September 2008 - Photo assignment 2 - Portraiture of any kind

[Marko]

Thanks again to Travis for this suggestion. :highfive:
BTW I was a day late in posting this but members should feel totally free to take the initiative if they think of it first and want to start it off....or should I just tie a tighter string around my finger?:)

OK then, who is going to post first? :eek:

[mindforge]

Just to clarify... this can be lifestyle or spontaneous style portraits or are we going for more of a formal portrait?

Also, single person or is family portraiture okay? You say any... but then I can pretty much just put up a picture of a person and call it a portrait... what limitations are we going to call on this one.

[tegan]

I thought I would start it off with what some might think is a "self portrait":D:D:D smug, eh?

Tegan

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb176/ocophoto/smug.jpg

[Marko]

That's hilarious tegan, at least you're smiling :p

[kiley9806]

lol - too funny tegan! :p

[kiley9806]

a portrait of my son in the park

[mindforge]

http://mindforged.com/photo/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/jakeumbrella-400x266.jpg

[mindforge]

http://mindforged.com/photo/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/dsc06096-400x267.jpg

[mindforge]

Okay, these are two from the past week.

From my blog I either get this size or way too big... so if you want to look at them larger, go to http://mindforged.com/photo

[tegan]

Boy, she has beautiful blue eyes, Mindforge, which you really brought out in the photo. :)

Tegan

[tomorrowstreasures]

[QUOTE=tegan;5084]I thought I would start it off with what some might think is a "self portrait":D:D:D smug, eh?

Tegan
LOL!!!! That would be a great assignment, Tegan - photograph something other than a person that would "describe" you. Maybe October? Halloween is coming up!:lightbulb
Tegan's goat = susan getting inspired! WOW!
still giggling.

[mindforge]

Boy, she has beautiful blue eyes, Mindforge, which you really brought out in the photo. :)

Tegan

I had to do a lot of editing on her. It is my friend's daughter. This shot was one of three, she came to that spot on the playground and spit over the edge. In this shot, she had spit rolling off her lip and down her chin... but I loved the picture, so I went with it, cooled it off and made her eyes pop. I believe I softened the face a bit too, maybe I shouldn't have though...

[Travis]

I still haven't had time to massacre an image in photoshop, but here is a portraiture I took the other day...

[Marko]

Nice shots Kiley and Mindforge.
Kiley - this is a lovely portrait of your son. Small tip - a shaded environment like this is perfect for a reflector/a hint of fill flash to brighten the eyes.
Mindforge - Nice portraits as well, I especially like shot 2 of the girl sticking her head out (though imo, I think you overdid it a tad on the eyes).

[Marko]

Travis I think this is an excellent portrait which requires very minimal post-processing!

[mindforge]

I just shot this one of my wife today.. she was in the kitchen. I bounced my flash off the ceiling at an angle . A little post processing.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g210/mindforged/optkerport.jpg

[tomorrowstreasures]

Here is my portrait submission. I love this photo-the little face she made just cracked me up! Her mama loved it too.:)

589

[kiley9806]

nice one mindforge - love the eyes...
only thing i'd like to see is the full hand her chin is resting on, and the rest of her ear.

[tomorrowstreasures]

I just shot this one of my wife today.. she was in the kitchen. I bounced my flash off the ceiling at an angle . A little post processing.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g210/mindforged/optkerport.jpg

I think you did a lovely job of lighting!

[tomorrowstreasures]

I still haven't had time to massacre an image in photoshop, but here is a portraiture I took the other day...

Adorable! I love every thing about this photo!

[tomorrowstreasures]

Kiley - Nice job of keeping those ugly shadows off of your little guys face! Nice photo!!!

[tegan]

Here is my portrait submission. I love this photo-the little face she made just cracked me up! Her mama loved it too.:)

589

Great shot, TT. I like your clean backgrounds when they need to be free of distractions and lighting and colour is good too.

Tegan

[JoeMezz]

http://photos.themezz.com/images/20080429204742_060503-img_0778.jpg

[Marko]

Mindforge - Love the eyes and expression in your wife's shot! The crop on the ear doesn't bother me much but the crop of the hand I'm not sure about.

TT - Love the sassy portrait! She looks like she's going 'potty'...but somehow I don't think that's what's going on. Great expression on the kid.

JoeMezz - Very fun photo and I really like the smile. The coffee cup seems slightly bright for me unless it was deliberate.

Very interesting submissions everyone! Mine's coming hopefully soon. thx - M

[mindforge]

Mindforge - Love the eyes and expression in your wife's shot! The crop on the ear doesn't bother me much but the crop of the hand I'm not sure about.


Yeah. That was a rookie move. I shot it really close to her and didn't really pay attention. It actually is just kind of a normal shot... lots of post processing in this actually. I wanted to get a little more distortion but I didn't get it in this one.

[megster85]

Photography by Megan McMeekin- more of my photos are here: http://myfocusphotos.com/thumbnails.php?album=lastupby&uid=2

http://myfocusphotos.com/albums/userpics/10002/normal_IMG_2793.JPG

[mindforge]

Okay. I spent about an hour or so doing that high pass stuff that looked horrible earlier... I really tried to dial this one in... I think it could use some toning down... but I like it.

Trying to develop a post process style still... I want to create some actions for it when I am done.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g210/mindforged/kernhighedit.jpg

[kiley9806]

i think you did a great job on 'freckles', megan! what a cutie... :)

[tomorrowstreasures]

[QUOTE=megster85;5264]Photography by Megan McMeekin- more of my photos are here: http://myfocusphotos.com/thumbnails.php?album=lastupby&uid=2

How cute... love the freckles!

[tomorrowstreasures]

[QUOTE=mindforge;5265]Okay. I spent about an hour or so doing that high pass stuff that looked horrible earlier... I really tried to dial this one in... I think it could use some toning down... but I like it.

Trying to develop a post process style still... I want to create some actions for it when I am done.

Very interesting!

[tomorrowstreasures]

JoeMezz - I really like the movement juxtaposition to the "Quietness" of a reading corner/library.

[pslove]

here's my submission:) taken for a photoshoot on saturday. the photo was taken in griffentown down by the bike path under one of the overpasses. the angel was a little to high up for her so she stood on her friend's lap to get the right hight::grin:: it's one of my favorites from the day.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3002/2885725481_a1b9fe8a65.jpg

[tegan]

[QUOTE=pslove;5523]here's my submission:) taken for a photoshoot on saturday. the photo was taken in griffentown down by the bike path under one of the overpasses. the angel was a little to high up for her so she stood on her friend's lap to get the right hight::grin:: it's one of my favorites from the day.

Her head interferes with the "A"s in "Artiste cherche Amour", so I would either move the text over or clone it out totally.

Tegan

[Marko]

Megster85 - Really sweet shot of the freckly girl! Nice!
Mindforge - I like the post-processing and the "ta-da" feeling that the baby's hand has. I think you cropped too close on the bottom and left side though, the man and the woman's hand would have made this shot much more dynamic had they not been cropped.
pslove - I like this shot but I would have liked to see a different angle. If she is an Angel, maybe shooting from below might have been appropriate...just a thought and i like the colour in the eyes.
taffy - WOW - I really like this pose and I really like the light and how the irises are all lit up in your daughter's face. I also like her expression. For me, the minor problem is the left arm, it's a bit bright. The soft eyes are a major problem here though.

[Marko]

Here's one I took last weekend at podcamp montreal. It's a very casual portrait of my friend Mitch Joel and musician David Usher

[taffy]

A portrait of my daughter, taken using available windowlight.

Cheers

taffy

[tegan]

Taffy: The normal pose for a girl is weight at the back, higher shoulder at the front and a very slight head tilt to the front. Body parts such as knees should not get split, nor elbows cut off.

Considering windowlight, lighting and exposure was extremely well handled with good skin colour and none of the problems usually associate with cross lighting models. Either she is extremely beautiful or you did a great job with touch-up. The eyes could still use some fine tuning but in a very minor way.
I would like to see a little more of the brown colour which can be done very quickly with a dodging brush. There also seems to be a slightly brighter white circle on the outer edge of the iris that could be blended better with the rest of the white in her eye.

I would suggest a reflector to make the shadow on the right side a little more transparent and bring out a little more detail on that side. I would also back off a bit to get more of the top of her head.

Tegan

[tegan]

Marko:

You used fill flash very well and it looks natural. You also avoided getting a reflection in the glasses of the gentleman on the left. The appartement in the background is a distraction as well as some other items. The gentleman on the left seems to be squinting although he is probably reacting to the flash. The expressions look natural as well.

Tegan

[tomorrowstreasures]

Marko and Taffy - nice job!

[PKMax]

A pic of my daughter being cheeky as usual
624

[Travis]

Here's one I took last weekend at podcamp montreal. It's a very casual portrait of my friend Mitch Joel and musician David Usher

nice work!.... geez Marko............ what do you work for E-talk or something? you seem to be able to hob knob with elite cdn musicians quite frequently..

[AcadieLibre]

Great bunch of photos, really outstanding works.

[Marko]

Thanks Travis - just getting lucky I guess.

PKMax - I love that photo of your cheeky daughter! :highfive:

[baddness]

This is my daughter. Yes I broke lots of rules, high noon, shadows etc. But this is about the only portrait that I have taken this month that I like.

[asterismos]

This is a portrait of a really sweet golden retriever who belongs to one of our neighbors.

[tomorrowstreasures]

Baby S here. I purposefully set the soft focus to balance the harder shadowing I wanted - Did I do ok on the eyes? :fingerscr

655

[Travis]

Baby S here. I purposefully set the soft focus to balance the harder shadowing I wanted - Did I do ok on the eyes? :fingerscr

655

I'm on my crummy laptop.... but I see banding all over the out of focus area....

cute baby though...

[tegan]

You caught the baby's expression perfectly along with a highlight in each of the eyes. What I don't see is a separation between the pupil and the colour area of the eye so he/she must have dark eyes. The shadow at the left hand side also portrudes into the eye area slightly which is not ideal. I would lighten the left white area of that eye in post.

The challenge is to determine what to keep sharp and what to soften. I am not sure that I would take the same approach as you, but on the other hand, I do not see a perfect approach either.

And before anyone else: AWWWWWW, What a cutie! :):)

Tegan

[tegan]

I'm on my crummy laptop.... but I see banding all over the out of focus area....

cute baby though...

No banding whatsoever on my monitor, so it must be your laptop.

Tegan

[morgan]

pictures of my friend's dog. this was my first shot at pet photography
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p148/morganleighbomer/eIMG_1231.jpg

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p148/morganleighbomer/bIMG_1213.jpg

[lily13]

I know this is day late but I wanted to post these portraits of my little ones...first my babygirl Daisy & second our little boy due Sept 28, (not your typical portrait i guess but he's running late just like his mom lol...)

[tomorrowstreasures]

Lily - both are really sweet!