LightningPaul

18 Jun 2009 • 547 views
 
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photoblog image Celine #2

Celine #2


As promised last time here is a shot of Celine in the dunes at the beach. She's a young Belgian model. Shooting with her was a real joy. We were able to try out a bunch of lighting and posing techniques. Inside I got a chance to experiment with different lighting setups (see here), outside we took advantage of natural sunlight. All to find out how to make better images.


TECH-INFO: I was lucky that Celine took her friend who got immediately promoted to my main lighting assistant. She did an excellent job. Here she was standing at the right of the camera, near Celine, and holding a gold reflector to fill in the shadows on the models face. The sun was at the left. The wind, coming from the sea, bent the dunes. I was standing on a small hill. A telephoto lens got me a nice flattering portrait. I used f/8.0 to get maximum sharpness of my lens.

During post-processing I used first DxO Optics Pro for lens corrections. Afterwards in Photoshop: the dunes got darker and more contrast using an adjustment layer in multiply blending mode. The model got very slightly brightened using a brightness/contrast layer. On all those adjustment layers I painted on the masks using a recently bought Wacom tablet pen. Many years time ago I hated doing selections because they were never accurate enough. Here I just paint with a pen on the masks using the brush tool. No need to be 100% correct and you can always easily correct. It's a really fantastic way of working and pretty fast too.
At the end I added a rectangular and circular vignette.

Celine #2


As promised last time here is a shot of Celine in the dunes at the beach. She's a young Belgian model. Shooting with her was a real joy. We were able to try out a bunch of lighting and posing techniques. Inside I got a chance to experiment with different lighting setups (see here), outside we took advantage of natural sunlight. All to find out how to make better images.


TECH-INFO: I was lucky that Celine took her friend who got immediately promoted to my main lighting assistant. She did an excellent job. Here she was standing at the right of the camera, near Celine, and holding a gold reflector to fill in the shadows on the models face. The sun was at the left. The wind, coming from the sea, bent the dunes. I was standing on a small hill. A telephoto lens got me a nice flattering portrait. I used f/8.0 to get maximum sharpness of my lens.

During post-processing I used first DxO Optics Pro for lens corrections. Afterwards in Photoshop: the dunes got darker and more contrast using an adjustment layer in multiply blending mode. The model got very slightly brightened using a brightness/contrast layer. On all those adjustment layers I painted on the masks using a recently bought Wacom tablet pen. Many years time ago I hated doing selections because they were never accurate enough. Here I just paint with a pen on the masks using the brush tool. No need to be 100% correct and you can always easily correct. It's a really fantastic way of working and pretty fast too.
At the end I added a rectangular and circular vignette.

comments (11)

Really good shot, got it nailed! I have bought a Wacom recently but can't get in the habit of using it, still needing to use the keyboard alot.
LightningPaul: Thanks Nigel. When using the Wacom I also use the keyboard a lot. In fact, my Wacom is laying where my mouse pad was. I use both the keyboard and pen. For normal work it is a bit less handy, especially you must put the pen every time in the pen holder when you want to type something. On the other hand my arm is moving much more, hence less pain of using the mouse.
great composition with perfect natural background, so much nicer than studio work
LightningPaul: Studio or not, as long the light is good, I'm happy smile
I like her smile and the foreground smile Nice job!
LightningPaul: Many thanks! I hope to shoot more images of her this summer.
This is just pure delight Paul.
And thanks for all your recent comments to my archive .... much appreciated I assure you.
richard
LightningPaul: Thanks Richard, I'm also very delighted with your visits and comments. Come any time you like.
beautiful
like the use of the surroundings to make her and only her stand out
nice one
Cheers
Rob
LightningPaul: Thanks Rob.
Lovely composition, capture and good tech info.
LightningPaul: Thanks Fotografa smile
a really fine portrait shot Paul, you should do more. Love your tech info toosmile
LightningPaul: Many thanks Tim. I really hope to make more of such shots this summer. I really like to photograph people too.
nice natural look to this shot. I love the contrast between the smooth texture of the jacket and the wheat/grass
LightningPaul: Many thanks for your comment.
  • Ilan
  • Israel
  • 19 Jun 2009, 18:42
You can't resist and not smile back to such a beautiful model.
I went shaving and put on my tie before I came back to comment such beauty tongue
Stunning!
LightningPaul: Splendid! You are a real gentleman smile
  • Marc
  • France
  • 19 Jun 2009, 19:33
Beautiful tones, and portrait... and model... smile
LightningPaul: Three times thanks Marc smile
Nice shot and processing Thanks for sharing the info. I think I'll have to get a wacom. Many have told me it the only way to do this sort of stuff.

Do you know if DxO only works on RAW files, or can it correct jpg/tiffs?
LightningPaul: Thanks Nathan. DxO works on RAW files too. It does this better than ACR in certain difficult cases (like Moire patterns).

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for this photo I'm in a any and all comments icon ShMood©
camera NIKON D200
exposure mode full manual
shutterspeed 1/250s
aperture f/8.0
sensitivity ISO100
focal length 200.0mm
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