What I've been Up To Latley...

[Squid31]

I've started to work with another photographer and he has been helping me along with improving my photography. I'm going to be doing some weddings with him this year, but until then I have been shooting some models. Man, this sure is different than shooting MX. Way harder..

Anyway, here's a few from my forth photo shoot with a model. Let me know what you think.

 

[Okiewan]

Looks good to me :) All I can see in pic one is maybe light that's a tad harsh (blow-out on the lip, if you had a stylist, a couple of hair issues (some odd shapes that the retoucher would rassle with) and an overall spray'd look (bunches). Hard cast on lower right forearm (her right), oddly placed necklace. Of course a lot of that is on the stylist. I'm no expert by ANY stretch, just around a few guys that are. So take an comments I made with a grain (or pound) of salt. tell ya what tho... well done!

Want I should turn one of the best beauty re-touchers on the planet on to this thread for comments?

 

[Squid31]

Yes, thanks...

I'm all in for constructive criticism. It really helps. In all fairness, I'm really not too worried about the one in the studio (the 1st one) because that's something that I really don't want to tackle right now. The whole point in me shooting models is to get me used to shooting people for the upcoming wedding gig. Now I will be doing engagements as well, so locations and setup's like the 2nd shot will hopefully happen more often as well.

 

[Okiewan]

No post on shot 2? That straight out of the camera?

 

[Squid31]

Nope, I messed with it.

 

[Squid31]

no editing ...

 

[Okiewan]

Rule #1.. Photogs provide RAW files to Retouchers :) No post, no color, no cropping, no nadda. On this low res version, the un-edited version looks better, imho and allows much more to work with. Frankly it was obvious that work had been done on shot 2, thus the question :) Photogs should not be allowed to own image editing software :p

 

[Squid31]

Yikes, is the edit that bad? I would love to have a pro retoucher work on some of these shots to see what they would look like.

 

[dohp]

i'm no where near the photographer, just an amateur with half decent equipment, i can manage, but editing is what gets me most of the time. Shooting in JPEG doesn't help either.

On the outdoor shot, when editing it'd be nice to see some more color in her skin, ie. arms, she almost looks like an albino with the editing (again not saying i could do better, just spent to much time on POTN looking around)

Glad to see you're branching out. It definately is alot harder to shoot people then bikes, for me anyways.

 

[Squid31]

It definately is alot harder to shoot people then bikes, for me anyways.

You can say that again :nod:

Looking at this again today, I see I just got too carried away with PS.

How's this one, I didn't do too much this time.

 

[Chili]

This stuff is beyond my skills to comment on, would be interesting to see how Thump would process some of them.

 

[ReToucherPro]

Glad to see that you have backed up on that post-processing. While they might have looked nice at first, if you ever got them printed they would look a bit busted.
Things to keep in mind when doing the initial processing of the raw file:

Keep the contrast mostly on the flat side. Probably the most important thing to remember as it will give you leeway when doing any kind of post-processing in PS. If there is to much contrast you won't be able to push your hilite much if you need to.
And your shadow will tend to be to plugged p eliminating shadow detail.

Try to keep your end points at @ 245,245,245 and 10,10,10. Lots of room to cater to your own look with these later.

Careful of over saturation as this can lead to noise popping. Same goes for desaturating. This is especially true of higher iso settings.

Only do a screen sharpening when doing the initial processing. Over sharpening before editing in PS can cause major misinterpretation of colors and detail due to artifacting. Sharpen when you are done with your work in PS and do it on a separate layer so if you need to you can ditch it to adjust.

following just those things should get you well on your way.

 

[Squid31]

Thanks so much for the pointers. I'm shooting my very first wedding tomorrow (as a 2nd) and I'm going to try to keep things simple. I'm sure I'll have lots of questions.

 

[Rich Rohrich]

Squid - Something I've found incredibly useful when using small portable flash units is the Gary Fong lightsphere. It really enabled me to get flash pictures I liked. It's a huge help for people pictures.

http://store.garyfonginc.com/ls2-p.html

 

[Okiewan]

Thanks for the input Chris ... "ReToucherPro" is a fellow employee at the studio and one of the best "beauty dudes" on the planet. Author, Adobe Beta tester, Adobe Forum Moderator and pretty cool guy as well...lol.

http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Fashion-Photography-Chris-Tarantino/dp/159200525X

Good luck with the wedding Squid!

 

[dohp]

well how'd it go Squid? i know it was raining in most of SW ontario between 3 and 4, about when people are normally getting photos taken. Then the sun came out, did you get to use your flash alot indoors?

One of these days I'll be able to afford something wider then my 70-200 (it's all i have now other then kit 18-55 from Rebel XT) and get a 24-70 more then likely. Might be getting a 580EXII for my birthday.

 

[Squid31]

We managed to dodge the rain completely. It sprinkled a bit while we were at the brides house, but it stopped so we were still able to shoot outside after we got some photos inside.

I was shadowing/shooting 2nd for this wedding, so I didn't shoot a ton, but I'm pretty happy with the results.

You will like the 24-70, it was totally my go to lens before I trashed it.

 

[dohp]

you allowed to post a couple favorites?
I NEED a wide lens soon (as shooting at Auburn has shown me :S) and the 580EXII, so it's now a toss up on what i get next. Wish i had just broke down at the end of December and just borrowed the money and bought everything i needed, as Jan 1, everything went up +/- 30% and screwed me for being able to afford anything else.

 

[Squid31]

Sure I'm allowed...Just haven't got around to processing them yet, but here's one from another shoot I did last night.

Did I mention I really like my new camera... :)

 

[dohp]

what did you get? your EXIF is gone :)

 

[Squid31]

what did you get? your EXIF is gone :)

one guess, it has a "S" in it's name :cool:

 

[whenfoxforks-ruled]

That last pic was stunning to say the least Squid!

 

[dohp]

well for some reason i thought you had nikon, but then thought i read you went back to cannon soooo my guess would be a compleately pimp 1DsMk3, as 5Dmk2 doesn't have an S in it. 1DsMk3 = dream