Reflector

[Naka]

There was some nice golden light coming through the sitting room window, but I missed it by a few minutes. Nonetheless I wanted to try out using light from behind the subject and a reflector to light the face. Here's the result.
The photo does generally look washed out, so tips would be welcome. I want to get it pretty right in camera so I don't have to do too much tweaking afterwards.

Thanks for looking.

 

[BruceMo]

That's good, glad to see you are thinking about light on the subject and what's in background. Your photos are improving all the time

 

[Naka]

Thank you Bruce!!

 

[doggel]

Handsome lad, handsomely portrayed.
That window sill is distracting- maybe try blurring it by hanging some woven (translucent) material between ledge & subject, and move him a little further forward. Maybe also work at getting more light reflected back onto the subject. Subject is probably marginally under exposed- for precise exposure I find it best to use spot metering on an averagely lit part of the face, such as the left cheek in this photo, and indeed supplementing this by bracketing half a stop either way. You seem to have used a pretty wide open iris, maybe f2.8 or f3.5, and with such shallow depth of field his jumper is out of focus, which I find a little distracting- maybe extend focus a bit by bumping up the ISO and shutting down to nearer F5 or so, in combination with the blurred background.
Very pleasing portrait none the less.

 

[Phil V]

I'd 2nd what Bruce said, I've been enjoying watching your progress, and just add an answer to your question re a lack of clarity.

You have light entering the front of the lens which will cause internal reflections (often called flare), it's inevitable, but you can mitigate it by using a good lens hood, adding more flags if convenient too. That's assuming you're not using cheap filters and your lens is spotlessly clean.

Then in post, you can add a little clarity to taste, but don't over-do it.

 

[Naka]

Handsome lad, handsomely portrayed.
That window sill is distracting- maybe try blurring it by hanging some woven (translucent) material between ledge & subject, and move him a little further forward. Maybe also work at getting more light reflected back onto the subject. Subject is probably marginally under exposed- for precise exposure I find it best to use spot metering on an averagely lit part of the face, such as the left cheek in this photo, and indeed supplementing this by bracketing half a stop either way. You seem to have used a pretty wide open iris, maybe f2.8 or f3.5, and with such shallow depth of field his jumper is out of focus, which I find a little distracting- maybe extend focus a bit by bumping up the ISO and shutting down to nearer F5 or so, in combination with the blurred background.
Very pleasing portrait none the less.

Thanks for the that Duncan, it's what I need. Yes to the window being distracting. Would the translucent material be to cut down a little on the light? And to help with keeping it blurred? I think it was about f1.8 or f2, and ISO 400. I'll try again when we have a little more time.

I'd 2nd what Bruce said, I've been enjoying watching your progress, and just add an answer to your question re a lack of clarity.

You have light entering the front of the lens which will cause internal reflections (often called flare), it's inevitable, but you can mitigate it by using a good lens hood, adding more flags if convenient too. That's assuming you're not using cheap filters and your lens is spotlessly clean.

Then in post, you can add a little clarity to taste, but don't over-do it.

Thank you Phil. I'll keep that in mind for next time. Lens is spotless and no filters on it...Should there be?

 

[doggel]

Would the translucent material be to cut down a little on the light? And to help with keeping it blurred? I think it was about f1.8 or f2, and ISO 400.

The purpose of the material is just to disguise or conceal the distracting elements as far as possible, and provide a neutral background, while minimally restricting the lovely natural light that is (IMO) always preferable to artificial light. Most modern sensors cope wonderfully with high ISOs, and you should be bold and experiment at 800, and even a lot more, depending perhaps how big you want to print off.

 

[Phil V]

Thank you Phil. I'll keep that in mind for next time. Lens is spotless and no filters on it...Should there be?

Filters? No!

 

[juggler]

I'd 2nd what Bruce said, I've been enjoying watching your progress

Me too

You have light entering the front of the lens which will cause internal reflections (often called flare), it's inevitable, but you can mitigate it by using a good lens hood, adding more flags if convenient too. That's assuming you're not using cheap filters and your lens is spotlessly clean.

Then in post, you can add a little clarity to taste, but don't over-do it.

The dehaze tool in recent versions of Lightroom can help too but, again, don't over do it.

In the absence of any other flags you might be able to reduce the flare by closing the curtains to the minimum necessary to have a white background behind your son - but that'll reduce the amount of light available to bounce off the reflector.

The purpose of the material is just to disguise or conceal the distracting elements as far as possible, and provide a neutral background, while minimally restricting the lovely natural light that is (IMO) always preferable to artificial light. Most modern sensors cope wonderfully with high ISOs, and you should be bold and experiment at 800, and even a lot more, depending perhaps how big you want to print off.

It would also soften the light - or rather, any shadows - and make it less directional. It's a very useful thing to do when the sky is clear but won't have so much impact if it is overcast. It will alter how the highlights on the jaw and in front of the ears appear - probably making them larger and softer, which you may or may not want. And it may reduce flare. Or make it worse(!)

.. but that's all detail, really, it's a charming picture, nicely lit. I'd suggest getting lower. A good starting point for portraits is to have your lens at the same height as the subject's earlobes. That would also have removed the distracting background.

 

[reheat module]

Improvement all the time, - that's the way to go.
Really liking the shallow depth of field on this image, it gives great attention to the eyes.
You have also obtained a strong connection with the young boy, his expression is very good

 

[sunnyside_up]

Lovely image, and everything mentioned above aside, you've really shown very well how to backlight with natural light and utilizing a reflector. Good technique!

 

[Naka]

Thank you

 

[Naka]

Me too



The dehaze tool in recent versions of Lightroom can help too but, again, don't over do it.

In the absence of any other flags you might be able to reduce the flare by closing the curtains to the minimum necessary to have a white background behind your son - but that'll reduce the amount of light available to bounce off the reflector.



It would also soften the light - or rather, any shadows - and make it less directional. It's a very useful thing to do when the sky is clear but won't have so much impact if it is overcast. It will alter how the highlights on the jaw and in front of the ears appear - probably making them larger and softer, which you may or may not want. And it may reduce flare. Or make it worse(!)

.. but that's all detail, really, it's a charming picture, nicely lit. I'd suggest getting lower. A good starting point for portraits is to have your lens at the same height as the subject's earlobes. That would also have removed the distracting background.

Will keep that in mind for next time, thank you.