Self Portrait

[Aaron2d]

October 14, 2009 at 11:31 pm

Hi All,

Here is a self portrait, no one else would let me photograph them for this exercise. I have done some work to it in photoshop (maybe too much) What do you think? C+C’s are very welcome and also advice on how to crop this image for best effect.

Thanks!!

[jb7]

October 15, 2009 at 7:42 am

Another good exercise-
I’m not too sure about an alternative crop that would significantly improve it,
but a little off the right might help-
although it’s an arbitrary thing-

I presume this is lit with a downlighter, with window light to the side,
and most of your ps work was to balance the colour…

I think a half step forward might have made the lighting better,
by providing a rim light to the top of the head,
and removing the very bright patches on the nose and forehead-
a reflector from that light, to the right, might have been good too-

Framing a little looser, and perhaps vertically, might have made for a more dynamic composition,
and raising the camera slightly, and a slight turn of the shoulders, might have made the pose more interesting-

Of course, the possibilities are as endless as the patience of your model…

[thedarkroom]

October 15, 2009 at 11:09 am

Do you need a translator for Joseph’s comment? :D

Seriously though, the first thing I noticed is the sharpening in photoshop. It looks to me like you might have overdone it and you have got these little bits of glistening highlights which are symptomatic of this.

As regards the lighting, while I can see where Joseph is coming from, sometimes you need to assess the purpose of the portrait before deciding on the suitable lighting. If you are trying to produce a ‘safe’ portrait like Communion set up or such like, then you need a main, fill, back and rim light to build up your image. What Joseph is suggesting is a good idea and keeps it simple while you experiment. I would suggest browsing through a few photo books on portraiture to see what catches your eye, what you like or don’t like and then analyse why.
A reflector is a very handy tool to have and it can be anything from a large sheet of white paper to the full blown Lastolite reflector which comes in a variety of types such as white, silver, gold and even black and translucent.
As regards type of lighting, try window lighting as a start and see how it works as a light source with a reflector to fill in the shadows. As Joseph was explaining, lighting doesn’t have to be complicated in order to be effective, so keep it simple and study your results.
With the photo you have here, as Joseph was saying, by moving forward, the lighting would be better. The long drawn out shadows are not flattering and it makes a persons eyes look dark and sullen in the shadows. Moving forward with a reflector would help this. Also, avoid light sources from strange angles, such as below the model, as it gives peculiar, disturbing and unnatural shadows. Having said that, if that’s the kind of lighting you want, then go for it. Remember, once you know the rules, you can then start breaking them to suite your goals.
Good luck!
David