Portrait by window light

[DJW]

After reading this months Practical Photgraphy Mag on portraits I thought I would take some of the advice for studio light & try to adapt to just window light.
The shot I was after was a moody / gritty B&W (sorry RobertP ;) ), as dark as possible but still keeping the detail / contrast.

Anyway this is my attempt....with the lack of anyone else in the house you'll have to cope with my ugly mug. Shot on self timer with 50mm f/1.7 II lens. I was sat on the floor, at 45 degrees to french doors.

First shot had very little processing other than to manipulate RAW to get exposure I wwanted, plus conversion to B&W, add some slight colour tone & then some cloning out of distractions from background.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v178/djw_666/TPF/Portraitfromwindowlightv2.jpg

For the following version I added 2 duplicate layers with blend of "Linear Burn" to which I then attacjed with eraser set at 33% opacity to bring back exposure / detail in face.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v178/djw_666/TPF/Portraitfromwindowlight.jpg

Any comments welcome on which you prefer & any advice on how to improve (not my looks btw ;) )

[matty]

second one works for me, VERY effective. though im not sure i like the colouring, bit yellow for me

[CT]

Self portraits are tough! :D This one looks rather self-conscious. Some eye contact with the lens would have been better and said so much more. Have a look at how Rembrandt did it at various stages in his life.

I realise you're going for a low key gritty shot, but that's better obtained in the camera than trying to create it afterwards. The orginal, even with the rough cloning looks better and more natural than the finished result which I think looks obviously manipulated.

With window shots like that I find the best way is to position the subject with the window to one side of the face and use a white reflector, a sheet or anything handy, on the room side, to reflect some light back into the shadows. Lovely natural light portraits can be obtained with this simple technique.

Props for having a go at this though! ;)

[DJW]

Thanks for comments. Will have a play with advice in mind.....just need some decent light through windows....it's been mist all day here today & bl**dy freezing.

[KenCo]

I like both, only 2 more because the forehead in 1 is slighlty blown but don't mind the detail on the background. Reminds me a little of Bohemian Rhapsody (Possible spelling).

[Gandhi]

Didn't realise it was a self portrait at first, too lazy to read the OP, Just looked at the pictures :rolleyes:

The second is definately better, the background detracts in the first. I'm just wondering if the points made above are relevant. Underexposing would've given you somewhere near that effect, and maybe a higher ISO would have given a bit of edge.

But if what is shown above is the effect you were looking for then it's worked out well. (sideways complement alert)