Specular highlights on the right side of her face scream "artificial"...
Help me out, what exactly do you mean by artificial?
I think Bear means flash/strobe/artificial...
If you look at the model's left side of her face, the light looks like it's originating/coming from below. The light is a bit "harsh". If the light was defused a bit more/a little softer, the light may not appear as "artificial".
Specular highlights on the right side of her face scream "artificial"...
Help me out, what exactly do you mean by artificial?
I think Bear means flash/strobe/artificial...
If you look at the model's left side of her face, the light looks like it's originating/coming from below. The light is a bit "harsh". If the light was defused a bit more/a little softer, the light may not appear as "artificial".
Hope that helps...
(Excuse my layman's term. I'm just a hobbyist.)
Leo
You may be quite right...
I had a reflector under her to my right. Above and to the left was a 42" umbrella... I'm betting I just had too much reflector - I should have just left the shadows?
I had a reflector under her to my right. Above and to the left was a 42" umbrella... I'm betting I just had too much reflector - I should have just left the shadows?
Bro, I'm just a hobbyist. Maybe a gold reflector??? or move the reflector farther away...??? Powering down the light a notch???
That's the beauty of experimenting, especially if you have a willing model...
Others have already given some very good pointers about the background, evening out the lighting and on pose. Jumping off of the critique that slickchik mentioned about accenting her jawline - Can't remember who posted this great instructional video on how to pose your model but it is very helpful: How important is it to accentuate your subject’s jawline in a portrait? Start at the 1:30 point where it gets to the main tips on how your model needs to pose to get a good jawline (8:46 timeline illustrates the technique even better).
CNovack posted this on the photo, wow! Pure gold, thank you!
Others have already given some very good pointers about the background, evening out the lighting and on pose. Jumping off of the critique that slickchik mentioned about accenting her jawline - Can't remember who posted this great instructional video on how to pose your model but it is very helpful: How important is it to accentuate your subject’s jawline in a portrait? Start at the 1:30 point where it gets to the main tips on how your model needs to pose to get a good jawline (8:46 timeline illustrates the technique even better).
CNovack posted this on the photo, wow! Pure gold, thank you!
AH, yes! This is what I was referring to and I couldn't remember where I saw that video but it helps TREMENDOUSLY to do this. My husband went from looking horrible in pictures to frigging handsome as soon as I could convince him to push his face towards the camera.
ETA: The lighting is just too bright on these images. Power down. One key thing to remember is that shutter speed affects ambient light and aperture controls flash.
