My first studio portrait with my Sinar F2

[fconstant_]

Hey !

Here is my first studio portrait, hope you'll like it and make some constructive critics to help me progress fast.

Exifs :
Sinar F2
Sinaron 210mm f/5.6
Ilford FP4+ at 125 iso
1/125
f/8
Developped in LC29 (1+19) 9mn

Light set up :
83363

The portrait :
(here is the HD version : http://www.flickr.com/photos/fore1/8157218036/in/photostream )
83364

[Andrew Plume]

great

now I'm not a pure portrait kind of a person but there's absolutely no reason, imo, why you shouldn't be more than happy with this

good stuff

regards

andrew

[Laurent L]

Hi !

With some of my friends we've been struggling for weeks to try to create a proper light set up for large format photos, still working on it...

Your portrait is amazing for a first try in studio, everything is rightly balanced.

I live In the east of france, wish I lived closer to you to get some advices.

Thanks for sharing. especially your light setting !

Laurent

[Ari]

It's a decent composition, and dramatic expression, but I find the light on your model to be a little harsh and somewhat flat, i.e., not enough modelling.
If you can soften the dish, and raise it higher and closer to camera axis, your second light can be used for some more dramatic backlight.

It's a great start, though, and I hope you play around with it more.

[Frank Petronio]

It's a bit flat and, in traditional terms, masculine. Be more decisive and let shadows form, fill light is not always necessary. Learn how to use one light well - most people make it too complex and bland. With a dish, bring it around to the front for a beauty shot.

And black backgrounds are cheating - and boring.

Great for a first time though! Good luck

[ImSoNegative]

I would kill the fill light, you have the rembrandt thing going on if you lose the fill, more dramatic, I havnt done a studio type portrait with my LF camera in a while, but I used to like to do is use one light with a 10 or 20 degree grid gave a pretty cool effect.

[lenser]

It is indeed a fine first effort . The model and posing work well. The lighting is good on the left side, but consider bringing the modeling light WAY down in power and move it geographically to a position where it is line with the subject's nose. A rule I was taught very firmly is that one never puts lights on both sides of the face due to creating double shadows from the nose or small deeper pockets of shadow within other shadows which are quite distracting, the latter of which you are experiencing here. Bringing the fill in line with the nose and using it at a suitable low power eliminate that as well as allowing a natural shadow fall off on the side of the face opposite the main light instead of the very flat intensity that you experience here.

Again, you've done a fine job with the model and pose, but you might also consider either raising the camera a bit or asking her to nod her head slightly to de-emphasize the nostrils.

Great start!

[Laurent L]

Geee ! This is the first time i read so many constructive critics, I was a good idea to open a new thread ! I wish I could get some too!

[John NYC]

Nice job. A few comments...

- The setting is of a formal sitting situation but the model's attire and hair style are more casual. It creates a dissonance in the shot for me. The fly away hair is particularly incongruous to a formal looking portrait to me. If it were an environmental portrait of a sunny Sunday morning on the couch with the NY times it would match up. This is not a criticism of the look of the model by the way. She is just not dressed/styled appropriately for this type of shot.

- The rather large loop lighting shadow is distracting to me. I agree with the others that the BD should be brought more to the front to lessen this or kill the fill and go for Rembrandt lighting. Loop lighting can look great but I would use a softer, larger main if going for that technique and maybe no fill then either.

- Either fill the underside of the chin or position the models head just slightly forward to lose the little hint of the double chin effect.

[fconstant_]

Thanks everybody for your answers and your feedbacks
As i said, that was kind of my fisrt studio portrait with my LF camera, so it's far away from being perfect.
I agree with many of you about the second light which is not really appropriate or necessary.

I tried some new one yesterday and today, more close up portrait, i'll show them to you soon, and see if i did better ;)

Again, thanks a lot for your feebacks !

Cheers from France !

[rich815]

Terrific results. Pure butter on the technical aspects, i.e. tonality, development, sharpness, etc. you did yourself proud. Personally and subjectively I like more moderate highlights and slightly deeper shadows for my results but you did a very nice overall balance on those.

[Pawlowski6132]

Ratty hair

[fconstant_]

Here is another one i made yesterday.
I tried to make close up portrait to enjoy the power of large format. I'm pretty enthusiastic about the result !

The light set up :
83412

Photo HD link : http://500px.com/photo/17955803

The photo :
83413

[welly]

This second one is much better. I personally find the shallow depth of field a little distracting, particularly in his hair at the front. It keeps catching my attention and making my eyes go funny but other than that, love the lighting.

[ImSoNegative]

I like it!!

[bigfoot25]

hi fconstant_
great shot! and i love the fact that the light scheme is attached.