Portraits from mutual photoshoot

Iren

Iren

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Name
Irina
Edit My Images
Yes
Last Friday I finally met with Alistair from this forum who was kind enough to offer mutual photoshoot since I've struggled with self portraits (thanks for my new avatar!)

It was cloudy, windy and very cold afternoon, but it was great practice and some good photos as a result.
I would like to share some for C&C, please bare in mind that I am still experimenting with the styles, so they are all a bit different.

Thank you for looking.

Alistair1.jpg

Alistair3_1.jpg

View attachment 98168

Alistair8_1.jpg

Alistair7_1.jpg
 
Nicely framed, but looking rather cool to my eye - a touch of warmth would enliven the subject.
 
A great set, I would be interested to hear how you processed the latter two.
 
The last one is still very cold to me, but I think that may be because the skin tone is hitting the matt cap at the right of the tone curve and it's desaturating. I know it's a fashionable LLF look, but it takes the life out of a portrait subject for me. I often use a matt tone curve, but don't usually pull the end points as far from the baseline. I wonder if dropping the exposure by 1/3 of a stop might just bring enough colour back to the skin tones but retain the overall matt look you're going for?
 
Hi Irina, interesting images :)

What was your intent when you made these? (both when taking and processing). I ask as that may help when offering critique (even though mine may not amount to much).

Is the matte look something you are looking at as a style perhaps?
 
Alastair said:
The last one is still very cold to me, but I think that may be because the skin tone is hitting the matt cap at the right of the tone curve and it's desaturating. I know it's a fashionable LLF look, but it takes the life out of a portrait subject for me. I often use a matt tone curve, but don't usually pull the end points as far from the baseline. I wonder if dropping the exposure by 1/3 of a stop might just bring enough colour back to the skin tones but retain the overall matt look you're going for?
Click to expand...

Thank you for suggestion, I'll play around with the exposure and curve and see which results I will get.
I am usually editing my photos to be bright or b&w, but wanted to try something different.
 
PaulButler said:
Hi Irina, interesting images :)

What was your intent when you made these? (both when taking and processing). I ask as that may help when offering critique (even though mine may not amount to much).

Is the matte look something you are looking at as a style perhaps?
Click to expand...

Intention was to make few portraits for personal use, so no real story telling or anything like that.
I like b&w a lot recently, otherwise very little edit to brighten up the image. In regards to matte look, I am not sure It will suit every photo and occasion, but I want to explore it more and try different variations.
 
Iren said:
Intention was to make few portraits for personal use, so no real story telling or anything like that.
I like b&w a lot recently, otherwise very little edit to brighten up the image. In regards to matte look, I am not sure It will suit every photo and occasion, but I want to explore it more and try different variations.
Click to expand...
OK, that is fair enough :) B&W is not my preferred PP choice for portraits, but I'm not really liking your conversions here, they do not have enough tonal separation for me (I'm NOT suggesting I could do better btw as I'm hopeless at B&W).

The poses are all fine so well done both and I like the engagement you have captured. They are all a bit cool for my taste as others have said. It isn't just a case of bumping the colour temp, you may also need to bump the tint too, otherwise, they develop a green cast as the two you have bumped have done. I also think that the matte effect is best applied with a delicate touch too ;). #1 is my preference from this set, though I'd like to see the two B&W ones in colour.
 
PaulButler said:
OK, that is fair enough :) B&W is not my preferred PP choice for portraits, but I'm not really liking your conversions here, they do not have enough tonal separation for me (I'm NOT suggesting I could do better btw as I'm hopeless at B&W).

The poses are all fine so well done both and I like the engagement you have captured. They are all a bit cool for my taste as others have said. It isn't just a case of bumping the colour temp, you may also need to bump the tint too, otherwise, they develop a green cast as the two you have bumped have done. I also think that the matte effect is best applied with a delicate touch too ;). #1 is my preference from this set, though I'd like to see the two B&W ones in colour.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the detailed feedback. I still have to learn a lot about processing, so thank you for the comments.
Here is one in colour that I have posted in b&w. I think its due to personal taste, but I like them being slightly cooler.
View attachment 98338
 
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