Nordic beauty

[brainnolo]

Hi,

On Friday I had the chance to work with this very interesting model. We have made two different looks and lighting style on that day, here is the first one. What do you think?

















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Michele Balistreri

Portfolio | Michele Balistreri Fashion Photographer

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https://www.instagram.com/mik.ksyu.spb/

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[Krav Maga]

Again, excellent work. Good soft light. How large of a soft box are you using?

Also, and this is just my personal take, for me the whites of the eyes seem just a tiny bit over done. I know this is a personal and subjective thing.

I think some may suggest a smaller aperture to help get both eyes in focus. Personally, I like what you've done.

 

[brainnolo]

Again, excellent work. Good soft light. How large of a soft box are you using?

Also, and this is just my personal take, for me the whites of the eyes seem just a tiny bit over done. I know this is a personal and subjective thing.

I think some may suggest a smaller aperture to help get both eyes in focus. Personally, I like what you've done.

 

[Krav Maga]

Again, excellent work. Good soft light. How large of a soft box are you using?

Also, and this is just my personal take, for me the whites of the eyes seem just a tiny bit over done. I know this is a personal and subjective thing.

I think some may suggest a smaller aperture to help get both eyes in focus. Personally, I like what you've done.

 

[Van Griff]

MB

Beautiful images . . . compositions . . . and lighting Michele!

One comment . . . in the first image the detail in the model's left cheek pores and adjacent hair seems a tiny bit sharper than the detail around the eye . . . perhaps there is some slight front focus in your cam/lens combo or perhaps slight target misfocus assuming you targeted the model's nearest left eye.

And if you take it one step further the eye iris detail and pupil are much softer in focus than the surrounding eyelid and lashes . . . difficult to get the iris and pupil in prime sharp focus as most sensors are too large and pick up on the adjacent eyelids and lashes which commonly tend to be in sharpest focus in portraits of this size and most are happy with that.

If you wanted to achieve sharper focus on the near eye iris and pupil and you find you are getting sharpest focus with your sensor on the eyelids and lashes . . . and your cam/lens combo is not front focussing . . . assuming you have AFFT capability you could dial in some rear focus into your cam/lens combo to bring the iris/pupil into sharper focus . . . or manually focus a little deeper . . . this would also aid in getting the secondary eye in sharper focus if it is more distant than the near eye.

A minor issue but there if you want to explore.

Your creations are indeed very beautiful tho.

Best,

V G

 

[brainnolo]

Hi Van,

Thank you a lot for your comments! I will try what you suggested about focusing, I feel I should train on perfecting camera handling.

 

[lumigraphics]

These are a miss. Too dark, the nails don’t match the other makeup, the cropping is off- either chop off more or less of the top, and there isn’t any energy or spark. Sorry, just not quite there.

 

[roby17269]

I like these

Compared to the previous set you shared, I think this time the eyes would have benefited from some selective brightening, just the irises, not the whites. Also, better model

DOF seems good to me. I usually do mode full-body rather than closeups and I often shoot F/8 or 9 but remember that aperture is only a parameter of the DOF equation... other things affect DOF.

 

[Gato Amarillo]

Nice set -- I especially like the way the nail color works with the lips and eye makeup in the last photo.

To quibble, it looks as if you may have done some skin retouch on the face but not on the hands. You might thing about smoothing the hands some.

And to me the background is rather bland -- even a bit of vignette might help.

But overall very nice set of photos.

Gato

 

[KE_DP]

I use m43 system so in theory I should get plenty DOF at f/6.3, yet it is not exactly like that.

Surprisingly shallow DOF for 6.3 - I'm guessing you were very close to the model? I'd consider testing the setup to make sure it isn't front focusing since in some cases the hair or skin is focused, where the eye(s) aren't. I don't mind one being OOF but when both are slightly out....

I'd clone out the peek-a-boo bit of her top in #3.

As always nice work though!

 

[NewEraPhotographer]

I use m43 system so in theory I should get plenty DOF at f/6.3, yet it is not exactly like that.

Surprisingly shallow DOF for 6.3 - I'm guessing you were very close to the model? I'd consider testing the setup to make sure it isn't front focusing since in some cases the hair or skin is focused, where the eye(s) aren't. I don't mind one being OOF but when both are slightly out....

I'd clone out the peek-a-boo bit of her top in #3.

As always nice work though!

 

[KE_DP]

Excuse my ignorance Karen... but what would you clone out of photo #3? Thanks in advance!

It's a tiny bit of black top - HERE -









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- Karen

Karen Engel Photography Headshot Senior Portrait Professional Editorial Family Bakersfield Commercial

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[NewEraPhotographer]

Definitely didn't catch that on my own... Thanks again!

 

[brainnolo]

Thank you for your comments. Yes I realise that I should really train in focusing with the various lenses I have, because I have the impression that at least one of them suffers from front-focus issues, but since I use AF+MF I can adjust that manually with a bit of practice (I cannot find the compensation option in my GX8, if anybody knows if it exists I would be glad to hear).

About the corner of the bra to clone out, you are absolutely right, I missed it.