Today, I present another photograph of Sarah.
As I prepared to take this photo, I wanted to make sure that Sarah clearly separated from the background. I did two things to accomplish this: (1) I found a portion of the wall that was about two f-stops brighter than where Sarah was standing; and, (2) I moved her about ten feet from the wall so that it would be completely out-of-focus.
There was a little wind that blew Sarah’s hair that added a some movement to the photo. After seeing what the wind did, I wished that I had a fan to move her hair more.
Enjoy.
Camera settings: Nikon D3, Nikon 50mm f/2.8 shot at ISO 800, f/1.7 and 1/125th of a second.
Post Processing:
Lightroom 3—Set black and white points, cropped photo and added a vignetting.
Beautiful shot Larry! Great lighting and the background blur is perfect!
ReplyDeleteWould the photo work just as well for you if you flipped it horizonatlly? Maybe it's the western culture thing of reading left to right, but something makes me want the subject on the left and the negative space on the right.
Beautiful portrait as is though. Wish I had taken it!
Cheers!
Barry
I love that background blur and how she separates from it. I don't think you used a flash or reflector because I can't see any catchlights in her eyes but that might have opened up her eyes a little more and the shadow under her hair. Interesting suggestion by Barry, but after thinking about it I think her blowing strand of hair and the curve in the background along the top lead the viewer's eye right to her face. Being the perfectionist that I am I might desaturate the blue/yellow/red object on the far left just to blend it in and keep the attention on Sarah. This doesn't look like your usual 8 by 10 ratio crop! What a beautiful subject and softly lit natural looking portrait.
ReplyDeleteYou did it again. Great portrait of a beautiful woman. When can I sign up for my session?
ReplyDeleteDebbie
You achieved your separation and more.
ReplyDeleteMel
It is amazing how different these two photos are. Both are great portraits but you seem to have captured different aspects of Sarah's personality in the two photos. If I didn't know better, I might think that you knew what you were doing.
ReplyDeleteAnne
Sarah will be happy with this one. I cannot image how you could have made her look any better. Her expression is fantastic.
ReplyDeleteRobert
Two elements of this photograph are working beautifully: the total blur of the left side and the hiding of her left eye with her hair. Both add a little mystery to the photo and make you look deeper into the photo to try to determine exactly what they are. I agree with Barry, placing her on the left side rather than the right would have made the photo stronger and more natural for people in the western world.
ReplyDeleteThe Professor