Zara

juggler

juggler

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Simon
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A while ago I was asking for experience of using diffusion filters. I managed 4 frames using some Tesco tights over the lens at the end of a workshop while continuing my quest to understand how to use hard light sources.

I'm quite pleased with it but I've ended up subjecting Zara to more photoshoppery than I'm really happy with. Feedback welcome, as ever.


Zara III by Simon Carter, on Flickr
 
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That girl has a devilish, provocative, irresistible, and …personality here!
You caught all of it and it is delicious!
I like this shot of yours very much… did I say that already?
 
Nice to see a photo of Zara with her clothes on ;)

I like the effect you've got here but I'm not so keen on the way her left side is lit.
The hotspot on her jawline makes her face look a little swollen.

The mono really suits the effect.
 
I'm not a fan of hard light for portraits, but what I notice is the direction seems to be throwing the nose shadow sideways - was there a reason you didn't bring it in from slightly higher?
I find the expression enigmatic - one time I look and I see her almost mid-sentence, or biting her lip; another time I get the impression it is something different, and more deliberate. So if it makes me look, and makes me wonder, it probably works.
 
Last edited:
rossomck said:
I'm not a fan of hard light for portraits, but what I notice is the direction seems to be throwing the nose shadow sideways - was there a reason you didn't bring it in from slightly higher?
I find the expression enigmatic - one time I look and I see her almost mid-sentence, or biting her lip; another time I get the impression it is something different, and more deliberate. So if it makes me look, and makes me wonder, it probably works.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback - I had the light lower than the last time I tried something similar. On the previous occasion the shadow was way too long. I hadn't noticed that it was being cast sideways this time. That comes of rushing off a few frames at the end of the shoot when we should have been concentrating on something else.
 
What was the goal of the shot, Simon?
 
The23rdman said:
What was the goal of the shot, Simon?
Click to expand...

Good question.

It was principally a technical exercise. The use of hard light sources for portrait photography was much more common than it tends to be these days. It's much easier to bung up a softbox and get pleasing results. For a while now I've been trying to understand how to use hard light - or more accurately, hard-edged & deep shadows - and understand what it can be used for. Done well it adds a lot of drama & depth to an image. I was also interested to see what a diffusion filter actually did to the hardness.

I can't remember exactly what directions I gave the model - other than positioning - but it will have been something about conveying intense drama.

.. and now I look again I realise I've over-sharpened parts of the image. Again. I don't like making the same mistake twice :( ..
 
Okay, thanks. I'll reserve commenting until I'm at my PC, but good to hear your thoughts.
 
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