Here goes nothing --> Self Portrait

.Longshanks.

Ok, so here goes nothing....


I'm really not sure about this because im not at all comfortable in front of the camera, however due to an even less cooperative fiancée I figured the best way to sort that out is to jump in head first myself.

I was paying around with my flash again last night and wanted to try to get a shot with the effect of the least amount of light possible. I tried this with a homemade 'snoot' that was made from cardboard off a miller beer box that was folded and taped into a square cylinder (correct term?) to tunnel the light from the flash towards me and very litle else.....I've been doing a lot of reading up on strobist.com!

If only the shutter trigger i ordered from ebay had arrived already, because it took about 30 goes to get it half right due to constantly having to move back and forth to trigger the timmer and adjust settings.

In PS i tweaked the White balance, increased the contrast a tiny bit and then cropped.


This was the set up (taken this morning in daylight)



Appreciate all comments, good or bad

rahtkennades

Thanks for posting the pic of the setup, very helpful to understand what and how you did that.
RE the image, I'm not an expert, but my observations would be:
1. There's a smudge on the left side near your sig that could be removed.
2. Maybe it could be framed with the subject (you) lower in the right, to suggest where the light is coming from (without showing the light).
3. I like it! Well done!

pixbyjohn

I like the result, very nice portrait.
Keith (Borderfox) gave me good advice on the flash meet. Shoot at f4/f5.6 with shutter speed of 1/160 with ISO 400 when using flash. try that setting and see what result you get. Just as an experiment.

.Longshanks.

rahtkennades wrote: »

Thanks for posting the pic of the setup, very helpful to understand what and how you did that.
RE the image, I'm not an expert, but my observations would be:
1. There's a smudge on the left side near your sig that could be removed.
2. Maybe it could be framed with the subject (you) lower in the right, to suggest where the light is coming from (without showing the light).
3. I like it! Well done!

Thanks.

Now when I look a the full size version again i think the smudge is actually a faint bit of light spill catching the very edge of the chair used to hold the brush up (just pushed it out of the way).

Thanks for suggestion #2

pixbyjohn wrote: »

I like the result, very nice portrait.
Keith (Borderfox) gave me good advice on the flash meet. Shoot at f4/f5.6 with shutter speed of 1/160 with ISO 400 when using flash. try that setting and see what result you get. Just as an experiment.

I actually tried that and it was far too bright. The whole room was bright with the ambient light from the TV and hallway (it wasn't totally dark where i set up)

Heebie

I think it looks great. and.. I can't help but love your tripod setup.

Borderfox

I like it, personally I love shots with a lot of dark area in them. Great set-up too

smelltheglove

Borderfox wrote: »

I like it, personally I love shots with a lot of dark area in them. Great set-up too

Yeah me too. Well done Kevin, nice portrait.

pullandbang

I dunno, I think that brush looks fantastic. I love the way you have an ornamental light growing out of the bristles. The white handle conrtasts really well with the black head. The backward angle is so retro! The composition is a little off and maybe a little too much clutter in the overall shot - however it works for me.

Fair play though, a brush is an unusual subject and I think you made the most of it. Keep up the good work.

DK32

Great work on this Kevin. Really like the lighting.

democrates

Ok recomposed after reading pullandbag's post there (thanks for the first laugh of the week), I like that portrait a lot it's got that Rembrandt style I love.

Is there anything you can do so the light has a more gradual fall-off I wonder? Maybe a tad wider opening on the snoot and a ring of diffuser around the end from a few layers of plastic milk container could work. Or you could do it with layers in pp...

.Longshanks.

rahtkennades wrote: »

Thanks for posting the pic of the setup, very helpful to understand what and how you did that.
RE the image, I'm not an expert, but my observations would be:
1. There's a smudge on the left side near your sig that could be removed.
2. Maybe it could be framed with the subject (you) lower in the right, to suggest where the light is coming from (without showing the light).
3. I like it! Well done!

Longshanks100 wrote: »

Now when I look a the full size version again i think the smudge is actually a faint bit of light spill catching the very edge of the chair used to hold the brush up (just pushed it out of the way)........

Thanks for suggestion #2

Now when i look at the smudge on the work PC that smudge (or what ever it is) is a 1000 times more obvious . Its removed on the original on my HD at home.

pullandbang wrote: »

I dunno, I think that brush looks fantastic. I love the way you have an ornamental light growing out of the bristles. The white handle conrtasts really well with the black head. The backward angle is so retro! The composition is a little off and maybe a little too much clutter in the overall shot - however it works for me.

Fair play though, a brush is an unusual subject and I think you made the most of it. Keep up the good work.

:D:D

democrates wrote: »

Ok recomposed after reading pullandbag's post there (thanks for the first laugh of the week), I like that portrait a lot it's got that Rembrandt style I love.

Is there anything you can do so the light has a more gradual fall-off I wonder? Maybe a tad wider opening on the snoot and a ring of diffuser around the end from a few layers of plastic milk container could work. Or you could do it with layers in pp...

Good ideas - more experimenting required! Wanna try to learn how to do it the manual way instead of PP

oshead

Longshanks100 wrote: »

Good ideas - more experimenting required! Wanna try to learn how to do it the manual way instead of PP

Nice shot, you're very brave for getting on the other side of the camera. :eek:

A shorter snoot might give you more gradual fall off of light.

Fenster

I like the technical side of it, but the composition of the final image is lacking. I would have wanted eye contact.

.Longshanks.

Fenster wrote: »

I like the technical side of it, but the composition of the final image is lacking. I would have wanted eye contact.

One step at a time

oshead wrote: »

Nice shot, you're very brave for getting on the other side of the camera. :eek:

A shorter snoot might give you more gradual fall off of light.

Thanks. Might get the scissors out!

Edit -
I've replaced the pic in the opening post with one that removed the 'smudge'. Sorry if that mucks up the context of your comments rahtkennades

Chorcai

Its all very black/grey doom gloom, maybe change to a brighter shirt/jumper ? I can see what your aiming for alright. I like the end result.

+1 for set up shot !