Improved Portrait Retouching

Oftentimes at work when there are no customers, I find myself reading books about stuff like studio lighting, Lightroom and Photoshop techniques, etc. Today I learned about adjustment brushes in Lightroom. I kind of already knew they existed, but just figured there wasn't much point to learning how to use them when I could do all the same stuff in Photoshop, and more easily.

Anyway, I was wrong. Between adjustment brushes and a few other tricks I read up on, I was able to revisit a portrait I did of my friend Linnea (one of the photos from this post) and make VAST improvements on the final product. See for yourself:





click to enlarge, or see it on Flickr
Aperture: f/4
Shutter Speed: 1/30
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 85mm
Tripod






click to enlarge, or see it on Flickr Aperture: f/4
Shutter Speed: 1/30
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 85mm
Tripod

The first one looks good. But the second really crosses a few lines into looking more professional, in my opinion. The irises are more saturated, the whites of the eyes are brighter and cleaner, the overall exposure is more pleasant, the skin tones are just right, the browns in the hair are more pronounced, the portrait is sharper where it should be sharp and softer where it should be soft. I would like to take a moment and personally thank Adobe for making such delicious, relatively automatic skin retouching features that make everyone look like a model with perfect skin.

First Paid Portrait Shoot

Okay, so she's a friend of mine, and I'm letting her pay with cookies. But it's progress. And I've decided I like fixing the white balance to fit the mood of the photo. These were summer portraits, it must have been 95 degrees when I shot them, so I warmed them up quite a bit.




click to enlarge, or see it on Flickr
Aperture: f/1.4
Shutter Speed: 1/400
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 50mm
Tripod





click to enlarge, or see it on Flickr
Aperture: f/4
Shutter Speed: 1/30
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 85mm
Tripod


Right now I'm pushing REALLY hard to finish my guitar, so things on the more creative side of the photography front are a bit quiet. I'll pick it up soon though.

Last Free Portrait Session

This is it, now that my site is launched and my portfolio is filled out, I will no longer be doing free portrait sessions. I have yet to decide on prices, but no more free ones. Anyway, I think it's a good thing I did all these free ones though - it really helped me get used to the settings and equipment I need to get good portraits.




click to enlarge, or see it on Flickr
Aperture: f/2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/60
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 85mm
Monopod





click to enlarge, or see it on Flickr
Aperture: f/3.2
Shutter Speed: 1/200
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 50mm
Monopod


I've definitely noticed some growth in my skills as a portrait photographer. Out of my favorite two shots, neither of them had to be cropped; I had them framed and composed correctly in-camera. This is nice because it makes for faster editing later on. Also, there were fewer necessary adjustments to get everything correct; most notably that I didn't need to use the "Recovery" slider in Lightroom this time around.

I think I'm ready to head into the world of paid portraiture.

Artsy Portraiture

To finalize and round-off my portfolio before I print it, I've been going portrait crazy for the past week. I decided I had enough "standard" style portraits in there, so I went for a couple of different-ish ones.




click to enlarge, or see it on Flickr
Aperture: f/5
Shutter Speed: 1/200
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 50mm
Monopod





click to enlarge, or see it on Flickr
Aperture: f/4
Shutter Speed: 1/100
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 50mmHandheld


I mostly decided to go black & white because it makes the photo's tone a little more serious and reflective, which helps compensate for models that have a hard time not smiling. :)

Anyway, these are the last two portraits I'll show you for a while. Last night I did some fun light painting with a new remote shutter release I bought (infrared) at a sick discount from the camera store where I work. Makes things very fun. And in case you were interested, tomorrow I buy a joystick-style ball head for my tripod and monopod. Buying camera gear is the bomb.

In other news, today I began construction on my official website at http://www.andrewbphotography.com. There's a link on the side of this page if you don't feel like typing. It won't be done until sometime this week probably. I am also looking at a real domain name (andrewbphotography.com) and pricing for a host, etc. So this site might not be around for very long. We'll see. Hopefully this will help me get some paid portraiture work over the summer and kind of jump-start my semi-pro photography "career."

Successful Shoots Continue

Another shoot today. This time, just one person. In a way it was kind of nice because I never had to worry about chopping off parts of one person's face or something. Basically it just changed the dynamic. I did have one photo that I am going to convert to black-and-white, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.




click to enlarge, or see it on Flickr
Aperture: f/3.2
Shutter Speed: 1/125
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 50mm
Monopod





click to enlarge, or see it on Flickr
Aperture: f/2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/200
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 100mm
Monopod


I must say, I've been very happy with most of the close-up headshots. Eyes are fun to work with in post-processing when they're big, have juicy catch lights, and are the main focus point of the image.

I also learned that before you take the photo, you should make sure that the model does not have any hairs on his/her face that would be distracting. Especially make sure that said hairs do not cross over the eye of the model. Otherwise you might spend 45 minutes in Photoshop, carefully cloning them out.

Results of Today's Photoshoot

As I mentioned last post, I sort of took out an ad on Facebook in an attempt to pad out the "Portraits" section of my portfolio before I get it printed. The first resultant shoot of that ad was today. I must say, it went quite well. I had a number of good shots, got a lot of good experience working with models, various lenses for different types of shots, and other equipment. Great learning experience, great fun, and a few of my friends got some free portraits out of the deal. Here are my favorite two from the shoot, which will be going into the portfolio.




click to enlarge, or see it on Flickr
Aperture: f/2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/40
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 100mm
Monopod





click to enlarge, or see it on Flickr
Aperture: f/2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/40
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 50mm
Monopod


The top is among my favorite portraits I've ever shot. I made a really concerted effort to get the lighting, catchlight, depth-of-field, angle, composition, and focus just right, and I think I may actually have succeeded on all counts. Not to brag, or anything :)

The 2nd was my favorite from all the landscape-oriented portraits I took. Is that an oxymoron?

More Commerical Photography

My friend once again needed a photographer today for her business (shameless bump), so I got to do some more commercial photography, which I really enjoy. First I shot product photos in a light box to make the necklaces and bracelets she displays look professional. Then I took a couple of models out on a shortish shoot to display the product in action. It's nice that I knew the models and "employer" beforehand, but I can conceive of a situation that I might not. And I don't think it would be that bad. Working with models that aren't stuck up is pretty easy, especially if they like the results. Both models asked me for copies of the photos I took of them, which is an easy thing to do.





click to enlarge, or see it on Flickr
Aperture: f/4
Shutter Speed: 1/160
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 50mm
Handheld


I used my dad's 50mm because the shoot started inside and I desperately needed the f/1.4 aperture to compete with the crappy fluorescent lighting. As we went outside, I just left the 50 on, but shot at f/4 instead. It's a great portrait lens either way. So basically, I got to help out a friend, practice directing models, practice portraits in general, and have some fun that ended with good pictures. So, definitely a cool experience.

A few notes: sorry on the late post today, my card reader is broken and I had to hunt down an old USB-to-mini-USB cable to transfer my photos, which took a while. I have ordered a new card reader, which should get here Monday or Tuesday, but until then, I have the cord handy.

Also, I am going to follow everyone's suggestions in changing the watermark to just my name in a larger font. I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

More Portraits

Last night, I went and shot Prom photos for a group of my friends. I used my dad's 50mm and his speedlight with a diffuser for fill flash.

It's amazing how much better portraits turn out when you have a good focal length and some fill flash. I kept thinking back on these. Not that they were bad, I just didn't have the equipment to make them as good. Especially as I was paid for this job, etc. I felt that it was extremely important to deliver great results.




click to enlarge, or see it on Flickr
Aperture: f/4
Shutter Speed: 1/125
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 50 mm
Tripod


I'm happy with how they turned out. The backdrop could have been better, but it was the only area around the house I could find that had suitable lighting. But the colors, skin tones, and faces turned out great.

I guess this means if I'm planning on doing any kind of paid portrait work in the future, I need to pick up my own speed light and diffuser.

Creative Portraiture

"Creative" may be a euphemism for how this portrait turned out, but in a way I kind of like it.

click to enlarge, or see it on Flickr
Aperture: f/3.5
Shutter Speed: 1/640
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 18 mm
Handheld


That's my friend Miguel, eating a gyro near Canal Street. I think the focal area was too small, so I should have stopped down a bit just so that the crisp area that our eyes are naturally drawn too isn't so tiny. Especially since it was bright sunlight, I had no excuse to open the aperture up that wide... oh, well. It's an interesting effect, and one I'll probably experiment with more in the future.

Portraits in Central Park

With all the time I spent with my choir homies on tour, it became apparent that there are a few of them who are very willing to model for me when I want to practice pictures. Not just right then, either. My friend Jessica graciously told me that I could just call her whenever I needed someone to be in some portraits. I think I will be making use of that.

But now that I have a DSLR, portraits are a lot of fun. I never had very much success with them before, and I think that's mainly due to the small focal lengths involved with my old PowerShot. These portraits are some of the best I've ever taken. It seems that great location + willing model + cooperative lighting + a little time and patience = great portraits.





click to enlarge, or see it on Flickr
Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/30
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 55 mm
Handheld


I'm sure I still have a lot to learn. Even with this shot, I can see a few things I don't like. Her bangs are a little bit low over her right eye. There's a small strand of hair in the lower-left that is moving. And Jessica's eyes aren't in as good of focus as they should be. This is due to the fact that my AF was set to just pick an area of the photo to focus on, and it tends to pick things more in the foreground. Her eyes may be in the foreground compared to the purposely blurred rock in the back, but not compared to her right shoulder.

In the future, for shots like this that are on a more angled plane, I might stop down my aperture a little bit to ensure that I get the whole face in crisp focus. I will also set my autofocus to a specific point and focus on the eyes before shooting.

But, success!

A Confusing Portrait

So despite the fact that I believe I had excellent lighting, (overcast, and not 12-noon sun positioning) I'm not completely satisfied with how these portraits turned out.







click to enlarge, or see it on Flickr
Aperture: f/2.6
Shutter Speed: 1/500
ISO: 80Tripod


Despite the fact that I purposely put the background elements way far back from the subjects, and shot at a very wide aperture, my background absolutely refused to blur. This could just be because of my super short focal length (because the camera I used for this isn't DSLR, my focal length was actually 5.8mm, though I think the small sensor size makes it appear longer). Other than that, I have no freaking explanation.

Pretty frustrating, but within about a week, I'll have my Rebel XSi and P&S focal lengths will be a non-issue.

If any of you more experienced photographers have any kind of advice on how to make these better, please share. I still consider myself a total portrait noob.

An HDR Mess that I Like for Some Reason

Before you start laughing, I just want to say that this photo is crap. It's a pathetic attempt at HDR. After I post it, I'll explain everything that went wrong.

But that being said, I think HDR has some serious potential for dramatic portraiture. I love what it does to clouds, especially the little halo it creates around a person for whatever reason. Most of the problems with this are easy to avoid, especially  now that I know about them. 




click to enlarge, or see it on Flickr
Aperture: f/2.6
Shutter Speed: (three exposures)
ISO: 80
Handheld


What went wrong:
- I was holding the camera. And I'm a moving subject. Two bad things if you're taking three exposures to combine. There was some truly awful ghosting, the worst of which I cloned out in Photoshop.
- I was shooting a reflection. Unfortunately, Photomatix saw some of the stuff in my car that was barely visible through the window despite the reflection, and decided it liked it better than my black shirt. So that explains the random clutter inside my torso.
- Most of my face is covered up. This isn't an HDR mistake, just a portraiture mistake.
- There's a lot of clutter in the background. This wasn't really planned, I just saw the difference in the dynamic range my eyes were seeing and the dynamic range my camera was seeing, and decided to try an HDR on a whim while I was shooting this.

Anyway, I learned something from this. I'll have to try again when I can get shots from a tripod-mounted camera in quick enough succession to eliminate (or at least minimize) ghosting. And I'll probably need to find a volunteer. Self-portraits aren't suited to HDR at all.

More Portraits

Once again, I volunteered to do the pictures for the group I was in for my school's Preference dance last night. And once again, the original plan to shoot outside was assassinated by too little light, and waiting too long before meeting up to do pictures. So I got to shoot inside.




click to enlarge, or see it on Flickr
Aperture: f/2.6
Shutter Speed: 1/6
ISO: 100
Tripod


The white balance in the house was a nightmare. Without a flash, I was using shutter speeds in excess of 1 second, which was not an option. With a flash, I could go to 1/6—still significantly shorter than I like to shoot any kind of moving subject in, but it was doable. Unfortunately, flash lighting and Incandescent bulbs are two very different flavors of light. So I basically gave up on getting the WB right in-camera, and fixed it in Lightroom afterwards. It turned out okay. I still would have rather shot these outside.

I had to bump my ISO up to get those extra fractions of a second for my shutter speed. Normally I try to shoot ANYTHING I'm considering printing in 80 ISO, but I had to compromise somehow. I used my flash on it's dimmest setting, mostly as a fill flash, because, it being an in-camera flash, anything over the dimmest setting gives you awful glares that make portraits look horrendous. Since I'm only printing these at 5x7, I felt okay with shooting at 100.

I'm reasonably happy with how they turned out, considering my difficult situation. They lack the really "professional" look you get when you shoot with a super wide aperture to blur the background, and the WB is merely acceptable, but I feel okay about it. At least it gave me some more portraiture experience. And if I take nothing away from my last two dance-photo attempts other than "SHOOT OUTSIDE WHILE THERE'S STILL LIGHT," then the effort hasn't been wasted.

My First Serious Venture into Portraiture

My high school had a Christmas dance last Friday, and my Chamber choir decided to go as one big group. The theme of the dance was ugly sweaters. I think we succeeded in that theme. The group wanted me to do pictures, as I do them for a heck of a lot cheaper than the school, yet (ideally) I know enough to get pictures that aren't just crappy snapshots.


Anyway, the lighting was a real challenge. By the time I arrived at the house where the portraits were to take place, it was in the late stages of sunset. This completely eliminated any idea of having a group picture that day, as my flash isn't powerful enough to fit 18 couples into the frame and still be effective without a real light source somewhere else, and since my camera isn't SLR (it's a Canon PowerShot A590 IS), I can't slave extra flashes or strobes. Also, side lighting makes for awful portraits unless you're going for something really moody. And it's hard to get 36 people to look moody all at the same time :)

I shot as many portraits as I could, doing my best, until the lighting became downright ridiculous. With my flash on the softest setting, I was getting surprisingly good fill lighting in the faces, and with my aperture wide open and my ISO at 100 rather than 80, the ambient light was doing okay. But when the ambient light rapidly disappeared, I had to boost my flash power, which gave me hard shadows and bad photos in general. So I stopped. We're going to have to do these photos sometime before 5:00 when we try again.

Hopefully with the time of day problem solved, I'll be able to get just fine portraits. I'm keeping my eyes open for a cloudy day sometime over Christmas break where I can get everyone whose pictures didn't get taken (or didn't get taken well) together, and if I can find a nice sunny day and get some reflectors together for fill lighting, I should be able to do the group shot.

Here's the portrait of me with my date. Feedback is absolutely welcome; I'm a portrait noob.






click to enlarge, or see it on Flickr



Areas to improve on that I've already noticed: there's some clutter in the bottom of the frame, the bricks (and therefore "horizon") of the photo is uneven. And my expression looks like I've never touched a girl before. But I think the background bricks are pretty neutral, so I didn't worry about throwing them out of focus. And the lighting looks acceptable to me.


One final note: the resolution that this photo is displayed at on this blog page just happens to be one of those sweet spots where you randomly get weird pixellation issues. They aren't really there, just look at the expanded size before you accuse me of using too much unsharp mask :)

Portraits, Part I

I have a very cute cousin. She is extremely difficult to capture indoors, because she doesn't like to stay in one place for more than a second or two. This is compounded by the fact that I don't have a DSLR. My widest aperture is 2.6, and I can't go above 400 ISO without getting into the range of unbearable grain. So basically I was stuck with 1/25ish shutter speeds. After several action shot attempts, I gave up and asked her to just pose for a second. Luckily, she complied.




click to enlarge, or see it on Flickr


Despite my best efforts, it's still a bit blurry. The background is super distracting, and the composition is iffy. But I'm kind of a portrait noob, so improvements will come, all in good time.

I just realized how similar this post is to Gallow's latest. I promise I took this before I saw your new one.