Comments and tips on portrait wanted

[PerJ]

Hi!

I have two daughters, 11 and 12 yo, who are playing handball.

I have promised to take portraits of their teams for a player presentation on a website. There will also be a possibility for the players to order prints up to 8”x12”.

There will be up to 60 players and coaches presented so I want to find out a simple work flow.

I’ve done some practice with my younger daughter as a model and I’m quite satisfied with the result but I want your comments and suggestions for improving my work flow and skills.

I used a Konica-Minolta A2 with 5600HS (D) flash in wireless mode to take the picture:

f 3,2
ISO 100
1/125s
Focal length 136mm
Focus distance 2,20m

My work flow with Elements 2:
Copy original layer, apply USM 20;50;0
Copy original layer (on top), apply Gauss 2,0, Erase hair, eyes, lips, text.
Make to one layer.
Levels 0;1,20;255
Dodge tool; midtones; 25% over the hair
Saturation ;Master;+10

Picture resized to 480x640 for attachment1

And for the final picture that will be on the website:
Cropped
USM 20,50,0
Resized to 200x267


The original file from the camera can be found here:
http://www.johnni.se/photo/bilder/PICT4631.jpg

[Mike]

I think your main light is too low and should be more on her left side. I would fill the right side of her face with either another light or use a reflector. I would use another light or reflector to provide a light on her hair which would help seperate her hair from the background. Is there a reason for the black background? Could you use something else?

By the way, if you do not have reflectors, they can be easily made by taking some aluminim (spelling?) foil, crumple it up, then flatten it back out and tape or staple it to a piece of cardboard. Kind of crude, but cheap and it works.

Mike

[PerJ]

A Lastolite collapsible reflector is already on my birthday wish list, nov 9.
A second flash is on my christmas wish list.

I have attached two files:

setup0
Shows how my picture was taken, models body towards the flash, head pointed somewhere between the flash and the camera and the eyes looking into the camera.

setup1
Is this what I should try?
Move the flash more to the left of the model.
Find a position for a reflector at the models right side.
(A second reflector for the hair? Where?)


I have one white and one black fleece background, I'm trying to find out which one I should use and when.

BTW, I attached a third file, last years picture on the website, I have improved since then.

Per

[Vikki]

This is in reply to your workflow in Elements:
Copy original layer, apply USM 20;50;0 First, make a copy of the original image (always save the original, untouched)
Sharpen last, not first.

Copy original layer (on top), apply Gauss 2,0, Erase hair, eyes, lips, text.
Not sure what you're doing here. Didn't you just sharpen everything in your previous step. Now you're blurring? If you want to touch up blemishes etc., do it as needed, not globally. Also, create a transparent layer for your touchups.

Levels 0;1,20;255 Levels settings should not be static, and would depend on the individual image.

Dodge tool; midtones; 25% over the hair The dodge tool is destructive and there are alternatives that work better. Also, not sure why you are doing this step either. Everyone will have their hair retouched?

Saturation ;Master;+10 Use adjustment layer for this, and change the layer mode to "color".

[I]Picture resized to 480x640 for attachment1[/I] If you intend to sell 8x10 of the image you just retouched, you should make a copy and save your work before downsizing.

And for the final picture that will be on the website:
Cropped
USM 20,50,0
Resized to 200x267
Consider using "Save for Web".

[kschulz]

Originally Posted by Vikki

Saturation ;Master;+10 Use adjustment layer for this, and change the layer mode to "color".

Vikki, can you comment more on why you suggest changing the layer mode to color for the Hue/Sat adjustment?

Thanks,
- Kurt

[Panpan]

Originally Posted by Vikki

Copy original layer (on top), apply Gauss 2,0, Erase hair, eyes, lips, text.
Not sure what you're doing here. Didn't you just sharpen everything in your previous step. Now you're blurring?

Hi Vikki
Usm 20;50;0 doesn't sharpen. At radius 50, the effect is an increase in local contrast.

Pierre

[Duv]

Originally Posted by Vikki

This is in reply to your workflow in Elements:
Copy original layer, apply USM 20;50;0 First, make a copy of the original image (always save the original, untouched)
Sharpen last, not first.

An alternative to sharpen last, not first is the sharpen early, often and late method. Digital images come out soft. A small amount of early sharpening will add detail without noise. Often, well, as necessary to sharpen specific parts of the image. Finally, sharpen to your output device..printer, web, etc.

You can get the TLR Sharpening Toolkit plus tutorial from The Lights Right website which is an excellent resource.

Also, Mike may be right about the main light being too low but be careful not to raise it so high as to lose the catchlights.

Cheers

Dave

[Gary Richardson]

Hi Per,

Just made a quick adj to your picture, to try and improve the lighting a little.

Duplicated layer, desaturated, then inverted. Set blend mode to soft light, and reduced layer opacity to 30%. Masked to reveal just LHS of girls face.

Flattened image.

Duplicated layer, then applied Hi Pass Filter, rad 10. Set blend to soft light. (To sharpen and up contrast), lastly reduced layer opacity till I got look I wanted.

Obviously easier and more effective to just alter lighting, but thought I'd have a go at faking it.

[PerJ]

Yes KM-A2 gives quite soft pictures so instead of changing the camera settings I usually apply USM first of all, not right all times.

I have changed my way of using PSE2, so I made a second try.
I have tried to use adjustment layers.


Can anyone tell me what Hi Pass Filter is, I got a swedish edition of PSE2 and have no clue at all.


Per

[Duv]

You will find High Pass under Filters in PSE2. Duplicate your background, drag the High Pass onto your image and adjust to Gary's numbers. Then go back to your top layer, change to Soft Light and adjust opacity to suit.

Cheers

Dave

[Mike]

Your set up 1 is good as far as it goes. The 2nd reflector should be behind her right side and higher than her head, so the light reflects onto her hair. Place it just out of the cameras view. Remember with reflectors, the intensity of the light falling on the subject can be controlled by adjusting the distance between the reflector and the subject, the longer the distance, the weaker the light.

In the image with the lighter background, how close is she to the back ground? I would suggest a distance of at least 6 feet. This should give you room for that 2nd reflector and keep your main light off the background so you do not get a shadow of her. If the background goes to dark, one can use most any light back there as the color temperature of the light is not a factor on the background, just make sure none of the background light spills unto the subject.

Maybe you could say something funny to make her smile???

[byRo]

Originally Posted by kschulz

Vikki, can you comment more on why you suggest changing the layer mode to color for the Hue/Sat adjustment?

Replying for Vikki.....

When you are in RGB Mode, the Hue and Saturation are just indirect values calculated from the RGB values and are not controlled directly.
This means that when you adjust Hue and Saturation, PS will juggle the RGB numbers any way it sees fit to get something that will suit your adjustment.
As Red, Green and Blue have different perceived luminosities you end up with an image that attends perfectly your H/S numbers, but the luminosity may have got messed up.
So if you set the mode to color, you can be sure that the original luminosity will be left unchanged and only H/S have been altered.

If you were using L*a*b mode, H/S would be directly controlled and you wouldn't have to worry about affecting the luminosity.

Cleared up, or more confused?

Rô

[kschulz]

Ah, perfectly cleared up. I recall reading on the TheLightsRightStudio that HSL will adversely affect luminosity, and that you can avoid that by editing in LAB mode. I did not know that using the adjustment layer in color mode is another solution - and a much easier one.

Thanks once again Rô!

[Kraellin]

i have only one comment (boy, that's gonna surprise a few folks), get the girl to smile next time

Craig

[Gary Richardson]

Suprise isn't the word Craig, I needed to kick start in my pacemaker I was so shocked (LOL).

[Kraellin]

sorry gary, it was halloween and i felt like scaring a few people

but seriously, sometimes a photo is good enough for what it is trying to be and the purpose for taking it. they dont all need to be 'art' or 'studio quality'. and i think this one qualifies.

Craig