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banehawi (Critique Team)

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14 Nov 2012 - 1:48 PM

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Hi Mike.,

If this is your first attempt at a portrait with off camera flash, youve done quite well. Youve used a good focal length, and shot settings look good.

I see youve used a manual WB, - usually a good idea, however it looks like the skin tone is overly red on my screen. I wonder which WB setting you used. best to shoot in RAW so you can easily adjust WB after the shot.

Depending on how close the lens was, - you would get a softer look using a wider aperture, such as f/2.8 (assuming its a 2.8 lens), but you would need to focus very accurately on her eye. As it is, theres very good fine detail, - which works well for a male shot, whereas a little softer works better for a woman. Its also a factor of light, and youve gone for a low key look with high contrast.

Be careful about the pose, - its very natural, but with practice you will notice small details, such as the far side of her face, above the chin is pushed out by leaning on her shoulder. Not a problem, but a small point. When composing, try to get a little more space in front of her so shes no so close to the frame edge. Next time with a similar set up, she could trunt more towards the camera so her nose is not outlined, and you can see at least part of the other eye. You can try using a simple reflector, just a large piece of white paper of card stock would do to reflect a little light back towards he face. Looking at the shot, ti would be on the right, tilted up at 45 degrees.

Suggestions are uploaded in the two mods. General tweaks are a little increase in exposure; reduction of red in the skin; lightening of the eye to bring out that nice detail and colour. Mod2 is a little different, - as well as the tweaks mentioned, Ive addressed the side of her face so its not pushed out as far; her skin is slightly smoother; her eye is brighter; and theres some added space on the left.

To alter skin tone, I used colour balance, and added a little cyan and yellow; for lifting shadows, the shadow tool in Photoshop CS; for plastic surgery, the liquify tool.



Hope you find this helpful,


regards


Willie