Critique Louise [Stranger 205] OCF

blakester

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Iain
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Today seen me out again continuing with this my third round of 100 strangers although this time I am learning off camera flash (OCF)

As I have numerous times in the past, I found a suitable background for a stranger portrait and decided to wait until someone came along.
I didn't have to wait too long before Louise walked along. I noticed her sense of style first but also her happy persona.
Louise was in a bit of a rush to meet a friend for coffee so we only had a few minutes to make her portrait. I didn't really have a chance to find out anything about Louise beyond her telling me:


"I don't really like having my photograph taken!"

Thank you Louise for giving me your time and allowing me to make your portrait.

My observations on Louise's portrait from a technical side.
Obviously time was against me in that Louise was on her way to meet a friend but I perhaps mitigated the time pressure by today using a umbrella type softbox. I already had this and the flash fitted on the light stand which didn't take me long to set up.
I would have liked to have placed the softbox higher to have the catchlights in Louise's eyes a bit higher. Perhaps having a little more time I could have adjusted the height but alas didn't.

Comments and critique are most welcome.



Louise - [Stranger #205]
by Iain Blake, on Flickr
 
Thank you Kirsty, I do like a little toning through Lightroom on my stranger portraits.
Not to everyone's taste though.....

Me too @blakester. I am really liking the matte and vintage looks atm. I guess its not for everyone :)
 
Me too @blakester. I am really liking the matte and vintage looks atm. I guess its not for everyone :)

:) To be honest, it's not too far removed from the original image Kirsty, I just like the look.
It's all subjective isn't it?
Although I am open to comments/critique on the whole image, I welcome it in fact.
 
:) To be honest, it's not too far removed from the original image Kirsty, I just like the look.
It's all subjective isn't it?
Although I am open to comments/critique on the whole image, I welcome it in fact.

Me too, I like the coy smile and the pose. Absolutely, I love half the times shots with high contrast.It probably looks awful to most, but I like it. But tbh Im still learning processing in general, go figure lol! No I do like this
 
Me too, I like the coy smile and the pose. Absolutely, I love half the times shots with high contrast.It probably looks awful to most, but I like it. But tbh Im still learning processing in general, go figure lol! No I do like this

I think it's like a lot of things in life, do it in moderation and it won't harm :)
Get me getting all philosophical :D
 
I think it's like a lot of things in life, do it in moderation and it won't harm :)
Get me getting all philosophical :D

Nothing wrong with a little bit of insight.... I just got slightly excited as I actually know how to adjust the white balance in my photos lol!! Omg how sad am i!
 
Nothing wrong with a little bit of insight.... I just got slightly excited as I actually know how to adjust the white balance in my photos lol!! Omg how sad am i!

You're not sad at all, it is a great feeling when something like that clicks eh?
 
You're not sad at all, it is a great feeling when something like that clicks eh?

Absolutely, reason being i will be brutally honest I would never ever had done it before. Bad right! Now Im like wow, I can see how different they are!
 
Keeping up your high standards Iain.
I'm enjoying seeing your project develop

Thanks Paul, I've been thinking about the project today and ways to develop the idea further so as to keep it fresh.
I have a few different light modifiers, so will try and incorporate them all at some point.
 
This is very good, I am guessing the wall has acted as a reflector adding some light in the shadows.
 
This is very good, I am guessing the wall has acted as a reflector adding some light in the shadows.

Thanks Mark.
It probably has, I did have a reflector with me as usual but haven't used it yet on any of these OCF portraits.
 
Cracking work again!!

Looking at this shot I'd love to have experimented with a CTO gel over the light and cooled the image down - I only really dos this a few times but wish I'd done it more! I'll try and dig out an example
 
Cracking work again!!

Looking at this shot I'd love to have experimented with a CTO gel over the light and cooled the image down - I only really dos this a few times but wish I'd done it more! I'll try and dig out an example

Thanks Shaheed, gels are something I am going to have to experiment with beforehand or at the very least have someone with me to test when out shooting.
 
Thanks Shaheed, gels are something I am going to have to experiment with beforehand or at the very least have someone with me to test when out shooting.

Found it - it was taken about 4 years ago literally as soon as my rogue flashbender arrived when I was on nights. Excuse the composition/subject/distortion

IMG_1483870086.187222.jpg

Just had the orange gel over the sb900 and tinkered with the white balance
 
It's a good take but imo the colour grading doesn't work as well for this shot as it does for your previous one. Perhaps it's the skin tone.

Thanks David, I shall put an alternative edit up later to see how they compare.
 
Found it - it was taken about 4 years ago literally as soon as my rogue flashbender arrived when I was on nights. Excuse the composition/subject/distortion

View attachment 93175

Just had the orange gel over the sb900 and tinkered with the white balance

Thanks Shaheed, I do like the blue hues to your portrait, it's a look many of my stranger portraits have had.
 
Yes yes yes. Lovely.

Thanks David, that version of Louise's portrait is more like it came out of camera, that is there isn't any toning on it, I've obviously processed it.
 
Found it - it was taken about 4 years ago literally as soon as my rogue flashbender arrived when I was on nights. Excuse the composition/subject/distortion

View attachment 93175

Just had the orange gel over the sb900 and tinkered with the white balance

I really like this technique, I've just ordered some CTS (straw) gel to see how it compares to CTO. It supposedly gives nicer skin tones and more of a teal tint to unlit regions than blue once the WB has been corrected for the flash.
 
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