I don't do portraits.

[David Stallard]

Re: I don't do portraits.

Erm, err. . . . . . gotta be carefull what I say here
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Simply 'STUNNING' that last shot especially, you sir are talented beyond your years

.DAVID.

[colin C]

Re: I don't do portraits.

A few more explanations for those of you that aren't aware of my mischievous nature:

This is Mrs C ............ but not the Mrs C I am married to.

Although I am primarily a wildlife photographer, I did have a full studio for many years and shot everything from cars to portraits and lots of industrial products. So perhaps it would have been more informative to title it 'I don't normally do portraits'. But lighting is a bit like riding a bike, once you can do it, you can always pick it up quite quickly.

I have shot another series which I will put in another thread, just because it is so different to these.

[NickM]

Re: I don't do portraits.

Is there really that much of a distance difference? I would have thought that particular pose would have the face and hand almost in line with each other. I may well be wrong of course!
Lovely work, thanks for sharing them,Garry

I would agree with you, but the right hand's a good foot further forward/nearer than the face.
Reason I'm curious about this is I've spent at least two days trying to get a shot of a gerbil. Y'know, those furry things which, when sat down, are about 4 inches from nose to their rear end. I can't manage to get a bloody shot without one end being out of focus from 3-ft away. grrr.
Gonna post a thread about it asking for help n advice methinks.

[NickM]

Re: I don't do portraits.

This is Mrs C ............ but not the Mrs C I am married to.

Well, that's good. I won't deny the question has been going through my mind why anyone would snap wildlife with that waiting at home....
If that was me, the wildlife would never encounter me....

That said, your portraits are still a heck of a lot more than you give yourself credit for.

[colin C]

Re: I don't do portraits.

Nick

Much of it is down to experience and lens choice. Wide angles give much greater depth of field per aperture setting than telephotos, but you get wide angle distortion if you are too close. Telephoto's have more shallow DOF for the same aperture, but the further away you are, the better you can use that DOF to your advantage.

One thing to remember about DOF is that it is not linear. If you focus on a point and your total depth of DOF is 600mm, it is not 300mm in front of the focus and 300mm behind. It has a ratio of 1/3 to 2/3, so the actual DOF is 200mm in front and 400mm behind. That is the essence of hyperfocal distances for lenses where you can work out distance/aperture/DOF for different lenses to gain maximum sharpness throughout the shot. There are table available for this, but most landscape photographers just focus 1/3 of the way into the shot and do it that way with a small aperture. Knowing the 1/3 to 2/3 ratio, the rest just falls into place.

For portrait work, I try to keep all important elements in the same plane. In the head and shoulders with pearls, that hand is resting against the cheek, so the front of the hand is roughly level with her eye and I focus on the nearest eye. At f11, all of the head including hair will be in focus at the distance I was shooting from, which was 3.1 metres. With the full shot, I was shooting from 3.5 metres away and notice again that I have pose all the important elements in roughly the same plane. Her head is thrust forward a little at the neck so it is nearly touching her shoulder and her arms and legs are in roughly the same plane.

Understand depth of field and make it work for you. Sometimes I want lots and sometimes I want very little.

Hope that helps.

[NickM]

Re: I don't do portraits.

Thanks for the info Colin. I'm trying to get rid of DoF from 3ft, but I can see you took yours from about 10ft so that explains a lot.
I'm just writing up my piece to put in a separate thread, and I think you'll see in that where I'm going wrong.

http://www.eos-magazine-forum.com/showthread.php?17984-Help-please-Gerbil-shot-hard&p=148672#post148672

[AndyA]

Re: I don't do portraits.

Fantastic shots of a beautiful lady.

[colin C]

Re: I don't do portraits.

Fantastic shots of a beautiful lady.

She is also very beautiful on the inside. Not at all pretentious, but mischievous and quite lovely. We spent more time laughing and giggling than doing any work.

I told her she was fat and ugly and very lucky I was taking her picture, because I don't do ugly. She suggested I have a reality check and look in the mirror before I make such rash statements.

This a relaxed smiley unposed shot.

[AndyA]

Re: I don't do portraits.

Well done Colin, it's a tough call but someone has to step up.

We spent more time laughing and giggling than doing any work.

That has to be the secret to a successful shoot, put them at ease and the rest will flow naturally? If I tried your 'I don't do ugly' patter, I'd no doubt end up with a broken nose and bruised nether regions. It must be a gift.

[NickM]

Re: I don't do portraits.

She is also very beautiful on the inside. Not at all pretentious, but mischievous and quite lovely.

I think you've captured that perfectly in the last photo. For someone who doesn't do portraits, you definitely have done some nice ones here.

[DeeGee]

Re: I don't do portraits.

[Stan]

Re: I don't do portraits.

Will you be with Mrs C at Blandford on Sunday ?

Stan

[chodeva]

Re: I don't do portraits.

amazing shots Colin...

[colin C]

Re: I don't do portraits.

Will you be with Mrs C at Blandford on Sunday ?

Stan

Yes Stan ............ But not this Mrs C.

[Stan]

Re: I don't do portraits.

Yes Stan ............ But not this Mrs C.

shame

Stan