The Portrait Thread.

[Vidar]

"The most difficult thing for me is a portrait. You have to try and put your camera between the skin of a person and his shirt."

-Henri Cartier-Bresson



I love good portraits. But it is not easy to take them...

I want to learn how to take better portraits, and I think we need a good portrait thread here on :43:.com.

I would be glad if you will share your portraits here so we can learn from each other.

Please allow me to start with two pictures of two friends (I appreciate all feedback)

E-P1 with Kit-Zoom:

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E-P1, Voigtlander Nokton 35mm at f1.4

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[dulaney22]

Love that first one. Do you mind saying how you made the effect or what kind of filter/software was used?

 

[Streetshooter]

Vidar,
The 1st one has the stuff on the top edge... It draws away from the image.
The 2nd works......
Now it's time for eye contact....

 

[Vidar]

Love that first one. Do you mind saying how you made the effect or what kind of filter/software was used?

Thanks. I Processed the image in Lightroom 2.5, tweaked the "temp" and "tint" untill I got the colours I liked. Then turned "clarity" down to -75..

Vidar,
The 1st one has the stuff on the top edge... It draws away from the image.
The 2nd works......
Now it's time for eye contact....

Yeah you are right, maybe I can crop it a little better!

Eye contact? I agree.

 

[WT21]

I really like the first one, and the pp is great. Good use of monotone filter, and I also find that a high-key approach works very nicely on m43 (or at least on my EP1).

Here's one of mine that is a bit more high-key. I think I've posted this before, but I get lazy, and I don't like to upload pictures much, lol.

EP-1 with 50mm OM macro 2.0
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On the second one, I personally find a blur/soft focus approach on a man, and especially one so scruffy, to be counter-intuitive unless, there is some tongue-in-cheek there. I like the treatment, just not for this subject, but that's just my opinion. Someone else might love it.

C'mon folks -- Vidar has invited us all to post, so let's see yours!

 

[WT21]

Vidar,
The 1st one has the stuff on the top edge... It draws away from the image.

I agree (though didn't notice it at first). The tricky part is the leaves on the left add some framing, which might disappear with a crop. Maybe clone out the stuff on top (I'm easy with other people's time ). Or perhaps just a local brush work to blur or contrast the top stuff out. Maybe even increase the EV on that stuff, so it blends in more with the bright hill just below it.

 

[Vidar]

The second one I am not as fond of, unless the goal was something a bit more humorous. I find the blur/soft focus approach on a man, and especially one so scruffy, to be the wrong approach unless, again, there is some tongue-in-cheek there. Also, his expression is kind of humorous. I like the treatment, just not for this subject.

Hope I'm coming across as helpful. I usually appreciate a bit of critical feedback, so I'm giving this to be helpful, not to be smart.

Thanks, no problem, that is helpfull, thanks for feedback. You are right, he IS scruffy! You feel his expression is humourous, I feel it is concentrated, but maybe thats because I know he was looking for motifs to shoot with his Nikon...

The picture you posted is beautiful, good eye contact (as Shooter mentioned), it is sharp, but not too sharp, and the B&W is nice, I like it.

 

[kevinparis]

A couple of self portraits from me - admittedly with a olympus 510, but with legacy lenses

camera on tripod, light from south facing window - maybe a reflector on the first one

Nikkor 50/1.2 - think

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Self #2 by kevinparis, on Flickr

If you want scruffy I can do scruffy

View attachment 150641
Self #1 by kevinparis, on Flickr

Nikkor 105/2.5

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self #15 by kevinparis, on Flickr


more of my experiments here - starting to play around with flashes and umbrellas

selfs - a set on Flickr


Kevin

 

[Vidar]

Yeah that IS scruffy

Love your selfportraits mr. Paris.

Whenever I try to do a selfportrait I just feel stupid and give up..

 

[antithetic]

I got a rare chance to tagalong with some much more talented photographers than myself on a shoot for a local magazine/newspaper. I took the opportunity to use some legacy glass for the shoot. They didn't move around much will allowed me to work on my focusing skills. =]

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Few hundred more still to sort and process but these were some initial standouts in my eyes. Still learning so many thanks for any comments/criticism.

 

[WT21]

The first shot is spot on. Great use of natural light. The second one is good. Of course, her face is in a bit too much shadow. A reflector would have helped.

Nice opportunity and nice shots. Share more if you get them!

 

[Jamus]

Good idea, Vidar!
Here's a recent one of mine which I really like...
Maybe it's because I rarely dabble in B&W.

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[ajramirez]

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Comments welcome. Thanks for looking.

Regards,

Antonio