Portrait Shots (show us your best)

[Tucson T4R]

Brad they look good, maybe a touch heavy on the contrast and saturation but certainly more than ok for general snaps. Are you using a colour managed workflow? If so it might be worth your time to create a custom profile for your camera, or a number of them based around certain, common, lighting conditions, and take it from there. That'll give you the best, most accurate results. The Adobe DNG profile editor works good or a product like the color checker passport also does a pretty nice job. I have about 10 or so custom profiles made up for each of my cameras, each tailored to that specific camera and the most common lighting conditions I shoot in. It's easy enough to do, and only takes a couple minutes for each profile. I'm not a fan of the generic Adobe profiles.

Thanks for the feedback Trevor. I have lots to learn on portrait shooting.

No I have not worked on a color managed workflow. I'll have to step into that world I guess. :sombrero:

My wife actually likes when I drop the clarity and crank up the noise filter to soften the skin textures to the extreme.

Looks too photoshoped to me.

 

[photoman]

Thanks for the feedback Trevor. I have lots to learn on portrait shooting.

No I have not worked on a color managed workflow. I'll have to step into that world I guess. :sombrero:

My wife actually likes when I drop the clarity and crank up the noise filter to soften the skin textures to the extreme.

Looks too photoshoped to me.

I think it looks better but I would go even further on the luminance. Below is your original and an edited version. Obviously you can get better results with the full size file but it gives you an idea. This of course is just my preference on skin tones without getting into smoothing, noise or other software. Just a quick easy fix to remove red or orange in the skin.

Original

Edited

 

[Tucson T4R]

OK, I see what you are going for now. How far did you push the sliders to get that result?

Thanks

 

[Lost Canadian]

Get that workflow colour managed Brad, otherwise everything you do post capture pretty much becomes a guess.

 

[photoman]

OK, I see what you are going for now. How far did you push the sliders to get that result?

Thanks

I didn't write it down. Red was probably +18 on luminance. You can increase saturation on blue, green, and magenta in this image.

Get that workflow colour managed Brad, otherwise everything you do post capture pretty much becomes a guess.

There is truth in this statement but it also varies dependent on your vision and post process. Grey cards work great if shooting multiple shots in same area/lighting, batch processing works if your images are all fairly similar in exposure. Depends on if you are set on shooting by numbers or treat each image as a separate one off image.

 

[Lost Canadian]

Colour management simply ensures you are getting the results you're actually after. An uncalibrated monitor for instance may have a magenta or some other hue to it that is unbenounced to the photographer working on the image, brightness and contrast can be off as well, there's all sorts of issues you can run into in an unmanaged environment that works against the photographer achieving his/her desired result, irrespective of vision. A managed workflow doesnt change ones vision, it simply ensures they get what they want, from camera all the way through to output, be it print or display.

 

[Tucson T4R]

Get that workflow colour managed Brad, otherwise everything you do post capture pretty much becomes a guess.

Good advise. Will do. Thanks

 

[Tucson T4R]

A good example is my laptop. I think my primary home display is pretty close but my laptop is way off with too much blue. I never comment on others photos if I have only seen them on that wacked out display. :elkgrin:

 

[Lost Canadian]

A good example is my laptop. I think my primary home display is pretty close but my laptop is way off with too much blue. I never comment on others photos if I have only seen them on that wacked out display. :elkgrin:

Perfect example! I usually run a calibration on my monitor about once month, and you'd be surprised at how much they can drift month to month. Brightness and contrast are usually the two biggest drifters.

 

[taco2go]

Some of mine from a trip to India last spring

 

[nwoods]

Some of mine from a trip to India last spring

Wow! I absolutely love the b&w of the young girl with the can. The proud mama is pretty sweet also

 

[Containerized]

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

#2 = WOW!

 

[Containerized]

Thankfully, I'm developing a good portfolio of shots of my girlfriend, who is beautiful, awesome, photogenic, and patient with an amateur photographer:

Finally, maybe my all-time best portrait shot, subject is a wonderful friend who I took some photos of when we happened to be in London at the same time (taken at night on Great Eastern Street in London's East End on a rainy night, challenging lighting conditions, loved this result). This was taken last year and I felt, after looking at the prior and subsequent exposures with similar settings, that this was just the "lucky" one:

 

[loren85022]

I was honored to photograph each of the members of the 2012 Team USA Paralympic rugby team heading to London. Hardcore, high impact sport. Fun bunch to be around.

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