Imagine: perfect exposure with flash, but portrait's too clinical. How to fix this!

[Nill Toulme]

Not sure if these qualify as I used on-camera flash. Got to a staff portrait session this morning with lights, stands, umbrellas, PWs, the works... and no PC cords anywhere. Yikes!

Stuck the 580ex on the camera (I didn't even have my flash bracket with me), stuck a name tag on top of the pull-up bounce card, bounced off the ceiling and got these.

Suggestions (other than remembering to pack all the gear) welcome.

The subject header is Asher's BTW, not mine. Thanks Asher. I'm just interested in learning to do portraits better. I'm more used to shooting people in motion. ;-)

Nill

 

[Asher Kelman]

This is an important subject, so let's have your input! How would you make these pictures more portrait like? In fact what might be the difference between these and what you might deliver. After all these are well exposed, evenly lit! What would you do before using the on camera flash and in post processing? These are very good pictures. So the challenge is interesting! Try to be creative. Feel free to edit and report but add "© Nill Toulme edited for viewing here only".

Asher

 

[fahim mohammed]

Nill, I did a quick play around with Alienskin EXP2 and the sepia and old fashioned renderings seemed
better ( to me at least! ). That was last night..Asher beat me to it.

I shall do it again and post.

Best.

 

[Frank Doorhof]

Best thing is to use large lightsources and by bouncing you did so you solved the problem perfectly.
What you should do is get a Tronix Explorer just in case it happens again, with the explorers you can get power on location

But these are very nice seeing the situation.

 

[fahim mohammed]

My quick attempt.

Regards.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Fahim: please can say what you did and why! That way it has a take home message!

 

[Nill Toulme]

Best thing is to use large lightsources and by bouncing you did so you solved the problem perfectly.
What you should do is get a Tronix Explorer just in case it happens again, with the explorers you can get power on location

But these are very nice seeing the situation.

I had power... I just had no way to fire my lights off camera. :-(

Nill

 

[Asher Kelman]

Best thing is to use large lightsources and by bouncing you did so you solved the problem perfectly.
What you should do is get a Tronix Explorer just in case it happens again, with the explorers you can get power on location

But these are very nice seeing the situation.

Frank,

Yes these are very nice, considering the situation, but how might they be post processed? Ideas please from the master of faces!

Asher

 

[Nill Toulme]

While we're at it, I'm also interested in comments on the poses, background (such as it is), and anything else that comes to mind.

Nill

 

[fahim mohammed]

The portrait reminded me of the typical kodak shooters of the ' say cheese..sunny 16 ' variety. Flat and
low contrast. So I wanted more contrast, and with a plain white wall behind them I thought about
giving high contrast and a calotype rendering with a splash of sepia.

Soft focus works well too as does some cropping to minimize the uninteresting bland whitish gary wall.

Just my humble opinion.

 

[Ken Tanaka]

I guess I don't see anything to be "fixed". I'm guessing that these images are destined for some organization's "About Us" fluff, and to that end they look well done to me. It looks like Nill did a very professional job of saving the session by quickly improvising his lighting. I don't shoot portraits but if I found myself in a similar problem I might be first inclined to move the shoot outside, weather permitting, or to a spot that offered generous natural light indoors. This would enable me to use the small flash to model or fill rather than acting as a primary light.

Again, I am not a photographic portraitist but my definition of a "portrait" is a personal likeness captured to convey not just a person's appearance but also to suggest some non-visual character. (That's also generally not a desirable objective for corporate "portraits" where bosses must look smart and serious while subordinates must look congenial and likable -- like Nill's shots.) Creating a true portrait is, therefore, a much different undertaking than simply fooling with an image's tonality.

It is, however, worth noting that quite a bit of the the late Richard Avedon's work (one of the world's greatest fashion portraitists) was shot rather similarly to Nill's shots. That is, he placed his subjects against a plain white background and just clicked away (with a view camera) as he chatted with them.

So good job of thinking on your feet, Nill. Experiences like this are what make pros pros.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Got to a staff portrait session this morning with lights, stands, umbrellas, PWs, the works... and no PC cords anywhere. Yikes!

Stuck the 580ex on the camera (I didn't even have my flash bracket with me), stuck a name tag on top of the pull-up bounce card, bounced off the ceiling and got these.Nill

© Nill Toulme Image on right Edited for show only


Hi Nill,

I felt that we are missing some of the dynamics and 3D modeling that studio light provides and the benefits of a softer lens. Also the background is too hard and ad-hoc, but uninteresting and grabs too much attention (by being such a great tonal contrast, a huge jump in illunimation from the subject) as if he is captured in headlights, so to speak.

So first I made rapidly selected the fellow for 3 identical separate layers. (This is rough without any feathering). Then I Gaussian blurred one layer and sharpened another. I put the unaltered layer on top and with a soft brush, erased as 33% x3 so the sharpened the eyes and lips and lips, the shoulders and the center and upper chest of the sharp layer showed through. This brings attention to the core axis of the image. I then made one new layer of that above the blurred layer and erased to bring that through at the periphery to increase dimensionality further.

The next step was to open up the shadows and make the portrait "pop" with a curves layer. Then with this copied and pasted I placed behind these a blurred background from the Layer-New Fill Layer-Pattern that I blended with the original cut out background. The background appears separate from the subject with no shadow and makes the sitting less informal.

This is a very quick effort and there are no plastic or skin repair changes made. If this was for delivery, I'd carefully mask the hair on the full size file and be more careful

Still, I hope this might be somewhat in the direction you seek. I have to rush out but I'm still thinking of this. Ideally we'd want to use white boards to reflect light of the flash not only from the ceiling but also below the face and also to one side. I had the same issue in a fashion shoot when I didn't have a voltage filter for my Lulmedynes and the client refused to pay for rental gear I usually use.

Asher

 

[Nill Toulme]

This is good stuff Asher. Expand please...

.... Also the background is too hard and [U]ad-hoc[/U], but uninteresting and grabs too much attention (by being such a great tonal contrast, a huge jump in illunimation from the subject) as if he is captured in headlights, so to speak.[/QUOTE]

As a less drastic approach to the background than yours, would it make sense simply to select it and darken, and perhaps to add some vignetting?

[QUOTE]The next step was to open up the shadows and make the portrait "pop" with a curves layer.[/QUOTE]

Just an S-curve or something more elaborate? I really like your result there.

[QUOTE]... Ideally we'd want to use white boards to reflect light of the flash not only from the ceiling but also below the face and also to one side. [/QUOTE]

Yes that would soften the shadows under the noses and chins, wouldn't it...

Very helpful, thanks.

Nill

 

[Nill Toulme]

Thanks Ken. I definitely did a big "gulp" when I opened up the bag and realized my off camera lights were a no go. I only had about a ten-minute window with these people.

Nill

 

[Nill Toulme]

As a less drastic approach to the background than yours, would it make sense simply to select it and darken, and perhaps to add some vignetting?

Something sort of like this maybe? (Ignore the crappy masking... and can we have a masking tutorial please?)

Nill

 

[Kathy Rappaport]

What use?

First off, what was the use of these? If it were for a newsletter or web use I'd probably play with contrast and be done. The poses are good for that use. Expressions work. I think for what you had, thank goodness you had the oncamera flash.

Asher, I have to say your print background is the last solution. It's very obvious.

If it were being used for something critical, I would show the client the result and offer to reshoot. I think that I would also make a check list to prevent it again. I always bring duplicates of EVERYTHING from camera to light possibliity. You can always improvise that way.

So what is being done with these?

 

[Asher Kelman]

First off, what was the use of these? If it were for a newsletter or web use I'd probably play with contrast and be done. The poses are good for that use. Expressions work. I think for what you had, thank goodness you had the oncamera flash.

Asher, I have to say your print background is the last solution. It's very obvious.

Hi Kathy,

The background is critical here, and it was done last! Sorry you don't like it! Obvious? Yes! but not to the client most likely and anyway that is not what we would use. Since everything is in layers, that layer is just a placeholder, LOL and can be swapped out in 5 seconds! Of course anyone can find far better! This is only to demonstrate the principle of removing that harshness of a huge jump in tone in such a particular picture. It was indeed the last thing I did, LOL. Still it works pretty well as ordinary and "obvious" as it may well be! I detailed what I did. Maybe the text was hard to follow, but essentially I created 3 levels of sharpness and blur! You didn't comment on the subject! This is where 98% of the problem is! You like it or not? How would you deal with it differently if you couldn't reshoot? If you are saying you wouldn't bother with post-processing and only offer a reshoot, that would be fine too!

No one wants to be backed into a corner. However stuff happens. We can't always rewind the clock! Now we can simply send this to a retoucher or just get them to accept it as is. All are reasonable options. The pictures are, after all pretty damn good!

This problem of presenting professional work from "make-do" shots comes up from time to time. So it's worthwhile all of us sharing our unique solutions. I am hoping we'll learn some novel approaches.

Asher

 

[Kathy Rappaport]

As is....

I like Nill's last rendition best. But I'd still want to know the use of the images - it does make a difference

I think we always want to turn out work that is the best we are capable of as artists. But sometimes, we have to say "Okay, this is good enough" that is why I ask about use. As an example - I am currently working with someone that I did some headshots for - I think they are outstanding. The client is driving me crazy because his wife thinks one of his eyes is swollen. Yes, there is a dfference in the two eyes - at 8x10 but at web size, where it will be used, it's just not evident. But I think it's not swollen - she just never noticed his real age.

So use of the image makes a difference in my book.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi Kathy,

Sorry to be persistent. The whole idea of the thread is to collect new & novel approaches to rescuing ad hoc on board simple flash only portraits. Yes, we should have back-ups of everything. Here, we're given a CF card and asked to rescue the situation.

Nill,

Yes, you have improved your pictures a lot. The light and shading is however not allowing the face to become fully dimensional. The light is so harsh and unsubtle. That's the challenge. My approach is to break up zones of the face to what one might get if one would use a portrait lens at wider aperture. It's important to get rid of the shadow behind the subject too. These are "give-aways" of ad hoc shooting. One way is to separate the person from the background at the time of the shoot and or to have a separate light wash over the b.g. Our approach after the fact is to simply swap out for a new background. One can find on the web all sorts of ready-made portrait backgrounds to download.

Guys,

Just, for the purpose of making progress, let's imagine, the photographer is not available for making any changes from the original! This is for delivery as an 11x14 print to be framed in the lobby of the local Rotary Club or Chamber of commerce and a shoot cannot be re-arranged. What then? What post processing, if any, could we do to end up with a fine presetation? We are looking for other original approaches that he, (and the rest of us), might not already use.

You may say you wouldn't touch this but I'm hoping we do get creative ideas!

Asher

 

[Nill Toulme]

Hope this doesn't degenerate into another political discussion. ;-)

The purpose is almost exactly what Asher said, except it's not a Rotary club, it's church staff. I've done a series of 8x10 prints of staff (mostly with more interesting backgrounds than this) plus candids of activities to hang in the halls of the church building.

And I still want a masking tutorial... I do like the darker backgrounds better, and I haven't delivered these last two prints yet, so there's still a chance to improve them.

Nill

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi Nill,

Damn the torpedos, we just go on undaunted! I understand that part of reluctance to come up with solutions is that people don't want to admit that this happens to us because we always have backups of everything. If things were so perfect then half the retouch artists would be permanently out of work.

What photoshop version are you using?

I'll give you the links for great cutouts.

Asher

 

[Nill Toulme]

CS3 Extended ... thanks.

Nill

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi Nill,

We can select in so many ways to make cutouts. Sometimes a channel might be perfect, or we could use that and the regular select tools. However, what we need to do is to be able to select even wisps of hair or the hard edge of a steel block and anything in between. Truth is that all edges have bleed from the adjacent pixels. That's what makes things real. So instead of just carefully selecting things and merely adding a feather for the blend, we need to use professional tools.

I'm going to start off by suggesting the use of the Quick Select Tool in Dr Brown's video tutorial. I hope you can tolerate his use of "monsters", but this is an identical issue set that you have here with your pictures. Smooth fairly hard edge body and fine soft hair. Look at this and I'll then follows an alternate approach. If you can pretend you are age 12 then you won't be afraid of his monster costume and joking voice! He is a brilliant teacher!

Next work with the Extract Tool which you might like better. It is more refined. Also, there being no monsters at all, you may find this to be your favorite!

Learning both will give versatility to make the most sophisticated cutouts ever! There are some refinements to follow but these alone can do almost anything one could imagine!

Asher

 

[Nill Toulme]

Thanks Asher!

Nill

 

[Mike Shimwell]

Oops, I went and had a quick play before I'd noticed pages 2 and 3...

Anyway, 2 minutes - convert to rgb, assign adobe rgb (darkens shadows and lets me work), DXO film pack Pan F including grain, curves to tone blue shadows warm highlights, vignette (darken curves layer and soft brush), sharpen with view to eyes - could have brushed this out of the lower shirt really).

Save as sRGB jpg.

Quicker than flickr

Mike

 

[Nill Toulme]

Oooh I really like the Quick Select tool so far. I'm embarrassed to say I didn't even know it existed!

Nill

 

[Asher Kelman]

Nill,

I'm so glad this you Nill, a guy who's sports photography is so outstanding. This thread may encourage others to step forward an ask. Our job is to nurture each other's paths. Many photographers have improved their sports photography becasue of your generous help. This is how OPF works. I'm thrilled to see this.

No way that anyone can know everything of the over 850 commands in CS3.

Asher

 

[Nill Toulme]

Well I've learned a lot here, but I still have a long way to go. I finally gave up on the hair selection for this one (and therefore on darkening the background), have to get it out the door. Anyway here's what I settled on for the one, I'll tackle the other one tomorrow. I think this is far from ideal, but it's also a huge improvement over what I had. Thanks all for the input and suggestions.

Nill

 

[Nill Toulme]

And here's the other one. Much less time put in on this one — I have to move on to other things —but still I think a substantial improvement thanks to the comments and suggestions here. This has been a great learning experience for me, thanks very much to all. And feel free to comment on the "finals," for better or worse.

Nill

 

[Kathy Rappaport]

Good job

These finals work well.

Every time we do something new it takes us one step up the ladder. Every time we do something stupid, it makes us that much smarter and we find it was a lesson and we hopefully learn something we don't expect going in.