Portrait: Carla

[almo]

I made a small portable studio today, and took some shots of Carla. I was very pleased with the outcome. Any thoughts, or comments would be greatly welcomed...

[starriderrick]

I like the "warmth" of her smile.Good lighting John. :O)

Rick

[opus]

The lighting is nice and bright, but I would like to see it do a little more to define her features a bit more dramatically. A little bit more like this lighting:

[adina]

gorgeous expression, which is the most important.

ditto to what kelly said, a little bit more sculpting in the light. also, while I am a firm believer in head chopping, i would have included all of her chin in this. and probably the top of her head. if you're going to chop, chop a lot, otherwise it looks like a mistake.

but like i said, the expression rocks.

[almo]

The lighting is nice and bright, but I would like to see it do a little more to define her features a bit more dramatically. A little bit more like this lighting:

I was actually thinking about that as I was editing the shots. I plan to get a black poster board to put to one side to help create some dramatic shadows. I just bounced the flash from my 430EX off the celing, and the light tent I coverted difussed it very evenly.

All I really did was cut out the bottom of my light tent so that I could place it over Carla's head.When I have more time I may set up my stands and strobes and try some more technical lighting setups.

[almo]

gorgeous expression, which is the most important.

ditto to what kelly said, a little bit more sculpting in the light. also, while I am a firm believer in head chopping, i would have included all of her chin in this. and probably the top of her head. if you're going to chop, chop a lot, otherwise it looks like a mistake.

but like i said, the expression rocks.

Thanks!

Can you post an example of what you think a good chop is?

[draymorton]

Very nice, John. Love the expression. I don't know why, but I would like to have seen a narrower dof. And while the lighting is good, it does seem very flat and corporate.

[adina]

i usually chop just above the eyebrows...will post some when i get in tomorrow.

[adina]

k....this is kinda what i mean.

when i chop, i chop in a lot. so it looks like i did it intentionally. but i try really hard to not chop into the chin, because 99% of the time (to me) that looks like a mistake.