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Manny Librodo Workshop in Singapore - Help me pick!

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KL Matt

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Hi,

This weekend I attended the Saturday afternoon session of Manny Librodo's excellent portraiture workshop at Singapore's Chinese Garden. Manny came with one of his favorite models, Kharu - who in turn brought along her incredible tallent and fantastic attitude - perhaps the secrets to her beauty.

I was in over my head - but I knew I would be after I had mentioned my plans to attend the seminar to Frank, who said he wouldn't be going because it's beyond his level. This got me nervous, because Frank is way beyond my skill level for portraits!

In any case, I learned an amazing amount about a lot of things and satisfied quite a bit of curiosity about what it's like to shoot a model. Manny was incredible, his skills in available light are rivaled only by his skills with Photoshop - he also works with a lot of really cool people in Singapore and elsewhere.

I'd like to share some of my images from the workshop with you before I've done much post processing. The seminar ended with an assignment - we are to pick our 2 best photos from the shoot and submit them by Friday. I'm having a difficult time judging the merit of my own work, and what will lend itself to further processing. I've narrowed it down to 21 images, which you can see here:

" http://matt.ma.funpic.de/librodoWorkshop/index.html "

Any comments are welcome, and if you would like to vote for 2 image you think have the most promise for some creative PP, please do!

All images were taken with my istDS and A 50 1.4/77 LE

Thanks,

Matt
 
What I've noticed from Manny's portfolio at DPChallenge is that the model's eyes have a look that connects with the viewer even though they are often looking directly into the camera. Image 2087 and 2102 have that affect the most of the images you posted. The other shots are technically well done, but these two drew me into the image more than the others.

--
Tim
 
It never fails - people consistently prefer the images that I would not choose as my best work. Like my snapshots from Bali - of all the exotic dances and beautiful landscapes, my one friend liked a picture of a dog sleeping on the road the best. It's truly fascinating to see people react to my photos.

But it's also confusing. I like to share my photos with others - shouldn't I "share" the images with them that I know they will like best? What does that mean for my photography activities and how I approach them?

Matt
Rupert60 said:
2317 &2294...Nice work!
--
'This is more serious than I thought.....but it is still fun!
http://www.pbase.com/rupertdog Take a look- It's Free!
Click to expand...
--
Take it easy,

-Matt
 
Wow! Those are some great shots, Matt. And you've done great with postprocessing them too. I'd be more than glad if I shot any one of them myself. Hmm, kinda regret that I didn't/couldn't join you guys...

It's really hard to pic 2 favorites from these nice shots. I guess the #14 and #21 would be my favorites, although all the others are very nicely done too.

Thanks for sharing and good luck.
--
Frank
GMT+8hours

 
Hi Frank,

You're too kind! I felt so alone out there surrounded by all this L glass and machinegun shooting. It would have been nice to have a fellow Pentaxian along. :-) Maybe next time - I'm sure Manny will be back, he's got a great support group in Singapore, that's for sure.

The problem with my shots I realize now is that I didn't get in close enough. When I look at the shots from participants of the previous workshop, most of them are much tighter crops. There is a lot of superfluous stuff in my portraits, I think this is something I need to work on. Manny says he regularly cuts off the top of the model's head - I think it works for him since he concentrates so much on eyes, which obviously works really well for him.

Learned so much. Now to try out some of the PP techniques he described.

-Matt
 
For what it is worth, I like IMGP2102 the most. Though IMGP2047 and IMGP2119 are very nice as well, and IMGP2361 would come next if you wanted top four.
 
Thanks everyone again for your feedback.

I cropped and 'shopped one of the images I liked best tonight using some of the techniques Manny taught us in the Photoshop part of the workshop:



Let me know what you think. I'll do another one or two tomorrow.

--
Take it easy,

-Matt
 
One a little more high-key. Amateurish extract operation, so I'll have to redo. But what do you think about the overall style?



--
Take it easy,

-Matt
 
Hi Vinsant,

Thanks very much for your choice. I think the thing that one has that the others don't is that she is a) looking at me from above (I was kneeling in front of her, as I am 6'3 and she's maybe 5'3, if that) and b) she has a really transfixing gaze, moreso than the other shots. Almost like she is communicating something to the viewer directly with her eyes.

This one is a bit more difficult for PP since her eyes are quite dark due to shadows - she was looking down a bit, and the scene is backlit.

I'll try and do something with it and you can tell me what you think.

-Matt
Vinsant said:
I'm really fond of #2162 (#10) - and I must admit, only that one.

And it's not even something I can explain, do forgive that

--
Vinsant

Different Shades of a Different Colour Ellicit Different Behaviours
to a Different Photographer

http://www.differentshades.org
Click to expand...
--
Take it easy,

-Matt
 
Thanks for taking my mindless n00b comment in such a light hearted manner =)

I should get someone to model for me - why do all my friends say no? =(

Did they cover how to convince a model to model for you? I've no portfolio to start with, and I need to start somewhere ;)

--
Vinsant

Different Shades of a Different Colour Ellicit Different Behaviours to a Different Photographer

http://www.differentshades.org
 
Hi Vinsant,

I don't know if I'd call you a noob - I sure do appreciate your comments, it lead me to do this one, which I'm actually the most happy with so far. Let me know what you think about it, especially the crop and the colors.


Vinsant said:
Thanks for taking my mindless n00b comment in such a light hearted
manner =)

I should get someone to model for me - why do all my friends say
no? =(

Did they cover how to convince a model to model for you? I've no
portfolio to start with, and I need to start somewhere ;)

--
Vinsant

Different Shades of a Different Colour Ellicit Different Behaviours
to a Different Photographer

http://www.differentshades.org
Click to expand...
--
Take it easy,

-Matt
 
Hi Matt!

Well, all the images are nice. But IMO nothing really stands out for me. A lot of the shots seems soft to me (I know many people like that in portraits, I certainly do not), but your reposts by you (in reply to Vinsant) seem much sharper than the "original", so I'm a bit confused. Also, what I don't like is the model looking somewhere - and I have no idea where, for example very much so in 2019. I like those shots where she looks at "me", like 2119 or 2162, or where she is looking nowhere, dreaming, like 2273. However, in 2273, the grass. I'm not saying you cannot have something between the model and the lens, but here, the grass serves no purpose. Yes, I know, the model's head seems to touch it, but if at all, I think of a spear almost piercing her head - #ummm#. 2324, an obvious idea with the round red skirt, but too obviously staged like some of the others. The red flower serves no purpose, but at least it is not really disturbing, because its hardly visible in front of the red skirt. The light seems a bit muddy, but the biggest problem is that the model's face seems neither in focus nor properly lighted.

That said, I am sure any woman (or her partner or parents) would love to have shots like yours. But they don't "click" with me, in general. However, I tend to only like very few portrait shots, so I might not be the best to ask for opinion anyway ;)

Cheers
Jens

--

'Well, 'Zooming with your feet' is usually a stupid thing as zoom rings are designed for hands.' (Me, 2006)
http://www.jensroesner.de/
--=! Condemning proprietary batteries since 1976 !=--

Currently hosting Bandwidth Challenge #2 'So Sweet It Hurts'
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=20152045
 
Hi Jens,

Thanks for the comments. I must admit when I got home and looked at my 300 or so raw files I felt the same way (nothing special). While I was shooting, I was very excited - the model never held a pose more than 5 seconds. That's way to quick for me to compose and take a shot, and it shows. Others seemed to be much faster / experienced. The reason the ones in my gallery aren't as sharp is because they are downsized by JAlbum without further sharpening before I uploaded them, and the ones I did in Photoshop and posted to this thread I usm'd again before posting. I can assure you that my A 1.4 and 77 LE are blindingly sharp if you manage to get the focus correct, which I did on at least one eye for all the shots in the gallery.

I'm not too happy about the grass in her face either, but this was a recurring theme of the shoot (props being used around the model's head) and is part of Manny's style. The problem is, I didn't get how to use that. Manny does, in a big way. Just look at his pbase page. I'm still not sure if I like the props so much.

My composition was about 100% too far away on nearly all my shots, and there is just not enough resolution left to crop to where I needed to be. What do you think of this, BTW? (kid at my motorcycle repair shop):



Matt
JensR said:
Hi Matt!

Well, all the images are nice. But IMO nothing really stands out
for me. A lot of the shots seems soft to me (I know many people
like that in portraits, I certainly do not), but your reposts by
you (in reply to Vinsant) seem much sharper than the "original", so
I'm a bit confused. Also, what I don't like is the model looking
somewhere - and I have no idea where, for example very much so in
2019. I like those shots where she looks at "me", like 2119 or
2162, or where she is looking nowhere, dreaming, like 2273.
However, in 2273, the grass. I'm not saying you cannot have
something between the model and the lens, but here, the grass
serves no purpose. Yes, I know, the model's head seems to touch it,
but if at all, I think of a spear almost piercing her head -
  1. ummm#. 2324, an obvious idea with the round red skirt, but too
obviously staged like some of the others. The red flower serves no
purpose, but at least it is not really disturbing, because its
hardly visible in front of the red skirt. The light seems a bit
muddy, but the biggest problem is that the model's face seems
neither in focus nor properly lighted.

That said, I am sure any woman (or her partner or parents) would
love to have shots like yours. But they don't "click" with me, in
general. However, I tend to only like very few portrait shots, so I
might not be the best to ask for opinion anyway ;)

Cheers
Jens

--
'Well, 'Zooming with your feet' is usually a stupid thing as zoom
rings are designed for hands.' (Me, 2006)
http://www.jensroesner.de/
--=! Condemning proprietary batteries since 1976 !=--

Currently hosting Bandwidth Challenge #2 'So Sweet It Hurts'
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=20152045
Click to expand...
--
Take it easy,

-Matt
 
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