Thursday, April 07, 2011

f2 portrait

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I took a portrait today that i was very happy with. Not only was the shoot fun but the results also met my expectations.
And I had some expectations on this one.
I had decided, before i arrived, that i would be using a 85mm lens set to f1.8 and two or three sb off camera flashes.
I turned the flashes way down (only used two in the end) and set one into an umbrella and the other pointed direct at the background from a sharp angle on the right hand side of the frame.
I set the main light (umbrella) as close to him as i could get it so the light would wrap around his face.
While setting up i had also decided to set this main light further around to the left and to shoot from a low angle. As much as i preach about having a idea before you start i also would say that if its not working then change gears. I didn't like the low angle but did not realize that until i shot from a higher one halfway through the shoot. I also moved the light around more so the light would hit both eyes and switched to f2 for just a touch more depth of field.
In photoshop i retouched a bit, not much, and added a vignette. I also increased the contrast using the method i have described in the past (new layer, desaturate,mode to luminosity,up highlights and lower shadows, and lower the layers opacity).
I had decided to shoot this in his living room as he has a house of color and was made to photograph in. That was my best decision of the day.

2 comments:

Rodney said...

Great shot Rob!! Such a nice shot of Chris!

Tanya Canam said...

Great portrait!