Portraits: Overexposing vs Warm up Filters - Printable Version
+- DSLR Photography Forum (https://www.shuttertalk.com/forums)
+-- Forum: Digital Photography Forum (https://www.shuttertalk.com/forums/forum-4.html)
+--- Forum: Main Photography Discussion (https://www.shuttertalk.com/forums/forum-17.html)
+--- Thread: Portraits: Overexposing vs Warm up Filters (/thread-1730.html)
+- DSLR Photography Forum (https://www.shuttertalk.com/forums)
+-- Forum: Digital Photography Forum (https://www.shuttertalk.com/forums/forum-4.html)
+--- Forum: Main Photography Discussion (https://www.shuttertalk.com/forums/forum-17.html)
+--- Thread: Portraits: Overexposing vs Warm up Filters (/thread-1730.html)
Portraits: Overexposing vs Warm up Filters - shuttertalk - Jan 12, 2005
Hey all, I'm reading a book on portrait photography at the moment, and there's tips section on creating flattering images. Some good points such as capturing the right angles to hide bald spots and double chins, etc. Also had some funny points such as use high ISO to hide flaws....
Also I found a couple of contradictory points -- overexpose by 1 stop to lighten skin tones to make it more flattering, vs use a warm up filter to make skin appear more healthy.
Are they contradictory? Or would you use one technique over the other in different circumstances?
Portraits: Overexposing vs Warm up Filters - Petographer - Jan 12, 2005
With the availability of photoshop today, I'm not sure of the answer you'd get. Sounds like a film thing.
Portraits: Overexposing vs Warm up Filters - StudioJ - Jan 12, 2005
I think it would depend on your lighting as to whether you would want to overexpose the shot. If you are doing it in harsh light it would be very contrasty but might lighten up some of the shadows. I've overexposed in the studio to have a high key effect and it comes up quite nicely. Nothing stopping you from using a warming filter at the same time.
I quite like the warming filters in Photoshop, there are probably better ones out there but I don't play with them very much either way.
Portraits: Overexposing vs Warm up Filters - slejhamer - Jan 13, 2005
What's the book Jules?
I agree with Peto's comment that the advice seems better suited to film.
Be careful with overexposure as you may not have the same latitude with digital as with some films - you could easily clip the highlights or a particular color channel and end up with a mess. Agree with SJ that overexposing a high-key image can work, but would you necessarily want to overexpose something with low-key lighting? Maybe ... if you are careful and "shooting to the right" of the histogram, with the intention of toning it down later.
With digital, you could set custom white balance using a pale blue or cyan card and create an effective warming filter. Or better yet shoot RAW and warm it up during conversion, or afterwards in PS with the warming filters a la StudioJ.
There are some very good techniques for warming just the skin tones in photoshop, without warming everything else. You can give the skin a little glow, but not the background etc. Katrin Eismann's book is probably the best portrait retouch reference.