52 Self Portraits: Week 2

[JohnB]

Before photography, I played guitar. I still do and I enjoy playing on the worship team in Church. I don't think that music is what I'll excel at in my life beyond computers, though. I enjoy it and will always have my guitars, but I don't have the motivation to practice thoroughly and improve my playing beyond "decent".

What I wanted to achieve was a high contrast photo of me with one of my guitars. I wanted the light to appear to be a spotlight. I also wanted the background totally blackened out. This photo could benefit from a back light, I think, as it would separate me from the background better, at least my head and shoulders. I may come back to this one after I have both of my flashes off camera.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3357/3214761278_a60749ab3a.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dorkyphotographer/3214761278/sizes/o/)

There is a single flash, 580ex off to the camera right. It's set on full power at 105mm zoom. There is also a silver reflector situated at camera left close to my head.

[JohnB]

I thought I would upload additional photos from each of my sessions and make them exclusive to this forum in order to promote the community.

This photo was a happy accident that I tried replicating without success. I really wanted the lens flair and the starburst on the tuning pegs, but I wanted a better composition. I wanted my head to be lit better than this.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3429/3213976971_57f36671f4.jpg (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3429/3213976971_40c9d28d32_o.jpg)

This one my wife liked at first, so I processed it. Then she decided on the one I originally posted.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3080/3214824514_7d89830717.jpg (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3080/3214824514_bdda169598_o.jpg)

[Steve Paxton]

First off - thanks again John for helping promote this brand new community! The forums are slowly building momentum. I appreciate your help.

Great series of images. My favorite is the last one. The starburst is a nice touch. All the images have a nice edgy look to them. I think you could benefit from some back/rim lighting, but I also think it works either way.

My only critisism is that some of your skin tones appear blown. In the first image, your left cheek is almost completely void of detail. You may have shot the image this way on purpose - so I am just throwing feedback your way. I think I would have dropped the power down on your flash or moved it back a bit. Moving it back a couple of feet would have given you the same hard light look while allowing slightly softer light on your face. Another idea would be to shoot through tightly focused softbox (to prevent light from spilling on your background).

All-in-all a great series. I love the idea behind your project.

By the way, are you shooting in Raw or JPEG format? It would be interesting to see the historgram. If you shot Raw images, you probably could pull back on the exposure just a bit and recover the highlights.

[JohnB]

Great series of images. My favorite is the last one. The starburst is a nice touch. All the images have a nice edgy look to them. I think you could benefit from some back/rim lighting, but I also think it works either way.

Yeah... I think I'm going to order the Elinchrom Skyports soon to get both flashes off camera. I would have liked to have lit the top of my head and shoulders better. I may revisit this photo or a similar set up when I do have both flashes off camera.


My only critisism is that some of your skin tones appear blown. In the first image, your left cheek is almost completely void of detail. You may have shot the image this way on purpose - so I am just throwing feedback your way. I think I would have dropped the power down on your flash or moved it back a bit. Moving it back a couple of feet would have given you the same hard light look while allowing slightly softer light on your face. Another idea would be to shoot through tightly focused softbox (to prevent light from spilling on your background).

I definitely didn't shoot this series that way intentionally. I went back to the RAW file and looked and there is some detail in there, but the position of the flash makes it hard to get any detail out of it. That photo could stand to be re-shot.

I really appreciate your comments, Steve. It's helpful to know what I should try the next time.... I will move the flash out in front of me more to add more depth to the photo. I'll also try and reduce the power of the flash... I'm afraid if I move it too far away, there will be too much light spilling onto the background. Perhaps I should clean up my toy room a little more to give me more floor space for the "studio".

BTW: I always shoot in RAW. I like the flexibility it gives in the final processing.

[zetson]

I think the photo of you with the orange sweater is by far the best! The direction of the light creates a strong contrast and the sparkle on the guitar is a nice bonus. Very good.

[JohnB]

I think the photo of you with the orange sweater is by far the best! The direction of the light creates a strong contrast and the sparkle on the guitar is a nice bonus. Very good.

I tried for over an hour to recreate that sparkle in a composition I liked better. Oh well. :)