How to Cheat in Photoshop

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Posted on 21/09/07 4:13:57 PM

tank172
ThreeDee Thriller
Posts: 692

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Any Photographers out there?

Ok, so a friend of mine is interested in splashing her feet with modeling. I'm interested in expanding my portfolio so I think this would work great as a TFCD. She's well aware I don't have the equipment and soft boxes for portraiture style since all my previous subjects are buildings hundreds of feet away!

So, does anyone recommend tips/tricks to simulate studio lighting without the expense? I won't be able to get the quality expected from professional lighting, but I'll work with what I can put together.

She has a very light complexion and soft in personality and dark hair. Her style; however, is urban and unique. I was thinking about incorporating the two by finding urban settings such as abandoned warehouses, or old buildings full of texture...to compliment her "wild wordrobe."

Also, maybe a couple places to reflect her soft, sofisticated personality. (what girl isn't sofisticated--erm, complicated?) Anyway, she's a very cute girl as well, so possibly a large park fountain, formal place, or even the fairway at a golf course? Heck, I could even bring my clubs and we could have a photoshoot on the green... FORE!

Any thoughts, directions, or ideas? Particularly with how to Cheat lighting....

Thanks in Advance,

--Chris

Posted on 21/09/07 4:16:55 PM

tank172
ThreeDee Thriller
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Re: Any Photographers out there?

I was also thinking about "Painting with Light" using a Magnum Flashlight when it gets dark...

Posted on 22/09/07 01:29:13 AM

Pierre
Constructional Confabulator
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Re: Any Photographers out there?

Chris,

I've been back into photography for about 4 years now with the advent of digital SLRs. Now a member of the local Photo Club, I made friends there and learned a lot. Look at the portraits on this link:

http://photo.net/photos/yvesharnois

This guy is a friend of mine so I know how he goes for the photography (worth looking at this site for the photoshop style he's developed in the last year or so; and yes I helped him because of HTCIPS!).

He shoots inside, in a 12 by 18 feet room with a window facing north. He shoots when it is sunny so he gets a lot of indirect light. No tripod. He uses a piece of white material (cardboard) on the opposite side of the model to enhance the lighting slightly. The model is almost touching the window in certain cases.

If you shoot ouside, go under the shade as the sunlight will create too big contrasts. I personally do in-house studio shots of object and created my own softbox effect by simply using a piece of Plexiglas (transluscent white plastic sheet that you can get at your hardware store) with my standard flash. This diffuse the light very well. The only problem is the weight of the thing to carry it around or to hold it (my piece in one square foot so that's not an issue, but bigger is heavier). This picture is made with one flash on the left side, throught this plastic sheet with a piece of carboard on the left side to reflect light on the front of the car. It is a 1/18 diecast replica I got at Walmart. And yes it is on a mirror.

Cheap tricks for flashes? The best place on the net is strobist.com. It's a blog linked to a section of Flickr; this David guy is amazing with his creativity about lighting. Go read the Lighting 102 section. I'm just beginning it myself.

Have fun and let us know what you do!!

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Posted on 22/09/07 09:33:05 AM

Deborah Morley
Makeover Magician
Posts: 1319

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Re: Any Photographers out there?

Great image Pierre.
Rather than using cardboard/plexiglass as a light reflector, television/film lighting use large sheets of polystyrene, with one side white and the other silvered to get a very effective bounce light. Not cheap but lasts forever and is lightweight. Try www.rosco.com, or arri (sorry don't know the web address.

Posted on 22/09/07 7:30:28 PM

Pierre
Constructional Confabulator
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Re: Any Photographers out there?

Cool! Thanks for the tip Deborah!!

The model makers at work can probably do that for me!!

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Posted on 24/09/07 9:05:00 PM

tank172
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Posts: 692

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Re: Any Photographers out there?

Thanks for the tips everyone!

Well, our schedules didn't quite meet well on Saturday so after arriving to the location we were pretty much out of light.

But we both decided to work with what was available (which wasn't much at all) and I plugged the image into photoshop to cheat lighting..

I shot in RAW so as to get a couple extra brackets of exposure..

We're probably going to try again on a bright sunny day.

There was a whopping total of 317 images and we whittled them down to the best 24 or so. Now, I'm just plugging away in Photoshop to get the best possible.

Here's one after a bit of retouching.

C&C's always welcome! This is my first try at something like this!

Posted on 24/09/07 9:11:49 PM

tank172
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Re: Any Photographers out there?

On my laptop, the image doesn't look blown out -- but on my desktop (flatscreen) monitor, the image looks blown and over-saturated...

How does it look on yours?

Posted on 24/09/07 10:12:12 PM

tank172
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Posts: 692

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Re: Any Photographers out there?

I like this one..

Posted on 24/09/07 10:34:36 PM

vicho
Ingenious Inca
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Re: Any Photographers out there?

hi tank
it doesn`t look oversaturated at all,
those are very professional photos!!

Posted on 24/09/07 10:38:49 PM

Pierre
Constructional Confabulator
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Re: Any Photographers out there?

Cool! The first one looks a bit overexposed in the light skin colors in the face; nothing that can't be fixed!

The second one has more artistic potential to me. Sadly, I find that the eyes area are slightly out of focus (compared to the shoulder). A purist in portraits would tell you that the eyes are the most important part.

More! More!

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Posted on 24/09/07 10:52:32 PM

tank172
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Posts: 692

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Re: Any Photographers out there?

Thanks guys

Shame on the focus, Pierre. I was constantly chimping the focus on the camera, but missed it in a few. Regretfully, that image was one of them..

Here's a couple more. They haven't been processed yet, so straight out of the camera less resizing.