An image from todays session. C& C welcome.

[Onslow]

Afternoon All,
I had a session with Athina today. We had a few shots taken and I am just starting to process them. This one is first cab off the rank. There'll be a few more put off tomorrow.

Exif is intact but essentially, F11, ISO 100, 1/160th sec. 5D mk2 with 70 to 200 F2.8 L

1)

[Bronze Age Man]

The lighting on the face is very good. The makeup matches the clothes very well.
I find the cut off arm and legs very distracting. Cropping is problematic in this shot, it
may have to be a tight crop around the face or just behined the elbow. A larger aperture
would have thrown some side details out of focus and helped with the crop.

[Onslow]

Originally Posted by Bronze Age Man

The lighting on the face is very good. The makeup matches the clothes very well.
I find the cut off arm and legs very distracting. Cropping is problematic in this shot, it
may have to be a tight crop around the face or just behined the elbow. A larger aperture
would have thrown some side details out of focus and helped with the crop.

Thanks for that.....

The evenness of the makeup is something I only noticed in post. There is like a division in the application across the bridge.

I selected the crop based on the fact she was too centred in the original for my taste. There was a lot of empty white behind her which contributed nothing to the image. I wanted the indication of her laying down as opposed to sitting which the crop you suggested gave me. At some point, cutting limbs may be required. I try not to cut through joints though unless I can't see another way around it.

I was hand holding these and I find I just am not that steady. I could have gone to from f11 thru to f2.8 but I had all my lights power set for that aperture. It's a headache resetting them until I get a few more pieces. The other reason which is why I actually kept it at f11 is that I am not the steadiest of hand holders. The amount I move, the focus will be missed on the eyes with a shallower depth of field. Too much coffee I think these days. This is why in the studio, I use the tripod unless I specifically want to handhold as I did here for alternative views.

[MavRyder]

I really like your lighting! and the colors are so vibrant.

[rnyholm]

Beautiful photo of a beautiful model

[Bobby Deal]

The lighting is dead on for the style. The crop to me is the key issue working against the issue. The one thing I do see and it is tough to see well at this image size but her right cheek appears to have received more skin smoothing then the rest of the image. As if perhaps you had done some heavy work with the clone tool in that area which had muddied skin texture prior to your actual skin smoothing.

When hand holding is an issue you can always bump that shutter speed up a little more. Bumping up to 1/200 - 1/250 will make a big difference unless you are stuck in the Canon 1/160 sync speed quagmire. Also maybe examine the way you hold your lens. I shoot everything in studio hand held and proper camera handling really comes into play. The 80-200 is my go to lens ( non stablaized) for glamor work I find that it helps if I loosen the tripod mounting foot so the collar can rotate then rather then holding the lens by the barrel I allow the tripod foot to settle in the palm which when the elbow is placed in tight to the body provides a solid platform for the lens to stabilize on. Then it is a matter of controlling my breathing and rolling my finger over the shutter release not stabbing at it or pushing it. Activating the shutter of a camera is much the same as pulling the trigger of a rifle. With the rifle you squeeze your whole hand not just pull the finger back. Similar techniques or rolling the finger like you are making a finger print will result in much smoother actuation.

[wolfd]

Lovely model. I agree on the points raised re: cropping.

[yellowtiger]

Great lighting, beautiful model, tighten up the crop.

[Onslow]

Originally Posted by MavRyder

I really like your lighting! and the colors are so vibrant.

Thank you...

Originally Posted by rnyholm

Beautiful photo of a beautiful model

Thank you...

Originally Posted by Bobby Deal

The lighting is dead on for the style. The crop to me is the key issue working against the issue. The one thing I do see and it is tough to see well at this image size but her right cheek appears to have received more skin smoothing then the rest of the image. As if perhaps you had done some heavy work with the clone tool in that area which had muddied skin texture prior to your actual skin smoothing.

When hand holding is an issue you can always bump that shutter speed up a little more. Bumping up to 1/200 - 1/250 will make a big difference unless you are stuck in the Canon 1/160 sync speed quagmire. Also maybe examine the way you hold your lens. I shoot everything in studio hand held and proper camera handling really comes into play. The 80-200 is my go to lens ( non stablaized) for glamor work I find that it helps if I loosen the tripod mounting foot so the collar can rotate then rather then holding the lens by the barrel I allow the tripod foot to settle in the palm which when the elbow is placed in tight to the body provides a solid platform for the lens to stabilize on. Then it is a matter of controlling my breathing and rolling my finger over the shutter release not stabbing at it or pushing it. Activating the shutter of a camera is much the same as pulling the trigger of a rifle. With the rifle you squeeze your whole hand not just pull the finger back. Similar techniques or rolling the finger like you are making a finger print will result in much smoother actuation.

Thanks Bobby, I've included a 100% crop of the cheek area from the raw which has had no work done bar WB, Camera Profile, Lens Corrections, and a tweak in exposure as well as small amounts of clarity, vibrance and saturation. I didn't notice the lipstick? mark on her right cheek until PP. This was patched in CS5 and the repair is invisible. I do all my patching, etc before any skin processing is done. That patch is really the only work that was done on her face. As I said earlier, there is an unevenness in the application of her makeup which I didn't pick up on. Its like a division of smoothness running from cheek to cheek across the top of her nose. The 100% crop is essentially straight out of camera. The final layer processing with Portrait Professional had work done on the skin but layer opacity was brought back to 50% IIRC.

Yep, I'm stuck at 160th on my 5Dmk2. It's supposed to sync at 1/200th but I have a lovely bar in the image if I do that....
In my studio, I usually am on the tripod. I have a back problem that restricts me and leaves me in agony for days if I do a session handheld. This was a rare venture for around 1/3rd of the session. Standing up isn't so bad but when I need to get down at all or just bend, I find the back starts to give me spasms. The weight of the camera and lens really gives me grief. Too many years in the steel industry as a labourer on the cast house floor has knackered my back. Ah well.

I like the sound of your method for holding and triggering. I had found a flaw in my technique last year where I was suffering motion blur in my social pictures. I eventually realised after many weeks of studying myself on the job that I had the wrong method of actuating the shutter. I found that I was stabbing the shutter release which had the effect of pushing the camera at the moment of exposure. Once I realised that, my images improved a lot. Something so simple does have a major effect.

My next hand holding session I'll try as you suggest and see of the collar ring trick works for me....

Originally Posted by wolfd

Lovely model. I agree on the points raised re: cropping.

Thank you....

Originally Posted by yellowtiger

Great lighting, beautiful model, tighten up the crop.

Thank you....

Now for everyone with points about the cropping, I've included the full frame, uncropped version. I'd be interested to see what variations we can come up with. As I said earlier handholding is not a strong point and the framing here enabled me to keep the selected AF point on her eye. Wobbling around meant I was focussing and recomposing involuntarily........ So white on one side was the result and the idea in my head was for her be be reclining or laying backwards. That was the look I was trying for.

1) 100% crop.



2) Uncropped image

[REBlue]

Very lovely girl. I like the crop.