Surfer Girl 2

[GB1]

Some more shots of the surfer girl model.

Except for straightening and minor adjustments, they are unprocessed - nothing's been cloned out, etc. C&Cs welcome.

Nikon D200 digital camera, Tamron 25-135mm lens, Nikon SB-800 flash.

[Kajuah]

Her pose and reflection in the sandy beach really does good justice to improving from #1, where it was more awkward and stiff but now it's graceful and dynamic - as if she's going to leap into the waves and use that board to surf and not to lean on

[Greg McCary]

A more striking pose here. I like the first on and my only suggestion would be to get rid of the sticker on the board.
In the second one I just think she is posed wrong to be on the left side of the frame and on the third the flash on the board really hurts the shot
GB I really think if you would put some PS work into your portrait work it would really help. What you are doing is vey good it just needs some TLC to make it excellant.

[Kajuah]

I really like the open sky in the last one and the slight raise of her head, it makes me think the light is coming from there and shining on here as if by magic .. it's a good open feeling and creates the illusion of natural light in a dark scene, which is a good subtle contrast trick for the uninformed that flash was used.

[kemekal_d300]

Nice shots
My breakdown -

as far as MODELING goes.. i'd say #1 was my favorite pose. #1 also has my favorite background. I LOVE how i can see all the way down the beach, you got plant life (kelp) AND animal life in the back with both the land AND ocean which gives you the perfect image in your head of where we're at in the first place.
And the lil' bit of reflection you can see of herself below her is awesome. (I like it more in #2 though)

Favorite sky would have to be Number 3.

#2 is my favorite Ground.. or .. floor, or whatever, dark, reflection

but overall good pictures man, i love em'

what settings did you use if u dont mind me asking??

[GB1]

Kajuah - Thks, I sort of like all three for different reasons. As kemekal said, the depth in # 1 is best (though what's back there is yucky to some) and # 2 has a more mature look, but # 3 is more glamour. I had to clip off bit of the foreground in 3 to reduce the lit sand that gave away the flash usage. I see what you mean about the light hitting her face there.. I must have turned the camera so that the SB flash was on the left (just learned something here - use the turn to your advantage). btw I am not sure she actually surfs , but that's forgivable.

Greg, great suggestions and observations. I agree that maybe that sticker there needs to go. If I am not mistaken I did actually mask that flash reflection in # 3 and reduce its density a bit, but agree it could use more work. You think # 2 would be better on the other end eh.. Yeah, .. maybe. See the attached crop here... makes it feel a little different.

They could use some cleanup. I will have to work on these some more in Corel or PS.. realize that I have not really had any serious time to edit them, just to make simple corrections. But I first have to figure out where I want them to go .. you've made some excellent suggestions here.

Thaks kemekal, your comments are appreciated. I see that you prefer seeing the whole environment and context. To me the kelp is an eyesore but I guess one has to decide what exactly they're trying to achieve first. She doesn't seem like a model that fits into a perfect environment to me, but that feeling could be the result of seeing her against the dramatic sky and rustic beach. Btw, we waited for the water to roll in on many of them to get the reflection.

Settings were, I believe, Manual exposure, ISO 320 (at this point), f 5.6, and a SS of 1/60. I do not believe this was adequate to properly exposure the background, so the sky came out a tad dark. The flash was set to (I believe) -1 f-stop to try to reduce an overly 'flashy' look. I have to do this a lot on the Nikon btw, it always seems to slightly blow out the subject.

-Gb

[Themage]

I think the background is too dark myself. She looks like she is sucking in her stomach too much to me.

[EOSThree]

These are the best of the set. The others were too much snaps to me. The pose in #1 is best, I like the interesting sky in #3.

[Loupey]

Completely outside of what I shoot so I can't say much.

But that white stripe is really distracting. In the first one, the first thought that came to mind when I opened it was, well, let's just say the placement of the bottom half of the stripe wasn't what I expected.

[GB1]

Thks for commenting guys. I'm finding here on the PR boards and elsewhere that opinions on this shoot range across the board. I think it's similar to book and movie reviews where some shots people love them other folks say it just isn't their cup of tea.

Themage, I've found that some models are better for subtly, others for thoughtful reflection, still others for attitude.. etc, etc. I think with this model she's definitely 'modeling' for you. Overdoing it maybe? Hard to say. There's such a thing as trying too hard but I don't think she is, just takes the more direct approach.

Btw, the shoot started 1/2 hour late. I think it would have been better lighting if it hadn't.

Thks EOS. I think one could make the argument to the contrary (that these ones are more snap shot-ish than the others), but like I mentioned above, it's interpretation !

Thks too, Loupey - I see this as a compliment, since it's really a nit pick

G

[Coastal Flyer]

Greg,

Lets try this again, my first attempt did not post...,

Now I am really sorry I missed this model shoot. Holy Smokes!! I have never been on a model shoot so this is way out of my league. However, the sky is tremendous, the colors are very nice, and the reflections are perfect. The images are beautfully sharp, very nice job. As mentioned in our email, please keep me in mind for the next time. I will haul your reflectors gladly.

CF