Here's a recent session with one of my daughters. The biggest technical challenge, other than making her wear her pads, was that of her height. Without skates she's about 5' 10" which presents a problem in a small area with a low ceiling. It becomes quite a challenge photographing certain angles while trying to stay on the backdrop. So, to make it easier, I had her bend slightly like she was just finishing her workout and trying to catch her breath. These images are the first in a series of skating portraits. Next, we have to do the outdoor portraits.
The lighting set up consisted of two side lights and one overhead light to illuminate the face. The lights were flagged in order to keep them from spilling on the background.
The goal was to try to make the skating pads, which she's not happy about wearing, look stylish. (Yes, I know those of you who grew up like me, didn't have pads and probably survived the jump in the grass to save your hide trick many times. However, I've become the crazy dad who bellows, " No pads, No skating.")
I hope you like the pictures. If you do, or have questions about the details of the images please let me know.
Also, click on the images below to see them at full size.
Caleb and Joshua grabbed their airsoft gear and let me make a some portraits of them.
Usually these guys don't like this sort of thing, but they suffered through it like champs. I used a three light setup and one very small soft box. The light on the right of the image was gelled to give an amber appearance like the sun. The only thing that was edited in the images was some very minor skin touch up.
Thanks for looking.
EJ
P.S. For Facebook users who see this post, you must select the BLUE link at the bottom of the entry that says "View Original Post" in order to see the images.
Greetings again from Highland Village. This portrait has been edited again. No, the skin touch up etc.. was not done again, but rather the following was done to it:
- A vignette was added to the portrait
- It was converted to black & white
- It was also tinted slightly with some color
It continually amazes me how different an image looks when converted from color to black and white.
I hope you enjoy looking.
EJ
P.S. For Facebook users who see this post, you must select the BLUE link at the bottom of the entry that says "View Original Post" in order to see the images."
Greetings and Happy July 4th Weekend.
I decided to take a moment to show once again the importance of retouching an image even though it is created under controlled lighting conditions in a studio. The following pictures are of Jessica. As you can see she is a very attractive young lady. I can brag a little bit because she is one of my daughters.
The first picture was taken after taking a custom white balance and carefully metering the lights to ensure proper exposure. It's a very complimentary picture, but it is being seen directly out of the camera without any retouching. You can even see evidence of some sensor dust from the camera in the image.
The second image is the same image after doing some of the following. Retouching the eyes, retouching the skin, adjusting the hue of the skin and removing some dust spots. Even if your skin is as smooth as Jessica's if you light a portrait correctly it will reveal the smallest of flaws.
The point I'm trying to make is that retouching a portrait is a must although the levels of retouching will vary.
I hope you enjoy viewing the portraits.
Thanks for looking,
EJ
P.S. For Facebook users who see this post, you must select the BLUE link at the bottom of the entry that says "View Original Post" in order to see the images."
