

with Gaussian blur, apply "hide all" layer mask to the "blur" layer, and gradually, with a soft brush, paint it away with white from the places that you want to soften. If overdone, "paint back" with black.

 

(b) Lighting: 100x100 rectalite softbox with 400 Ws Elinchorme compact as key, other 400 compact as fill. White reflector behind the model. Black bedsheet as background.

 

 

Thanks for explaining the method to me. You make it sound so straight forward but I guess it will take a little practice for me to get it right. I will add a portaits folder when I feel I have some worthy of showing and perhaps you will do me the honour of checking them over for me. Cheers again.