Had a friend from a former job link me up with an aspiring model actress just as I was moving into a new studio space. Used the opportunity to shoot some "dramatic glamour" (her words) shots. I'm still editing the set, but this is the first one to come out of it. Feedback welcome (but before anyone says I 'overworked' the eyes, I didn't touch the eyes at all, this is just how she photographs).
XT3 with 56mm and a single light with a gridded beauty dish.
Hi Matthew. Am all for praise of this work. In my learning process, the space left in direction of her sight, the light, the texture of skin and costumes are all appealing. The expression defines the uniqueness of this work. I assume this was one light set up (?). Leaving pimples in the skin and lip texture prevents the image looking artificial. Please share if you would have preferred having a reflector or fill light for right shadows at face and also lower parts of body or would still have continued with present set up. Thanks.
Thanks for the feedback! I appreciate it. The moles on her cheek were left at the model's request, but I definitely tried not to go crazy on skin smoothing.
Yep, this is one light. I have plenty of reflectors and lights in my studio but, for this image, this is the effect we were going for. More from this day have reflectors, 2 lights and/or clamshell lighting. She had some images she brought where the shadows fell all the way back and that's what we were trying to capture.
I'm not sure about having her eyes look up like that. Too much of whites of the eyes look awkward. Bug-eyed like. Since she's staring into nothing, I would have had her eyes just look straight forward.
I'd lighten the dark circles under the eyes.
Thanks for the feedback! I lightened the portions of the skin under the eyes that were blemish related but didn't want to eliminate the shadows given the nature of the image. I don't think these are 'bad' since they're shadows and not 'bags'.
It doesn't matter if they are bags or not. Dark circles typically isn't a good look. It's still going to make them look tired and old.
I can show you what a small and light change can have a big and more flattering impact, if you like.
Not looking for help. Disagreeing with you.
FWIW, I did go back and revisit the eyelids. I left them just as dark on the lid itself as I still like the shape and dark shadow matching the rest of the image. I did push back the area of skin under the eyeball though where the 'bag' usually is and it does look a bit cleaner. Thanks.
So, I just have a couple things to note as I look at this great photo. I am only trying to help and perhaps learn something along the way.
There is a hazy/soft look to the image, I guess it might be described as "highlight bloom" - anyway, it looks a little funny to me, kind of like pulling the clarity slider to the left? My point in bringing this up is that it gives kind of a dreamy look and, in my opinion, perhaps detracts from the dramatic look. Not bad, just an observation.
Was there any editing done to some of the model's outline and the edges of the fur coat? Something about the edges of the coat as they go into the black/shadow just keeps drawing my attention.
I am currently using the X-T3 as my main camera. The 56mm f1.2 is my current workhorse. I feel like that combo is very inspiring and never gets in my way during the creative process.
My last note on the image is actually about her eyes. They don't look processed or "overworked" to me, but I think I know why some people might jump to that conclusion at first glance. The model has big, beautiful eyes, firstly, but her head is pointing downward, and her eyes are pointing up. This makes the white of her eyes take up a large portion of her eyeball real estate. When there is too much of the white of the eye showing, sometimes it conveys an unnatural or unappealing look to the viewer. I think the white of her eyes, in contrast with allllll the black in the frame perhaps causes some of the "overworked" look to some as well. There are no actual rules, however, and I think it is a nice shot.
Keep posting, I look forward to seeing more!
Thanks so much for taking the time to give your feedback. I kind of liked the dreamy look but I'll go back and play with some options since that was very insightful feedback. I upped the saturation a tiny bit in the coat, but nothing was done to the edges on the model like masking or anything. I'm not seeing the edge issue you're talking about, but I trust you since I did mask out the coat.
I see what you're saying about the whites being more extreme with the pose. That's combined with the fact that her eyes are super white and don't have any veins or yellowing. I wouldn't have "brightened" then up that much if they didn't already look like that, but I haven't ever darkened someone's whites before either so I left them. There are plenty of other shots from the day that are less 'white heavy' in the gaze.