Always trying something new

Saw this on Facebook as you know, love the tones and the clever use of the natural light.

That said, hurry up and do the mono conversion [emoji6]
 
Captivating!

Absolutely not a mono conversion, I'm beginning to think "mono conversion" is becoming a stock response and a bit cliche. As for the photo I absolutely love it!.The colouring/tones and light are spot on for me, I did just wonder if it would read better flipped so the light is top left but that is just curiosity and not crit at all.
 
Really like this shot, nice work
 
sirch said:
Captivating!

Absolutely not a mono conversion, I'm beginning to think "mono conversion" is becoming a stock response and a bit cliche. As for the photo I absolutely love it!.The colouring/tones and light are spot on for me, I did just wonder if it would read better flipped so the light is top left but that is just curiosity and not crit at all.
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Are you saying there's no merit in a mono conversion?

I love the photo as is, but I can see how it would also look great in mono.
 
Sir SR said:
Are you saying there's no merit in a mono conversion?

I love the photo as is, but I can see how it would also look great in mono.
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B&W is getting a bit long it the tooth esp. with rather strange reproduction of colours. But monochromatic can be anything based on a single colour and that is very near a monochromatic photo.

@juggler very nice just that the bright spot on the paneling is a bit too bright and attracts my eyes too much.
 
Sir SR said:
Are you saying there's no merit in a mono conversion?
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Not at all, I have been known to do it myself :) but sometimes it feels like people throw it in as a stock comment from the commenters handbook. This photo already has a limited and muted colour pallet that I find very harmonious and, again for me, more would be lost than is gained by going mono.
 
sirch said:
Not at all, I have been known to do it myself :) but sometimes it feels like people throw it in as a stock comment from the commenters handbook. This photo already has a limited and muted colour pallet that I find very harmonious and, again for me, more would be lost than is gained by going mono.
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I guess I'm a sucker for black and white which is why I'd like to see a conversion. Many photos are better in colour and lose something on being converted.

I think that the mono here would look rather good.

That said I do like it as is. The tone and limited palette is very well judged and the frame of light is nicely placed.
 
juggler said:
Quite pleased with this one.. mainly 'cos I didn't use any lights other than the big bright thing in the sky.
All thoughts welcome - a few folk elsewhere have suggested a mono conversion but I haven't yet 'cos I love the warm tones.


View attachment 112008
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Love it! Natural light photos are always my favourite.
Great composition, pose, tones
 
I hate "great shot" comments - but that was a pretty nice photograph you took there.

Personally - no to B&W. Lipstick + top + makeup + light = perfect. Your instinct is bob on.

Thumbs :)
 
Love it. Natural light shots always seem to add something special.

It would have been even more special if a touch more light has reflected back into the shadows.
 
Thank you all for the kind words!

TLR-330 said:
B&W is getting a bit long it the tooth esp. with rather strange reproduction of colours. But monochromatic can be anything based on a single colour and that is very near a monochromatic photo.

@juggler very nice just that the bright spot on the paneling is a bit too bright and attracts my eyes too much.
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I considered toning it down but actually like the fact that (a) it is virtually as it came off the card, contrast wise and (b) the fact that it does distract from the figure slightly. I think the fact that she slightly plays second fiddle to the bright patch enhances the sense of solitude.

Harlequin565 said:
I hate "great shot" comments - but that was a pretty nice photograph you took there.

Personally - no to B&W. Lipstick + top + makeup + light = perfect. Your instinct is bob on.

Thumbs :)
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Thanks! It's going to stay colour for now as it is part of a consistent set - and the b&w images from the set have a slightly different mood.

Terrywoodenpic said:
Love it. Natural light shots always seem to add something special.

It would have been even more special if a touch more light has reflected back into the shadows.
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I did seriously consider it, and decided against. Perhaps that was an error? I think it would have been very easy to kill the drama, though.
 
juggler said:
I did seriously consider it, and decided against. Perhaps that was an error? I think it would have been very easy to kill the drama, though.
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Not sure it was an error. It is always best to capture what caught your eye first.
And fill can easily be overdone in these situations. But a reflector can be very subtle and worth a try as a back up.
 
Very nice.
I like that you placed the dark window frame shadow behind the bright portion of her face. I would have preferred her positioned a bit farther right in order to take maximum benefit of that. And to integrate the white portion a little better. Then just a little editing to remove the highlights along the left side that would have been extended.
I did a quick edit to demonstrate if you'd like to see it.
 
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sk66 said:
Very nice.
I like that you placed the dark window frame shadow behind the bright portion of her face. I would have preferred her positioned a bit farther right in order to take maximum benefit of that. And to integrate the white portion a little better. Then just a little editing to remove the highlights along the left side that would have been extended.
I did a quick edit to demonstrate if you'd like to see it.
Click to expand...
Please do share!
 
juggler said:
Please do share!
Click to expand...
Here you go.
If she was moved just a bit right (and possibly forward to keep her in the light) the shadow would extend behind her neck eliminating that spot on the wall. And it would connect the rectangle of light more, almost as if it's the ray of light falling one her. At least that's my feeling.
It would also extend the light on the wall behind her, which would need edited out (or flagged). The result would look like this (w/ small change to the composition/framing).

Untitled-1.jpg
 
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Hiya.

Love the colour "Biased as I prefer colour as a rule"
Like whats been said above, the use of light is fab. Did you happen accross this light whilst shooting in this area or had you clocked it before and gone there to do the shoot ? Just trying to get an angle on how the shot came together and whats your train of thought as you go about creating these images.

Gaz
 
sk66 said:
Here you go.
If she was moved just a bit right (and possibly forward to keep her in the light) the shadow would extend behind her neck eliminating that spot on the wall. And it would connect the rectangle of light more, almost as if it's the ray of light falling one her. At least that's my feeling.
It would also extend the light on the wall behind her, which would need edited out (or flagged). The result would look like this (w/ small change to the composition/framing).

View attachment 112154
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Thank you, I can see why you've done it that way. At the moment I prefer the original but that's probably because I'm a bit obsessed with placing shadows right now.
 
cargo said:
Hiya.

Love the colour "Biased as I prefer colour as a rule"
Like whats been said above, the use of light is fab. Did you happen accross this light whilst shooting in this area or had you clocked it before and gone there to do the shoot ? Just trying to get an angle on how the shot came together and whats your train of thought as you go about creating these images.

Gaz
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Thanks Gaz.

The studio space is actually my yoga teacher's studio. I share it with another photographer when it's not being used for yoga or dance classes.
So - I was somewhat familiar with the space, but I'd never seen it as this time of day before. I was aware that sun shining through the windows was likely to cause some issues so I'd armed myself with large diffusers.

On the day of the shoot there was an unhelpful patch of sun so I wedged a diffuser over a window - between a water pipe & a window blind as it happens. Once we'd finished the first set I took the diffuser down hoping that the patch of sun might have moved somewhere usable - and it had. We spent 5 minutes playing around with it before getting pack to the main point of the shoot. I'll post some of those in another thread when I've finished processing them.

Technical stuff - I spot metered off the bright patch on the wall so that it read +2.5ish and positioned Bernadette so that she was (a) in a patch of light and (b) the patch of light you can see served as fill.
I asked her to adjust the angle of her head until the nose shadow was 'about right'. Processing was a little skin work in PS & a smidge of toning in Lightroom.

hth
 
juggler said:
hth
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Sure does Simon. Whats the train of thought metering off the wall and not your modles skin obviously with a bit of +? I am assumimg either way would have worked out ok.

Gaz
 
cargo said:
Sure does Simon. Whats the train of thought metering off the wall and not your modles skin obviously with a bit of +? I am assumimg either way would have worked out ok.

Gaz
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How much +, though? +1 is about right for most people's skin tones but people vary.

I know that if I want a nearly pure white wall to retain a hint of detail then +2.5 will be spot on. The model is in the same light so job done.

fwiw anything more complicated and I tend to get an incident meter out.
 
juggler said:
How much +, though? +1 is about right for most people's skin tones but people vary.

I know that if I want a nearly pure white wall to retain a hint of detail then +2.5 will be spot on. The model is in the same light so job done.

fwiw anything more complicated and I tend to get an incident meter out.
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Okydoky Simon. Lets not get tooo complicated i'm ok with your explanation at this level ;-)

Thanks for the info.

Gaz
 
juggler said:
Here's another from the same set. Less successful in many ways but perhaps more visually interesting - and definitely more me.

View attachment 112142
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I like that...more graphical in many ways, with interesting tonalities and spaces, Even her gaze is arresting... had that shadow not fallen behind her neck it would be even more striking.
in these situations I do not mind a little cheating, and perhaps to modify rather than remove it, as it is not that nice a shape.
 
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sk66 said:
Here you go.
If she was moved just a bit right (and possibly forward to keep her in the light) the shadow would extend behind her neck eliminating that spot on the wall. And it would connect the rectangle of light more, almost as if it's the ray of light falling one her. At least that's my feeling.
It would also extend the light on the wall behind her, which would need edited out (or flagged). The result would look like this (w/ small change to the composition/framing).

View attachment 112154
Click to expand...


A simpler option could have been to simply crop that highlight out. making a narrower format.
Though narrower it would have move the balance, visually increasing the space in front of her.
 
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Terrywoodenpic said:
A simpler option could have been to simply crop that highlight out. making a narrower format.
Though narrower it would have move the balance, visually increasing the space in front of her.
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That could certainly work. I think it would also change the weight/mood of the image by removing a large amount of the dark negative space.
 
Excellent.

Gorgeous.

There is a wonderful serenity and reflective peacefulness to this picture which to me at least is almost "painterly."

Print and frame.
 
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