[wulinka]

As most beginners I know, I have been shying away from portraits-

for a number of reasons, such as not wanting to invade people's privacy, having to ask permission... but also technical issues such as lightning and perspective.

An obstacle for me is my height: as I am only 160cm, most people will appear in my pictures seen from like under the chin.... this is at least when I am just standing / walking and handholding my camara.

I have kind of looked into shooting people in a set environment, which is likely to be indoors, and am trying to figure out, how I am going to solve both,

the lightning and
the heigth issue.

does it make any sense to operate your camara on a tripod that is actually higher than myself?
And are external flash, reflectors etc an absolute necessity even to get started? Or is there anyway to work with regular (fluorescent or tungsten) indoors light?

e.g. is there a way in photoshop to fix the dark "halo" effect you can get from bulb light?
like this one:




ok, that's a ton of questions to begin with, as always, I'll appreciate all your advise!

uli

[adam]

Firstly: Adam was here 2006!..
I don't know how to answer these, but since I'm here, I might as well put some thoughts down.

If you have a set environment, I think that having a tripod higher than yourself should be no problem if you are still able to use the camera (using steps?), which may be a little troublesome if you don't want to step up/down

You don't really need external flash to get started. You could even use an open window as lighting. I've heard of bedsheets been used to change the light coming in, or something like that

Do you mean the halo effect as the light being brighter in one area than the other? Perhaps you could try using the dodge tool on the area. When shooting I'm not sure if you can avoid that effect, because the light bulb is similar to a point-source and will be brighter on the areas closer, unless you try put a big diffuser over it :O (I'm guessing only!!!)

[byrt_001]

hi

so many questions? where to start?

im 1.80 something and most of the time i almost have to put my knee on the floor to get a better view of my subject. just remember that if you shoot portraits is better to shoot from a low angle as it gives the subject a sense of importance(can not find the right word). if you see most of the portrait taken are taken from a low angle. with a 80+mm lens so that you do not distort the angles of the face.

the halo effect on that photo? for portrait will look ok...will attract your view to the main subject. yes it can be fix in photoshop. making a oval selection and fethee it and ussing levels to dark or light it. But i think it need a colour balance too as it was shot with those spot lights that hang from the roof.

hope that helps

hope to see some of your portraits

christian

[XeoX]

How to remove the halo? I tried to use the Shadow/Highliht function in Photoshop and I god quite satisfying result, although the corners still remained bit dark, but not so dark as in the original case.

As i'm 180cm tall, I like to take portraits (I haven't done many portraits, but this summer I'll try to fix this problem) when I'm ducking or having my one knee down. Usually, in outside conditions it's not really safe to put your knee on the ground as it's ofter dirty.

And I think having a tripod higher than you is a problem - if you can take a chair under you it's no problem.

[Petographer]

Try having your subjects seated. Christian also makes a good point in his comments. Incandescent lighting hmmm. Try using more than on or two and use halogen. Much brighter.

[wulinka]

I hadn't really noticed that portaits are often from a lower angle, that would turn my (lack of) height into an advantage I guess

I had tried selecting the darker color range and adjusting the levels, but however much I feathered my selection I still got a border, and also there is a lot of noise in the picture. and the corners are really dark. Taking advantage of the shape of bulb light for portraits is another nice idea though, that hadn't occured to me.

thanks for those tips!

XeoX, what shadow /highlights function are you talking about?

[byrt_001]

hi wulinka

may i ask why do you want to lighten the corners of that photo?

christian

[Schellamo]

some of the best portraits of I've seen (and taken myself) were done with window light or natural light outdoors.
If the light is coming directly through the window, you could use an opaque curtain to soften it, if it is indirect it is usually fairly soft anyway. The other advantage of window light is the great 'catchlights' you get in the eyes. A reflector will come in handy (doesn't need to be fancy- anything white or silver which you can reflect light into the shadows with will do)
Outdoor is another nice option, especially on overcast days when the clouds act like a giant diffuser- you can't get softer light than that!
You don't necesarily need a tripod to get higher than your subject (unless its low-light and you need a slowish shutter speed) just stand on a chair. You can get some great shots by experimenting with the angle at which you shoot- some from above and some from below.

[wulinka]

I initially wanted to brighten the corners because it was one of these pictures where my eyes had tricked me and I was intending to take a picture of what seemed to be a plain white wall, with just the canvases.

When I realized the contrast was just too bad, look what I made of it....