Do you like to take portraits? I know I do and this is the place to post them. Lets include all the useful info on how the portrait was taken such as lighting, shutter speed, f/stop and any other metadata you can so that we can learn how to become better portrait photographers.
This image was taken in my small studio (my garage) with a very simple lighting set-up consisting of two White Lightning strobes illuminating a pure white background, one White Lightning strobe placed high and directly in front of the subject and a reflector low and directly in front of the subject to throw some light up and under the subjects face. I made the shot with my Canon 30D with a Canon 85mm f/1.8 lens at 125th sec f/14 and ISO at 100. The image was processed first in Digital Photo Professional, and then in Adobe Lightroom, and filters applied in Adobe Photoshop.
I use Kodaks Digital Gem Airbrush Pro for the skin treatment.
This image prints very well on Metalic paper, which I like for High-Key portraits.
Rike, I have a recipe for this type of portrait that consists of a skin softening filter and a filter to soften it and give it a bit of a dreamy effect.
KODAK DIGITAL GEM Airbrush Professional Plug-In, for ADOBE PHOTOSHOP
Auto FX software - Dreamsuite
There are some other steps that I go through but these are the two main filters that I use to achieve the effect.
okay, guess I'll start here with on of my pictures. I love to take portraits - since I think it is fascinating trying to catch the personality of people. I'm not that much into studio portraits - I don't have the equipment and not enough space. So I'm much into 'every day life' photos. But since I moved into the neighborhood of a studio to rent I probably will give it a try :)
The following picture was taken with an analogue reflex camera, a Minolta X 700. I used a 50mm/1,4 lens. It's pretty cool, even though a 85mm lens is often better for a portrait.
btw - I'm not familiar with the English terms of Photography, please bear with me and my mistakes ;)
BTW, Although I do studio photography, I do so love natural light, there is nothing like it! It's every studio photographers desire to try to recreate the look and feel of natural light in the studio. Soft boxes, reflectors etc are what we use to try to achieve this. I'll dig through my archives and post a studio shot that hopefully demonstrates this.
Here's a recent shot where I tried to recreate a natural light effect. This is the simplest of set-ups where you use only one strobe with a softbox and a reflector for fill. It is shot against a pure black background. The placement of the light, high and to one side gives the light a directional quality and emulates window light.