Andrea's Natural Light Portrait

[Abel]

I haven’t been able to get out and shoot as many portraits as I would have liked to so when a friend and fellow photog invited me out to spend the day shooting Andrea I jumped at the opportunity. I had just gotten my Elinchrom Quadra lighting kit so I was looking forward to giving it a go. What’s funny is that my overall favorite shot from the entire day wasn’t even taken with my Elinchrom Quadra, it was only shot with natural light. Go figure. Ha!

The Canon EF 135 f/2L is definitely a favorite lens of mine and in this image you can see why. It is VERY sharp wide open at f/2 which is a great benefit. This is one lens I will NEVER sell. Haha. This shot was originally shot in vertical/portrait orientation in order to maximize the amount of pixels to create her image. Then since the background was completely white due to being blown out I just extended my canvas in width wise with white as the background and cropped to my liking.

I photographed Andrea inside the house, she stood about 3-4ft from the front door with her back turned to it. The door was all glass which left in a ton of natural light in from outside. I exposed for her and let the rest blow out as it seemed fit. I edited the original photo in Lightroom 3, bumped up exposure about +1.8 stops and desaturated image to about -30. Then exported to Photoshop and edited the crop as described earlier.

Hopefully I can make it a point to get out there and shoot some more portraits since I still feel that one of my weak areas in photography. Practice makes perfect right? =)

[tc95]

Abel...I like how you cropped the image and captured the light coming around her...nice High-Key...if you darken her up a little...her eyes will pop more and she would not be so washed out...

Hope this helps...

[tukaniray]

Sweet Photo.

I agree, practice definitely means creating perfection.

-Ray-

[Abel]

Originally Posted by Abel

I edited the original photo in Lightroom 3, bumped up exposure about +1.8 stops and desaturated image to about -30. Then exported to Photoshop and edited the crop as described earlier.

Originally Posted by tc95

if you darken her up a little...her eyes will pop more and she would not be so washed out...

I hate to say it but this washed out look is what I was trying to achieve... hehe.

I had never tried it before and thought it would be cool to give it a try while shooting Andrea. I like the end result... This was definitely my favorite shot of the day. I will be remembering my Lightroom tweaks on this image in order to apply them to future images when I see they're warranted.

Thanks.

[danchez]

I like the washed out look, and she is a beautiful model, the crop just below the belt and where it falls on her arms looks a little awkward to me though.

[Snarfy]

I've said it everywhere you've had this posted... I love this image!