One from today (one added)

Livin The Dream

Livin The Dream

Messages
4,605
Name
Kris
Edit My Images
No
As most of the pics recently have been of the 9 month old I did promise Lawren a shoot. Had my new deep octa to try out. I don't think I've over cooked the processing but I shall leave it to you to say either way. So difficult now as she wants to play England's next top model..

29061970011_6bf8f669ab_b.jpg
 
Phil V said:
Utterly gorgeous. The light and processing are pitch perfect. This needs printing large.
Click to expand...

Thank Phil. I had a large canvas done last week for the office of the 9 month old so I think I will get a c type printed of this one.

Earley Man said:
:agree:
Click to expand...

Thanks for commenting.

sk66 said:
Love this!

If it were mine, I'd probably remove the lower catchlights and the two little highlights under her lower lip.
Click to expand...

I think you're right, especially those dimples, I'm not too bothered about the extra catch light but I will lose it for the print, thanks for stopping by and commenting.

david357 said:
Superb, lovely lighting, hope she is pleased with the result.
Click to expand...

Thanks David.

Sir SR said:
Stunning. That is all
Click to expand...

Thanks Shaheed, I'm pleased with this one.

Kodiak Qc said:
•


Nah… let her be!

… you will be her top photographer anyway! :whistle:
Click to expand...

Thanks Daniel, some of her posing is not appropriate for a 13 year old. If pouting was an olympic sport, she'd win gold all day.
 
Just to echo what everyone has said above Kris, a stunning portrait of your daughter.
Definitely printing this large is the way to go.

As the father of two daughters myself, albeit they are in their twenties now, I have been through what you are, I feel your angst.
I've no answers for you sorry haha. I don't think us Dads are designed to deal with our daughters growing up!
@Sir SR Shaheed, be aware ;)
 
blakester said:
Just to echo what everyone has said above Kris, a stunning portrait of your daughter.
Definitely printing this large is the way to go.

As the father of two daughters myself, albeit they are in their twenties now, I have been through what you are, I feel your angst.
I've no answers for you sorry haha. I don't think us Dads are designed to deal with our daughters growing up!
@Sir SR Shaheed, be aware ;)
Click to expand...

I'm already afraid!!!!
 
Thanks guys for the kind words. I had to try a mono version and remove the extra catch light.

blakester said:
Just to echo what everyone has said above Kris, a stunning portrait of your daughter.
Definitely printing this large is the way to go.

As the father of two daughters myself, albeit they are in their twenties now, I have been through what you are, I feel your angst.
I've no answers for you sorry haha. I don't think us Dads are designed to deal with our daughters growing up!
@Sir SR Shaheed, be aware ;)
Click to expand...

It is VERY scary. I found myself uttering the words "you are not going out in that" only last week!

28872780510_563dde54c4_b.jpg
 
I love mono, and whilst this is good, I prefer the colour. The black and white looks a bit muted to my tastes. Catch lights didn't bother me, nor the dimples under the bottom lip.

Does she like it?

My 7 year old is starting to do the trout pout [emoji85]
 
She loves loves it. The pout is a product of the selfie, they all do it and we've had to pull a few profile pics because of it. Of course she doesn't understand especially as it's the norm. The digital age is a nightmare to manage.
 
As someone who has just bought there first studio lighting set last week I have no experience of potraiture.

However if I ever take one as good as this I'll be very happy indeed.

Fantastic Kris.
 
GreenNinja67 said:
As someone who has just bought there first studio lighting set last week I have no experience of potraiture.

However if I ever take one as good as this I'll be very happy indeed.

Fantastic Kris.
Click to expand...

Thanks Terry. It's an exciting and thoroughly rewarding journey when it comes together. Great fun along the way and so stick with it. Some basic lighting principles are fairly easy to grasp and take off, the bit that really makes the image is the expression and engagement with the subject. For this reason, you may well only get a couple of shots that really nail it in each shoot. But keep experimenting and playing, you'll get something that you're proud of for sure.
 
Bravo, Kris. Superb image. The "pout" is fine as a good model also needs to be a good actor. I like your format and crop - very innovative. I can't decide if I prefer the mono or the colour. I need to come back a couple of times to decide.
 
I just zoomed in on the image on my phone - I'd actually be tempted to commit to the crop a bit more maybe?
 
First of all I don't do portraits so only look at head studies as the ordinary non photographic person would.

If had commissioned someone to take a head/shoulder photo I would expect to see just that not a part of the head missing. Sometimes there is a tendency to try and over edit not just with portraits but with other subject matter. Nothing wrong with edting, I do it myself, but one has to be careful about how much, and if overdone to the extent of ruining what was set out to achieve

This is why to me what has been put on here is not exactly 100%, it is no good saying this is technically correct and I like this or that as many do, possibly because they don't want to say what they really think (not in all cases) or overlook the obvious

To me anyone that approves chopping a part of a portrait head shot knows little about what the general public would call acceptable and again in my eyes is a photographer who does not understand how a portrait should look.

If you take The great painters in the past they all show the full image not as if they had been on the guillotine.

If I like something I will say so, if I see something I don't approve of I will say so as well and not post to please
 
Last edited:
juggler said:
Yup, ever so good. I might take the highlights down a smidge - but not until I'd done a test print.
Click to expand...

Yeah I have tamed a little since and think it's a tad improved. Which paper do you think would suit for a print Simon?

Lez325 said:
Nice Portrait- I bet she is well pleased with this

Les
Click to expand...

Thanks Les, she loves it as I do so both happy.

sunnyside_up said:
I just zoomed in on the image on my phone - I'd actually be tempted to commit to the crop a bit more maybe?
Click to expand...

I had already done the same and reckon there's a bit more crop in it too.

realspeed said:
First of all I don't do portraits so only look at head studies as the ordinary non photographic person would.

If had commissioned someone to take a head/shoulder photo I would expect to see just that not a part of the head missing. Sometimes there is a tendency to try and over edit not just with portraits but with other subject matter. Nothing wrong with edting, I do it myself, but one has to be careful about how much, and if overdone to the extent of ruining what was set out to achieve

This is why to me what has been put on here is not exactly 100%, it is no good saying this is technically correct and I like this or that as many do, possibly because they don't want to say what they really think (not in all cases) or overlook the obvious
Click to expand...

Very subjective indeed. You'll find that most head shot specialists, such as Peter Hurley, actually do crop into the head these days. Their work tends to be A list celeb into that industry so it's pretty much the norm.

Sir SR said:
I think realspeed is in the against camp for head chopping. This is an old debate.....

As you say it's all subjective.

FWIW I'm a head cropper.
Click to expand...

I do like a good head crop myself, it's a style preference.
 
realspeed said:
First of all I don't do portraits so only look at head studies as the ordinary non photographic person would.

If had commissioned someone to take a head/shoulder photo I would expect to see just that not a part of the head missing. Sometimes there is a tendency to try and over edit not just with portraits but with other subject matter. Nothing wrong with edting, I do it myself, but one has to be careful about how much, and if overdone to the extent of ruining what was set out to achieve

This is why to me what has been put on here is not exactly 100%, it is no good saying this is technically correct and I like this or that as many do, possibly because they don't want to say what they really think (not in all cases) or overlook the obvious
Click to expand...

Try googling portrait
A slight majority of the first few dozen hits don't show the top of the head. Cropping the top allows for a tighter, more intimate frame while maintaining a balanced composition.
 
Simon
you are trying to get too technical a mistake made by many and forgetting what anyone else would spot as an error
Oh I am posting with a very painful wrist after falling down hard on it, so please excuse any spelling mistakes
 
Last edited:
Livin The Dream said:
Yeah I have tamed a little since and think it's a tad improved. Which paper do you think would suit for a print Simon?
Click to expand...

I like Fuji Matt C-Types for most colour portraits except very shiny fashiony images.
I recommend doing a few test prints before going large and expensive! Even if you have calibrated your screen brightness you may find you need to lift the shadows and tweak the sharpening to get it where you like it, especially if it's going to be under glass.

As a starting point I add a slight bump to the bottom third of the curves.

To do tests for sharpening is trickier - while I was learning what I liked I resized & sharpened and printed a small portion of the larger image. I find Nik's Sharpener Pro's default C-Type print sharpening at 50% strength about right.

Note that C-Types are slightly less stable over the long term - particularly if in direct sunlight and not under protective glass.

Glass recommendations available on request.. I was nerdy enough to test a few different types.
 
I think we should all just agree to disagree on this.

Realspeed likes his heads whole. This debate has been done before if you look it up on the forum.

A slight head crop draws the viewer in and can look better

The only thing to conclude is that if you ever get commissioned to do realspeed's portrait then don't crop his head.

Hope your wrist feels better soon.
 
realspeed said:
Simon
you are trying to get too technical a mistake made by many and forgetting what anyone else would spot as an error
Click to expand...

Seriously? There's nothing technical about trying to make an image more intimate. Do you really think all those portraits in the google search exhibit framing errors? It's only an error if it's done by accident.
 
juggler said:
I like Fuji Matt C-Types for most colour portraits except very shiny fashiony images.
I recommend doing a few test prints before going large and expensive! Even if you have calibrated your screen brightness you may find you need to lift the shadows and tweak the sharpening to get it where you like it, especially if it's going to be under glass.

As a starting point I add a slight bump to the bottom third of the curves.

To do tests for sharpening is trickier - while I was learning what I liked I resized & sharpened and printed a small portion of the larger image. I find Nik's Sharpener Pro's default C-Type print sharpening at 50% strength about right.

Note that C-Types are slightly less stable over the long term - particularly if in direct sunlight and not under protective glass.

Glass recommendations available on request.. I was nerdy enough to test a few different types.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this Simon. I'm a bit lazy with sharpening these days and tend to either not bother (too easy to make things look very 'digital') or a very slight pass, having overcooked in the past. I didn't particularly like Sharpener Pro last time but I'll give it a go for this medium as it is new to me. Do you use somewhere that prints and frames too? Last print I had done was at Loxley but I took the lazy option and went with matt fuji standard paper and whilst it's ok, it's not brilliant. I think a 20x16 frame cost about £65ish.
 
Last edited:
Livin The Dream said:
Thanks for this Simon. I'm a bit lazy with sharpening these days and tend to either not bother (too easy to make things look very 'digital') or a very slight pass, having overcooked in the past. I didn't particularly like Sharpener Pro last time but I'll give it a go for this medium as it is new to me. Do you use somewhere that prints and frames too? Last print I had done was at Loxley but I took the lazy option and went with matt fuji standard paper and whilst it's ok, it's not brilliant. I think a 20x16 frame cost about £65ish.
Click to expand...

I tend to use The Print Space or Metro and Fuji Crystal Archive (which is semi-matt). SimLab using the same paper was very nearly as good but quite a lot cheaper.

Last time I had some framed I mounted & framed them myself - but I had some frames left over from an exhibition.

It might be worth posting in the printing & presentation forum though, the folks who hang out there know more than me.
 
juggler said:
I tend to use The Print Space or Metro and Fuji Crystal Archive (which is semi-matt). SimLab using the same paper was very nearly as good but quite a lot cheaper.

Last time I had some framed I mounted & framed them myself - but I had some frames left over from an exhibition.

It might be worth posting in the printing & presentation forum though, the folks who hang out there know more than me.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll check them out.
 
Oh crumbs, this thread escalated from when I looked earlier and made a point to reply! Ha.

I love it, the colour especially. It's beautiful. I am all for the crop too, but as @Sir SR has mentioned, it's a discussion that has been done to death. There is no correct, or incorrect.

Just scrolled up again. It is really beautiful. What someone mentioned as highlights under the lower lip, appear to me to be the contours of her lip itself?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top