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Well, not really a model - just my daughter in a pensive moment. In my efforts to re-ignite my photographic inspiration, I decided to strap on the 50mm 1.4 and try some different things. I'm not much of a portrait shooter but I wanted to try some desaturation and strong contrast treatments in PP.

Your thoughts would be very much appreciated.

the colour and tone are cool but somehow the blues and magenta are not as desirable as a warmer yellowish tone

perhaps turn it to black and white up the exposure comp and brighten the highlights and you will one dam nice picture of your lovely daughter

the composition is great, it really fills the frame

Very nice looking daughter you have there

I agree that the composition looks great but there is something about the skin tone that doesn't quite sit right with me.

I agree that a B&W might look very nice with a few tweaks to the contrast.

Paul

Check your WB Simon.

This needs to be warmed up a little.

Nice pose though, and seems to be well exposed.

So fix the colour already!

Simon

This is an excellent and very engaging capture showing the connectedness between photographer & subject. I can but echo the comments already made - the image would be perfection with a little increase in the warmth to take out the blue/magenta tones.

Thanks all for the positive comments - I've upped the reds/yellows and dropped the blues/magentas as suggested. Here are the two for comparison:

First version

Adjusted


(Oh - WB on the initial shot was near to perfect but I deliberately desaturated the image for effect. Guess I went a bit too far...)

adjusted does look more natural, the lower blue appears to be the biggest improvement

Thanks LD.

can you try a black and white one just for use monochromatic junkies?

Simon, I prefer the adjusted version, I hope you feel your photographic 'mojo' is coming back. You've got a great pose and composition with this shot.

Yep, much better Simon

Nicely exposed simon and I like the composition. I agree with LD the second is warmer and more natural. I would also be tempted to decrease the depth of field to encourage the viewer to focus on the subject, possibly experiment with lens blur to soften the distraction proffered by the background. It would also have been great to see the effect that a little bounce card(gold i think) back into the eyes would have had on the impact of the photo and your daughter's gorgeous eyes. Terrific shot all the same simon:)
cheers
marco

Peter - Glad you like this one.

Craig - thanks for your comments!

Marco - I actually used Gaussian Blur on the background and really isolated Ash in focus but it looked a little too contrived so I grabbed the history brush, knocked back the opacity a bit and brought back some sharp focus in the foreground. I guess there's a happy medium in their somewhere! I've used a gold reflector before and it really does give some stunning results:
<a href=http://www.bcggallery.com/albums/manta_faces/Anna_1.jpg>(One I prepared earlier)</a>

Wendell - here's your Black and White version, via some channel mixing. Hope you like it. (I do!)

lovely you have an timeless adorable picture of your daughter

Beautiful beautiful shot Simon - this is one you have DEFINITELY got to hang in a frame at home - see, Simon got his mojo back

That gold reflector (prepared earlier shot) is fantastic.

Don't know about that yet Rel but I'm feeling a bit happier about things.

I knew you could do it Simon - lovely portrait. Your daughter must take after mum

sirhc55 wrote:I knew you could do it Simon - lovely portrait. Your daughter must take after mum

You'd be right Chris. Leek's met them both so he can vouch for it!

Nice shot, Simon. The lens is as sharp as ever. I have one of these too. Was it autofocus or MF?

Thanks

Alex

Alex wrote:Nice shot, Simon. The lens is as sharp as ever. I have one of these too. Was it autofocus or MF?

Thanks

Alex

Autofocus Alex but I prefocussed on the bridge of her nose then recomposed.

Manta wrote:

Alex wrote:Nice shot, Simon. The lens is as sharp as ever. I have one of these too. Was it autofocus or MF?

Thanks

Alex

Autofocus Alex but I prefocussed on the bridge of her nose then recomposed.

Very sharp. I found that MF gives me the best sharpness with this lens, but MF is not always practical.

Alex

I keep telling myself to increase my manual focussing but I'm always too worried about apertures and shutter speeds that I forget!!!

Alpha_7 wrote:That gold reflector (prepared earlier shot) is fantastic.

Sorry Craig - I missed this post first time round. Pleased you like it. This was taken during a minimeet we had to try and figure out the ideosyncracies of the SB800. The reflector worked a treat. This was the subject's (forum member SteveGriffin's niece) favourite shot from the day as well.

Simon - So how did you go understanding the SB-800 ? I was strugling with mine the other night and it was not delievering the results I wanted or expected, I'm looking forward to the proposed SB-800 workshop, so I can unleash a bit more of the unit's potential.

Simon, great shot. Agree with earlier comments but the eyecontact is what makes it. Your daughter must be happy

Alpha_7 wrote:Simon - So how did you go understanding the SB-800 ? I was strugling with mine the other night and it was not delievering the results I wanted or expected, I'm looking forward to the proposed SB-800 workshop, so I can unleash a bit more of the unit's potential.

I learned more in those three hours or so than I would have in a year of reading the manual Craig. It's great when you can get together with others and link up a few 800s and 600s so you can really see how the whole system integrates. Hands-on experimentation is priceless and you'll come away with a wealth of knowledge.

Glen wrote:Simon, great shot. Agree with earlier comments but the eyecontact is what makes it. Your daughter must be happy

Thanks Glen. Ash loves it but, then again, what 15yr-old girl doesn't love a half-decent photo of herself!!

More than half decent