Brian of Bozeats '26 from '52 - 2015 week 52: Christmas

RESHOOT:

I got bored waiting for the new theme.

Had a read back through light science and magic. Also the Strobist 102 section and realised than Allan was right about a large light source rather then a small one. A small one gives more contrast (harder shadows) which I thought would work but a large one is better for metals and highly reflective surfaces to make the specular highlights the way I wanted them. Cheers Allan. (y) I used a second flash bounced off the white ceiling. took a while to balance the lights but I got there, I'm quite chuffed with this now.

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here's the added flash -

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Cheers,

B.
 
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Cobra said:
As I recall Sarah wasn't posting them till about 5pm, have patience young padawan :p
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It wasn't aimed at you ssssir. ;)

There's plenty I could shoot if I only had the inspiration to get my kit together.
 
Week 47: Covered.

I knew i'd do this (or something very similar) the moment the theme was announced. I'm quite pleased with it.

Nix Brown A--2050-Edit.jpg

Model: Nix Brown.

B.
 
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Wonderful response to the theme. Lovely portrait of an obviously beautiful lady. Great bit of lighting - well taken Brian :clap:
 
Hi Brian, nicely lit not sure on the crop tighter to her eyes maybe :thinking: i am no expert in portraits
 
Carl Ayling said:
Wonderful response to the theme. Lovely portrait of an obviously beautiful lady. Great bit of lighting - well taken Brian :clap:
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Thanks Carl. I've had this headscarf idea on my mood board for a while now, a fortunate set of circumstances came together at the right time, I got set up early and took my time to get the background exactly where I wanted it (histogram wise), even had a stand in model. Regardless of this, a blind man couldn't take a bad picture of Nix!


alsjazzera said:
Hi Brian, nicely lit not sure on the crop tighter to her eyes maybe :thinking: i am no expert in portraits
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I know what you mean. I have 20 or so shots from this set up and I really love them all, It was a hard choice.
 
She certainly is :)
nice take on the theme and nicely taken too Brian :thumbs:
 
Lovely eye contact and the browns work well together. Nice and close, too.

Now.....the eye's don't look as sharp as I think they could been.

That said, wonderful model.

:clap:

Cheers.
 
sirch said:
Very nice
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Thank you

Blush said:
Beautiful photo! It's spot on :D
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Thank You

Dark Knight said:
got to agree with all, splendid photo Brian, and I can't add to the positive crit either, just really like it(y)
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Thank you

Cobra said:
She certainly is :)
nice take on the theme and nicely taken too Brian (y)
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Thank you

posiview said:
Lovely eye contact and the browns work well together. Nice and close, too.

Now.....the eye's don't look as sharp as I think they could been.

Cheers.
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Thanks Andy, do you know I was thinking that it looked soft after the upload, after your comment I have had a look and I had the sharpen for screen box unchecked in Lightroom. I've re exported and replaced the image, what do you think now?
 
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As soon as the theme was announced I'd planned something similar ... the wife just loves dressing up, I wanted to go to the park and do a OOF autumn BG, but, what with bad weather it never happened. What you've achieved here Brian with artificial light is something quite special. (y)
 
d00d said:
As soon as the theme was announced I'd planned something similar ... the wife just loves dressing up, I wanted to go to the park and do a OOF autumn BG, but, what with bad weather it never happened. What you've achieved here Brian with artificial light is something quite special. (y)
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Thanks David. Much appreciated. You could have gone for a brolly, raincoat and wellies... and maybe get her to do a puddle splash! :naughty:

I'm enjoying myself learning to use flash and it is the right time of the year to be in command of your own light, the weather being so grey wet and uninspiring of late.
 
Brian_of_Bozeat said:
Thanks David. Much appreciated. You could have gone for a brolly, raincoat and wellies... and maybe get her to do a puddle splash! :naughty:
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I know what you mean, but I had a lightbulb moment, came up with the idea of sifting flour over clothe pegs. :D

Brian_of_Bozeat said:
I'm enjoying myself learning to use flash and it is the right time of the year to be in command of your own light, the weather being so grey wet and uninspiring of late.
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I bought a used Nikon Speedlight a couple of weeks ago, haven't worked out how to turn it on yet. It came with a 125 page manual. :eek:
 
Coooeee Jeff :p

Love your Joker shot, the first one that is. I think it's because the texture of the lead detracts from the beauty of the glass. It's certainly a beautiful piece of work from your first experience of stained glass. Be proud young man :clap:

Covered, blimey, what a lot of work you put into that and it was well worth it. Beautifully lit (y) I'd like to see it in a 'letter-box' crop too with more focus on the eyes. It seems to give it more ooomph but that's just my opinion ;)
 
d00d said:
I bought a used Nikon Speedlight a couple of weeks ago, haven't worked out how to turn it on yet. It came with a 125 page manual. :eek:
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Get yourself over to the strobist 101 website. Good old common sense and not an inverse square law in sight. Once you have a working knowledge of manual OCF the Nikon creative lighting system is much easier to understand (or should I say, you understand what you are TRYING to achieve)

I'm not an expert but as I am a little ahead of you at the moment please feel free to PM me if you think I can help at all.
 
Bruja said:
Coooeee Jeff :p

Love your Joker shot, the first one that is. I think it's because the texture of the lead detracts from the beauty of the glass. It's certainly a beautiful piece of work from your first experience of stained glass. Be proud young man :clap:

Covered, blimey, what a lot of work you put into that and it was well worth it. Beautifully lit (y) I'd like to see it in a 'letter-box' crop too with more focus on the eyes. It seems to give it more ooomph but that's just my opinion ;)
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Thank you.
 
Hi Brian,

That is a cracking glass panel (y) I like both shots as I prefer the glass in the first and the lead in the second (I know, fussy b****r aren't I!).
Covered... Beautiful portrait. Perfect lighting :clap:
 
susiejb said:
Hi Brian....super choice for the theme, its better for the sharpening on the eyes, they are absolutely spot on and quite captivating. Definitely one to be very proud of.
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Thank you.

LC2 said:
I didn't catch the before shot Brian, but this version certainly seems fine and dandy to me. Excellent work!
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Thanks

Leebert said:
Hi Brian,
That is a cracking glass panel (y) I like both shots as I prefer the glass in the first and the lead in the second (I know, fussy b****r aren't I!).
Covered... Beautiful portrait. Perfect lighting :clap:
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Thank you Lee.
 
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Nice use of DoF there Brian, and a leading line from the back to the front.
The background on the left is a little distracting though, would it have been posible to darken the shadow there selectively?

Edit - I really should use a spell checker (or more to the point, something to check my typing).
 
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LC2 said:
Noce use of DoF there Brian, and a leading line from the back to the front.
The background on the left is a little distracting though, would it have been posible to darken the shadow there selectively?
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Thanks, yes, I suppose it would. :)
 
Hi Brian :)

Liking the shape of that, a real nice curve into through the shot, DoF is nice and shallow, but for the theme for me should be a bit deeper, so you could see the elephants connected, at least the first two... still, liking the composition and the nice bright image :)
 
Dark Knight said:
DoF is nice and shallow, but for the theme for me should be a bit deeper, so you could see the elephants connected, at least the first two...
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:agree: ... just assume the elephants are connected, and if so, what a wonderful prop. :)
 
Dark Knight said:
Hi Brian :)

Liking the shape of that, a real nice curve into through the shot, DoF is nice and shallow, but for the theme for me should be a bit deeper, so you could see the elephants connected, at least the first two... still, liking the composition and the nice bright image :)
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d00d said:
:agree: ... just assume the elephants are connected, and if so, what a wonderful prop. :)
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Thanks. I bought this ornament at Chester zoo many years ago.

You are both entitled to your opinions but today I have to disagree about the need to see them joined, someone once said that if you want to make something interesting, don't show the whole thing. Someone else said "leave them wanting more". A bit like a striptease I suppose! I do know what you mean though, I had a triptych - where the top and side views were in full focus - that would have filled that particular requirement, but I held it back since Friday and in the end I had to face up to the fact that it just didn't work* so I submitted this, the most interesting image of the three. ;)


*Those of you who have known me a while will know that I have a long term love of and sometimes stuffer badly with trying to create "acceptable" triptychs, joiners and the like.
 
Dark Knight said:
Hi Brian :)

Liking the shape of that, a real nice curve into through the shot, DoF is nice and shallow, but for the theme for me should be a bit deeper, so you could see the elephants connected, at least the first two... still, liking the composition and the nice bright image :)
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:agree: Totally agree... A type of shot that I love :D You did well, Brian :clap:
 
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Hi Brian, as you say you don't always have to show everything, I like the lack of DoF :clap:
 
Elephant? now there is a shoe horn if ever there was one :p

Nice use of DoF Jeff Brian :thumbs:
 
Hi Brian, love this submission for Connected. Great leading line and even with the shallow dof you can see they are connected.

My only crit is it could be sharper at the front but that may be because it's a relatively low res pic?

And ignore hissy, he thinks he's got a monopoly on animal pics ;)
 
Hi Brian,

Good fit to the theme. You have the perfect prop. I too would like to see a bit more DoF. I understand your comment about not needing to see the whole thing but in the instance a little more is required to make the connection I think.
 
Hey Brian. Love the DoF; brilliant subject too - like the way it sweeps away to the right losing definition as it goes. :clap:
 
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