Post Your Best Portrait Shots!

[MOF_Sydney]

These are two of my favourites.


The first comes from just a simple job - shooting people attending a luncheon. Many were groups, this gent was alone. The occasion was a presentation in August 2005 to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II. The local member of Parliament came and presented commemorative medals to the surviving veterans. A simple photo but what a lived in face!





[img]/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.25.86/Veteran-_2D00_-50-yrs-on.jpg[/img]


The second photo comes from a First Communion day. This young girl was picked to make one of the readings.She paused briefly before beginning and just looked out into the church.


[img]/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.25.86/Young-reader.jpg[/img]

[Oren]

Not exactly a portrait, but close enough so here it is:


[img]/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.22.41/img_5F00_4865.jpg[/img]


This, believe it or not, was taken with my Canon PowerShot S60. It was taken indoor using only daylight (next to the window) as the light source.


Ohh I forgot to mention that this is the original file straight out of the camera - no post processing was done at all (except cropping for the forums).


The subject is a 1 year old girl = moving all the time and therefore not easy to get a sharp picture while shooting indoor without a flash or any other light source except the natural daylight through the window.

[devsalvi]

[img]/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.24.65/_5F00_MG_5F00_8882_5F00_1_5F00_800.JPG[/img]





A Nikon on Canon forum :P


I still can't figure out what is the correct temperature for portraits. Please help!


Model:Canon EOS 40D
ISO:200
Exposure:1/160 sec
Aperture:8.0
Focal Length:90mm
Flash Used:Yes

[Colin]

You generally don't want goosebumps, though perky is okay [:P]


Depends on the lighting. If the subject (or something nearby) is wearing something white, that makes it relatively easy with the click tool. Otherwise, you can adjust manually via the color temperature slider, or select a preset white balance based on what you think the lighting conditions most resembled.

[devsalvi]

Got that ![H] Thanks Colin! So is the pic above cool or hot (color temperature-wise) ?


Thanks for your comments/suggestions.





Cheers!


Dev

[Colin]

I guess, in a way, it's kind of hot, no matter what the color temperature, but discussion along those lines is probably going into the inappropriate, so humor aside....


It looks like you've got a flash in it, and there seems to be a bias towards the bluer side of color temperature, so I'd probably bring it down, just a little. However, keep in mind that the flash isn't the dominant light in the background. I'd take a look at the 'flash' color balance preset in DPP, or whatever software has that preset, and see how it looks for reference. However, I'm not above advocating balancing to taste.


I should qualify, that my laptop monitor hasn't been calibrated in awhile, and my calibrated CRT monitors are packed up in the basement, as we prepare to go all gypsy, so take my observations lightly.


Content wise, I'd say, there's always something pretty cool about a picture of somebody taking a picture [], this included.

[devsalvi]

Thanks Colin for your valuable comments. I did use an ETTL flash(580 exII) with a diffuser as a fill in light. I will try playing with the flash option in DPP to see if it corrects the colors.


Dev

[Colin]

[kitaoka]

[Erden]

Hi Benjamin,


It is great picture...