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Francesco showed me this image on Facebook, rightfully proud of this captivating portrait. He mentioned that he used some of the techniques mentioned on this website. Since those techniques are accessible to every photographer , and the results can be so striking, I asked Francesco to expand a bit on how he shot this. He also explains a little about his post-processing in Photoshop.
The spontaneity of the moment
by Francesco De Maio
Sometimes it is true that the best experiences are the result of an unplanned event. Whenever possible I always carry my camera bag with me. In it is a quick portrait setup consisting mainly of my Nikon D700 with the Nikon 70-200mm 2.8 VR lens, and a SB900 speedlight … and of course a handmade half snoot made with a black piece of cardboard velcroed to the flashgun.
The opportunity for this picture came while at work when one of my friends and former colleague decided to visit us with his beautiful little son. I do not work full time in a photo studio. Nothing was scheduled nor planned ahead, but I can say this made this picture even more rewarding …
I grabbed my camera and starting following the little energizer bunny all over my workplace. I was faced with a few different rooms with different sizes , color temperature and lighting conditions. There were even some plain fluorescent light sin a large garage with no daylight; some fluorescent with strong daylight from nearby windows and some fluorescent with tungsten and daylight. Moreover I needed to be as quick and as stealthy as possible, the little boy would not stay put for more than a second and I had no time nor space for reflectors and off-camera flash.
The picture you see was taken in a 20×30 room with white walls and standard commercial ceiling. Given the poor dark ambient and fluorescent mix available in the room for consistency and quality I wanted my flashgun to be my main light but at the same time I wanted it to look as natural as possible. The white walls around me provided me with a nice surface to bounce my flash off. I also wanted some sense of light direction here hence I decided to turn my half snooted flash towards the corner on my back right. It sounds like a lot of work but it is really easier doing it than trying to explain it.
The camera settings were as follows :
Shutter : 1/200 - I needed to keep it sharp despite of very quick and sudden moments
Aperture : f 2.8 - I wanted to keep a shallow dept of field as well as fast flash recycling time
ISO 800 - more than enough for the above settings without compromising quality
Flash : TTL at 0EV - just quick trial and error it is what just worked best
Those settings just worked for me in this picture and are not meant to be inflexible. My main point of all of this is that even without extensive set up, off camera lighting and planning I was able to get a pleasant result with nice soft directional light.
In Photoshop I worked with the image a bit:
- I duplicated the original layer, and used the Shadows/Highlights tool (Image > Adjustments> Shadows/Highlights).
- I then added about 40% Shadows and 10% highlights;
- then with the “show more option” box selected I increased the mid-tone contrast by about 20 points.
The resulting layer should appear harder and more contrasted.
- I then added a black and white adjustment layer blended in overlay more and reduced the opacity to about 10%.
- Lastly I dodged the original background to the plain white you see.
Once again those steps just worked for me and this picture.
Happy shooting !
Francesco De Maio
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What a delightful little boy. Love the eye contact, and expression. I think i need to practice with that little black foamie!!!!
Thaks for sharing.
Comment by Jannine — January 22, 2010 @ 10:18 am
I’m sorry but i just don’t get this particular image,I do agree that the kid is adorable,but this is a photography site and this isn’t just up to par.
First of the image is out of focus and the image itself is bombarded with PP ( bad one at that).I’ve been following your blog Neil and i’m a fan,BUT.. your selection to include this in your blog using your technique…it’s very disapointing.
peace!
Anton.
Comment by Anton Gallardo — January 22, 2010 @ 6:07 pm
A very stunning capture, Francesco. Thanks for sharing.
John
Comment by John Wirick — January 22, 2010 @ 6:16 pm
Anton,
I agree with some of your points about this photo, but I don’t see an out of focus image!
Sure, there’s a very shallow depth of field, but the eyes seem perfectly in focus,
which is the most important part in a portrait.
Granted, I’m not sure I like the colours in this, as there is a very orange skin tone around the nose and right cheek,
which just seems unnatural for a fair haired boy. Great capture though, striking pose ;)
Cheers, Jon.
Comment by Jon Parsons — January 22, 2010 @ 10:19 pm
Hey Anton,
I respect you opinion, however, Neil offers this AWESOME site for free! He could charge hundreds for the priceless content offered here, but he doesn’t.
So for you to criticize his decision to put a picture on his site that you don’t like is insane!
Rob
Comment by Rob Sigler — January 22, 2010 @ 11:34 pm
I never get killer eyes unless I kill most of the contrast and bump the fill; and then only sometimes. Whats the secret?
Comment by Roy Carter — January 23, 2010 @ 1:05 am
thank you everybody for the nice comments,
@ Anton, you are certainly entailed to your opinion that I will not change, when you have your own blog feel free to feature whoever you want.
As far as the PP and the eyes, try to follow the steps I explain in the article, every picture is different, different values might result in something more pleasant for you. While blending the black and white layer try the different filters available and again different opacity. I was lucky that i started with a subject with striking eyes to begin with and good lighting did the rest.
The orange tone yes was made a little more evident by PP, but was present already on the subject face as a result of a cold.
The main point again was not to show a “perfect” image but an image that presented with nice soft directional light obtained with nothing more than on camera flash bounced off a wall behind me and this was just mine interpretation of it.
Francesco
Comment by Francesco De Maio — January 23, 2010 @ 11:55 am
That’s wonderful and shows that Neil’s approach works well :) Shooting kids are not the easiest thing to do :) Nicely done!
Comment by Arnold Gallardo — January 24, 2010 @ 2:36 am
Great job !!! Thanks for the teaching !!!
Comment by Antonio Ljubs — January 24, 2010 @ 4:33 pm
I can’t even believe the criticism, I think the photo is wonderful and I certainly appreciate the tips. Lovely, thank you
Comment by Anke — January 25, 2010 @ 7:15 pm
Great portrait despite the circumstance of capturing a constantly moving subject. Well done, Francesco. :-)
Comment by Dennis — January 26, 2010 @ 9:32 pm
I should add as well…great picture and great tips. At least someone makes an effort and spends time to share the image and technique. There is so much to learn (at no cost) from this blog.
Please keep it coming.
-MP
Comment by Mohanpreet Singh — January 27, 2010 @ 10:45 pm
Thank you all again for the nice comments, I am myself learning from Neil and this is a very small example how his technique just works !
FDM
Comment by Francesco De Maio — January 28, 2010 @ 6:05 pm
I think photographers get so lost in their work that they forget to consider the clients opinion that happens to me all the time… and as for this photo it is perfect! Thank you for sharing!
Comment by Tonya — January 30, 2010 @ 11:53 pm