Be brutal

  • Thread starter digitalmaniac
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digitalmaniac

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This was first real portrait shot of my daughter. Its not 100% because I couldnt find a good background and had to make do for now and as said before havnt got best flash and no lightmeter.

But i went for a low key effect I think the shadow lines are good down face-had to add some catch lights though.

Say what you think-im adult-honest lol
Emily_low_key_portrait_int.jpg
[/IMG]
 
Its not quite what i'd think of as low key, DM - a darker background may be needed (or some more PS work) to draw out those shadows a little more and the catchlights are a little severe........

Other than that a reasonable effort (y)
 
Tiz a bit dark, part of her hair on the left is cut off and the flash in the eyes is a bit off puting. That apart and as you say the background is not the best, it's not bad. I'm sure a bit of jiggery pokery in PP will improve it.(y)

Hope I'm not too brutal.
 
The light is actually very nice, but the image is underexposed.

I'd recommend going back to the original file and adjusting the exposure. I believe you'll find some subtle catchlights (at least in the subject's right eye) and you won't have to add the fake-looking ones. Remember that catchlights are symptoms of good light; if you don't have them, you really can't "fix" it by adding them later.

Do yourself a favor and DON'T add a flash in these situations. Learning to use natural light will give you much nicer results. Only add flash when you REALLY have to (e.g. in pitch blackness) or when going for a specific flash effect. You'll thank yourself later.

- CJ
 
Did this one in b and w but went a bit grainy when downsizing for forum

Black_and_white_emily_portrait_int.jpg


Also thanks very much for comments always welcome-but as for trying natural light-ive had years of natural light and just really need to work on flash for portraiture-as said need a better setup which will come soon-so should help and when have studio darened off will be able to see the damn shadows lol instead of guessing like at the mo.

Its a learning curve-know how to do it just need to keep practising to get it right.
 
The shadows arent deep enough to be classed as low-key.
As far as I understand it, a low key image will have a lot of black featuring predominantly.
Also the catch-lights look wrong, theres no obvious area of light for such bright catchlights to be there.


Edit: Ah! CJ ... the master (I type too slow)
Isnt the rim-lighting that we did in Brighton classed as low-key?
 
Glo, yes, the Brighton Rimlight (seems to have earned it's own proper name!) is a good example of low key, since we used the background darkness to emphasize the light.
 
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