Finally I got my lighting equipment and a good friend of mine said she could help to be my model. We did not have a professional make up or stylist in our hands. But we still managed to work together and do something. CC welcome. Let me know what you guys think and where I have gone wrong.
Beauty, Portrait & Editorial Makeup Photography and Retouching
404 Posts
3006 Members
So, where have you gone wrong. Let's have a look and a think. OK, the model is very pretty, not wrong. Her makeup looks very good, and her lipstick is on her lips and not on her face, (private joke), not wrong. Your colour palette, is excellent, so also not wrong. Your use of tone is stong and confident, not wrong. I might argue her facial highlights are fraction bright, but that's just an opinion from someone who does not know the model, so I might be wrong and anyway it a subjective thing, not wrong. Your blacks may be crushed but non the less they have been handled well, so that is OK, in my opinion, not wrong. The dark subject tones stand proud of the dark tones in the background, I suspect you see what's coming. Not wrong. Lighting, in the general sens, very well done, with excellent modelling giving an excellent 3D effect, not wrong. Well actually not 100% right either, in a classic sens. What do I mean? There is not really any light in her eyes, so they are almost black, whereas I guess they are a lovely brown, and would like to see their colour and depth, so that is a bit wrong, to me. Finally, I think you have used a shorter lens than I would have chosen, allowing/encouraging you to move in very close, making her head look over-size compared to her shoulders, Not right but another judgement call, I would have made slightly differently, a bit wrong, arguably.
Oh and the edit, not wrong. In fact excellent in my view, especially for a first attempt. Outstanding job.
All in all; Good grief Rickenbacker, a very good job, almost entirely not wrong, not at all.
Thank you so much Ian for braking it down for me. For this I used a 50mm. Will keep in my mind about the catch light in eyes.
What you have here is an exagerated perspective caused by being close in, too close in my view. Perspective is always caused by distance, not lens, as everyone says, without thinking. To solve the problem, just move back and crop your image, or if you have a slightly longer lens, somewhere in the range of 70mm to say 90mm focal length then swapping lenses will allow you to use the full image, from a better distance, so you'll get the very best from your camera. But even if you do not have a more suitable lens, most modern cameras have so many more pixels than you need, so a little cropping of a shot done on a 50mm lens from a better distance will still produce a fantastic result.
Moving your light a few inches down and left would have added light,colour and detail to her eyes, much better, simple.
Agree with Ian in the highlights and eyes part. By the size of the model's pupils I am going to guess your light source was too far away from the models face. By bringing the light source closer to the model you can solve 2 problems (potentially three). It makes you highlights pop a bit more and gives you better tonal transition. (nay also lift your shadows a bit) Second, It makes the pupils react to the light and shrink in size exposing more the iris of then eyes which is where the eyes get their "life and colour". Third, there is a chance that the light source may actually give you a nice catchlight in the eyes if you position it adequately and hence solving your "eyes dark and lifeless" problem.
Pose seems fine but i would get the hand out of the frame completely. Unless you are going for a beauty shot in which case it is in the wrong position for me anyway. I would turn it palm facing the model's face, stretch the fingers and get it closer to the models cheek maybe?
Editing is also subjective. If you are going for a portrait then it is more than enough, if this is a beauty shot then the editing needs a bit of work. Skin tones are patchy and the transition between the light areas and the dark ones need to be smoother for starters
Hi Percy, Thank you for commenting. My light source was actually close, was using a beauty dish. Will work on the eye catchlight for the next one. I know the skin tones are patchy thats something I will try and focus on the next edits. Can you provide any links to videos or tutorials for that?
just google dodge and burn techniques. Your editing can improve dramatically when you learn to master that :)
Out of curiosity what were your settings? a beauty dish shouldn't give you that hot spot on the models forehead.
This was taken with a beauty dish as a single source just above the models head and about 2 to 3 feet away from her. You can see the reflection on her eyes which provide you with a nice catchlight
https://fstoppers.com/photo/109118