Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Environmental Portrait

I wanted to try out my new Pocket Wizards (radio controlled remote flash triggers) so I asked a co-worker to pose for me. I'm was going for a little humor here obviously but I was also hoping to get a usable image for the Bay Area Photo Club's upcoming assignment of Environmental Portrait. I used my Canon 430EX flash with an attached LumiQuest soft box mounted on a monopod. I had another co-worker hold the monopod above camera right.

I would appreciate any opinions on the photo and how you think it might be judged as an environmental portrait.

Title: "Overworked"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Post-processing: Photoshop CS3 > Topaz Adjust Vibrance > Merge Visible to New Layer > Filter Stylize Diffuse Anisotropic > Merge Visible to New Layer > Copy a portion of the stack of files and desk to new layer > Move the current layer up to remove negative space at the top of the photo > Move to the new layer and scale the previous portion of the photo to fill the space left vacant when I moved the layer beneath upward

6 comments:

Jan Klier said...

Hey Barry!

Exciting to see you try this type of portrait. Great image, really love the composition and the pose, how she has the mouth and is blowing her hair up - really fits the concept of 'overworked' you had in mind. Lighting is very good.

Here are two things I might tweak:
- For my taste she has a bit too much halo around her hair, a bit distracting. But other than that I love the post processing you did.
- I'd work with the crop on the right side. I like the door frame and edge of the printer as something to keep my eye in the frame, where it wants to wander because of where she's looking. But while I like seeing something there, the way it is cut off I wonder if that could be made a bit better. Either clone the printer out and do just door frame, or show more if you have a bit margin left.

Very cool.

Jan

Barry Armer said...

Thanks Jan! I was hoping to get a response from you because I new it would be helpful!

I agree with your comments and I'll work on incorporating them into the photo.

Thanks agian!
Barry

Brian Bastinelli said...

Barry,

This is a cool fun shot. It certainly looks like way to many folders of work for me!

I like the processing a lot. I do tend to agree with Jan about the halo however.

To echo Jans thoughts about the framing I am wondering if a horizontal shot with a bit more of the environment might change it a little bit?

Great shot.

Barry Armer said...

Thanks Brian!

More good feedback for me to consider! A lot depends on what background I cropped out to get to the image presented. I can't actually remember if I cropped a litte or a lot which is a lesson in itself. I suppose I should always make sure I capture enough background in the original image to leave myself with some cropping options.

Cheers!
Barry

Anonymous said...

I like the vertical orientation of this shot, and the printer on the edge doesn't bother me. I think it adds to the environmental feel although I think a little more room around her would be nice and even a little more of the printer. I love the pose and expression you caught, Barry! The light area around her is somewhat distracting but otherwise I think this is a great environmental portrait and I love the humorous twist --- you are going to be some tough competition next month!

Cindi

Barry Armer said...

Thanks Cindi!

I like the shot a lot and I'm leaning toward presenting it for the Environmental Portrait assignment (after making some of the changes suggested here of course). I'll have to try for something more traditional I think for my second entry.

Cheers!
Barry