Charly - my granddaughter ready for her school dance.

[Cathy]

Charly all ready to go to her school dance.

Laugh of this was my paper background was not high enough to get her all in lol!

My garage is just not high enough :(

[ChrisLumix]

Beautiful. Skin tones and exposure absolutely spot on.

[FUJI]

Beautifully done, Cathy.

FUJI

[Karenp]

She must be so chuffed to have such a talented Gran. What a lovely picture for her as a memento of the dance.

[Craftysnapper]

Nicely done Cathy, as in this case a single light portrait can look so natural and what a beautiful Granddaughter you have.

 

I'm guessing you did not light the background Cathy?

[kev7d]

I like this one!

[THELONGMAN]

Terrific portrait Cathy, I wish I could get them that crisp,

 

Geoff

[NannyFerret]

Such a beautiful Granddaughter, and you have done her justice with this lovely shot.

[Cathy]

Very, very good Cathy, would you mind telling me how you lit the scene.

 

Ron

Gosh!!

Thank you so much everyone! you are all too kind.

Ron this was just my softbox set to my left side nothing more.

The background Well! Haha!

I bought a 9ft roll of grey. The thought being that my white went this colour anyway as I have no way to light it yet. So it arrived and was way to wide for my garage.Hubby chopped a bit off and up it went. Need to now clear the sides to allow me to roll it out.

Cathy :)

[Craftysnapper]

Gosh!!

Thank you so much everyone! you are all too kind.

Ron this was just my softbox set to my left side nothing more.

The background Well! Haha!

I bought a 9ft roll of grey. The thought being that my white went this colour anyway as I have no way to light it yet. So it arrived and was way to wide for my garage.Hubby chopped a bit off and up it went. Need to now clear the sides to allow me to roll it out.

Cathy

Cathy you do know it is fairly easy to whiten a off white/grey background in a studio portrait in post processing and cut out the need for a background light..

[Cathy]

Wow! Great job.

I did not know how to do this as well as you have!

This is why I bought the roll of grey. My first attempts using the white gave a greyish background as I only have two lights and don't have any to light the background yet.

My thought was well just buy grey then lol!

This is a super job! I have tried before but no way did I get results like this! I hope you can share :)

[Craftysnapper]

Cathy not hard, I used Elements but any editor that has adjustment layers will do'

 

1-Add a levels adjustment layer and with the white point eyedropper click on the background, ignore how it changes the whole image for now.

 

 

2- Select the paint brush and with black paint back the subject to normal

 

 

Hope this helps.

[Leon]

great shot, and a pretty girl too

[ChrisLumix]

Wow! Great job.

I did not know how to do this as well as you have!

This is why I bought the roll of grey. My first attempts using the white gave a greyish background as I only have two lights and don't have any to light the background yet.

My thought was well just buy grey then lol!

This is a super job! I have tried before but no way did I get results like this! I hope you can share

 

Just to be a dissenting voice here : I find a pure white background to be a bit harsh and 'glare-y', and compared with your original, I find it detracts from your portrait. Perhaps your grey needs lifting a bit? but not all the way to pure white. Just my two pennorth anyway.

[Cathy]

Hi Chris

I agree about the grey being better behind Charly but was this is just a suggestion on how to whiten or lighten a white backdrop that has went grey.

The intention was not to change my grey paper just on how I could lighten up if I choose to in future.

I started out with a white roll of paper which was always grey as I had no way to lighten it up at the time. So this us great information as I can now go crack to older pictures and make that greyish white super white

You are all so helpful! Thank you

Cathy

[Cathy]

Paul thank you for the tutorial

I have many backgrounds I can now go and correct and see what I come up with.

This will be fun to try

Cathy

[Cathy]

Cathy not hard, I used Elements but any editor that has adjustment layers will do'

 

1-Add a levels adjustment layer and with the white point eyedropper click on the background, ignore how it changes the whole image for now.

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

Had a go today with your tutorial and it was fun to use.This was my first go but now I know how it works.

Thank you

Cathy

[ChrisLumix]

Had a go today with your tutorial and it was fun to use.This was my first go but now I know how it works.

Thank you

Cathy

 

That's again an example where I think your original looks absolutely fine - the 'white' one looks kind of unnatural or at the least, harsh. The only thing I see that needs 'fixing' is the shadows to the left of his right arm.

[Cathy]

That's again an example where I think your original looks absolutely fine - the 'white' one looks kind of unnatural or at the least, harsh. The only thing I see that needs 'fixing' is the shadows to the left of his right arm.

Thank you Chris and I see exactly what you mean and you are right. He does look a little harsh with the white but I just needed to know how the procedure worked.

I was so disappointed when my white background went grey. At least now I can even lighten it using this technique.

Cathy

[colinb]

both pictures (girl and boy) are well taken but if it helps I think the background on the girl looks less harsh if you crop closer to her head.

 

I do prefer the white background on the boy as the shadows (as Chris points out) are a little distracting, but it is a super tack sharp image.

[Cathy]

both pictures (girl and boy) are well taken but if it helps I think the background on the girl looks less harsh if you crop closer to her head.

Colin thank you!

from a learning point of view

how far down would you suggest from the top.

For example would I crop above the top of her head or lose a little off the top?

Cathy

[colinb]

Colin thank you!

from a learning point of view

how far down would you suggest from the top.

For example would I crop above the top of her head or lose a little off the top?

Cathy

 

Purists might say you need to crop into the head for example the picture below of my Great Nephew;

But this doesn't work well for all portraits...

 

Click image to view large

 

 

...So  with your picture I think I would go to the head and a little off the left side

 

Click image to view large

 

 

HTH

Colin

[Craftysnapper]

I'll add my thought on the matter, Cathy you can alter the background to any shade you want from dark grey to off white to pure white and anywhere inbetween using this method but using the levels sliders instead of the eyedropper tool. This way you can alter it to a shade that suits you.

 

I agree with Colin the way he has cropped your image it puts her eyes on the top third. As to cropping into the head this is only usually done when it is a close up portrait and for a very good reason and that is to keep the eyes at the top third or no lower than halfway but saying that there is always the rare case of breaking the rules for effect.

 

 

For example this is a close up portrait and at this distance from the subject if I had included all the head and hat then the eyes would have been in the lower third of the image  and it just would not have the same impact.

 

[Cathy]

Colin I see what you mean. I have never thought too much about cropping a portrait.

So this is good advice for me. Also gives me the oppertunity to try it out on some if my other grandkids pictures too

Very nice portrait of your nephew !

Paul once again another very nice portrait!

I loved your adjustment tutorial and I will use it in the future now that I understand it all.Also keeping the eyes to the top third is great to know for the moments I go in for a close up or in a situation when I know I can crop it down.

Thank you so very much everyone. I only have the group to ask don't know any other photographers. Well I do use google and you tube a lot! So thank the Lord for the Internet.

[ChrisLumix]

I think Colin and Paul's close portraits are really very good, and the cropping works well. I'd disagree a bit about Colin's crop of your grand-daughter - I think it's cropped TOO close, and she would benefit from a bit of space above her head, perhaps lose half of the space in your original? There's something a bit 'wrong' where the top of the head meets the top of the picture frame with a plain background.. I can't say it more precisely than that, it's a feeling more than anything.