NikonGear'23
Images => People, Portraits, Street, PJ & Cityscapes => Topic started by: Airy on June 23, 2017, 22:35:15
-
Df + Voigtländer 58/1.4 at f/2.8. Just a candid shot (she was delighted by the Nth video record of her dancing in the shallow fountain water).
-
Very nice full body expression. Lovely.
-
thanks Frank. Besides, I had my camera ready in the secret hope she would lose balance, but that's a low probability event with ballerinas...
-
I simply wondered how she could keep the balance in such a tricky poise while showing such a natural expression. But that makes perfect sense if she's ballerina.
Not only the expression on the face but that on her hands are perfect in the scene...
-
Her right foot is resting against the ground, which helps.
Concerning her hands, well observed.
1) part of ballet training is to control the hands so they look relaxed while all muscles elsewhere are working ; for instance, they would never exhibit a fist or a stretched finger, by the way reducing the "vocabulary" quite a lot. Clearly, she's not in ballet mode here, being completely absorbed by the critical review of the videos. Good opportunity for candids given her general camera- or audience-awareness (that comes from her profession).
2) in the present case, I picked the shot from a longer series precisely because of the "expressive" left hand.
-
I think the expression of her left hand is rather typically feminine. So, as you say, you captured the moment in which she returned to her usual self from the professional ballerina mode. The selection is very appropriate for the purpose.
On the other hand, the way she supports her whole body just by anchoring the toe of her right foot should be the result of her professional hard training. If I would do the same, my calf would surely be cramp. :o :o :o
-
Variant obtained by in-camera processing
-
and a B&W one. I have done some effort to reduce the nervousness of bokeh in some areas. In this respect, the Voigt is a good lens, but direct sunlight on trees produces gritty patterns.
The main problem is a loss of (color) contrast between head and trees in the background.
-
Hmm...to me, the initial version looks the best. In the second version, the color of the clothes the blurred couple are wearing is a bit obtrusive. In the B&W version, the foliage over her left shoulder is, again, a bit obtrusive.
-
agreed and agreed. In the first, I did "tweak" the clothes, not in the in-camera version. In the third, one solution would be to lighten the greens.
-
In the third, one solution would be to lighten the greens.
...and then convert to B&W? That seems to be promising.
-
The skin tones on the most beautiful legs set the tune for the first shot. Do not change anything
-
Another try via photoshop. I am still not satisfied.
-
Mongo agrees that her whole body expression was in tune with her emotion in this image. It seems that some news can sometimes be good news. Of the monos, the last mono posted works best for Mongo
-
I like the first one ,
-
Mongo, the expression was cracking indeed. The last mono is still not OK for me. Maybe I should rent the 58/1.4 G and re-do the shot ;)
Thanks Armando; it looks like the colors are a plus in this case, see Frank's post. Especially the contrast between warm tones (background) and cold ones (foreground)
-
Airy, Mongo is very interested by your comment. What is it about the last mono that you feel the 58/1.4G would do better ? could it not be done by some additional post processing on the existing image ??
-
Nervous bokeh. The Voigt 58/1.4 is not bad in that respect, but still... as pointed out in another thread, it overcorrects spherical aberration in the background, leading to bokeh outlining. The Nikkor may be better here.
I am not good enough at PP to get rid of that effect. The last BW output involved three masks for various purposes, but I'm not quite there. In fact, I'd have liked to reduce clarity rather than contrast, but did not find the right way.
-
thanks Airy - understood.
-
You can tell right away that she is a trained dancer: posture, muscles and tone. The expression captured is so endearing.
I thinks the post is not working for me totally either. May be the lighter background in relation to her or the strong presence of the other person in the frame. It does take away the pleasure of being in that moment with you two but it doesn´t make it easygoing image wise.
I´m always hoping my English and opinion makes sense.
That smile!
-
Airy,
Great expression and posture! I would not worry about the bokeh as no one should notice unless that's all they look for bokeh alone in a photograph. The subject should distract attention from such a mundane detail. Now if you are in the market for a new 50-60mm fast lens that would be different.
On my computers L's legs and the right side of her face are too cool. I'd try setting the WB for the shaded areas of the photo and let the background go warm.
Dave
-
You can tell right away that she is a trained dancer: posture, muscles and tone. The expression captured is so endearing.
I thinks the post is not working for me totally either. May be the lighter background in relation to her or the strong presence of the other person in the frame. It does take away the pleasure of being in that moment with you two but it doesn´t make it easygoing image wise.
I´m always hoping my English and opinion makes sense.
That smile!
I agreee that this is a snapshot, and both the pose and the smile got priority. Laureline is a self-control freak (as some stage artists would be), and those rare moments when she gets a girlish expression on her face are simply worth capturing because they are seldom. It would have been impossible to stage such a shot, or to redo it after having chased away the other protagonists...
Then again, the problem is to make the image worthwhile for "third parties", hence my attempts to dissolve the background and enhance the smile, the left hand, the little black dress and the legs (emphasized given that they were nearer to the camera). More masking ahead.
-
Sorry Airy, it should read:
It does not take away the pleasure of being in that moment with you two but it doesn´t make it easygoing image wise.
It came out harsh and it was not my intention neither my opinion.
-
Airy,
Great expression and posture! I would not worry about the bokeh as no one should notice unless that's all they look for bokeh alone in a photograph. The subject should distract attention from such a mundane detail. Now if you are in the market for a new 50-60mm fast lens that would be different.
On my computers L's legs and the right side of her face are too cool. I'd try setting the WB for the shaded areas of the photo and let the background go warm.
Dave
Dave, I agree that the bokeh is a minor trouble compared with the two ladies and their backpack.
Concerning the WB, I hesitated a lot (my monitor is calibrated, so your perception matches my intentions, or unability to decide). First thing is, arms and legs are in the shadow, but her legs are simply less suntanned (Northern France is not California). So it would make sense to harmonize those tones in PP. Question is, what's the target.
I know that cooler skin tones are generally not appreciated. One reason might be the association of tan with healthy, successful, "in" young adults (older ones would even get orange-colored). On the other hand, pink / magenta is a more common target color for infants (responsible parents do not expose kids to blazing direct sunlight). My impression was, the "girlish" expression would ask for pink, rather than tan. In the end I left auto WB settings alone. Still, the mismatch between arms and legs, while reflecting reality, is somewhat disturbing. Maybe I should consider an intermediate solution, using proper masking (warmer legs, cooler arms, re-balanced face).
-
Sorry Airy, it should read:
It does not take away the pleasure of being in that moment with you two but it doesn´t make it easygoing image wise.
It came out harsh and it was not my intention neither my opinion.
Golunvolo, thanks for correcting, but it was not even needed : what you meant was absolutely clear, and my internal autocorrector worked instantly. Thanks again for your comments.