Lovely shot, great use of DOF - bet it would be hard to take a bad shot of this young lady though ;-)

Nice shot (and model!) Dave! ;-)

I'd be interested to know how you lit this - I see you used both the 580EX and 420EX - presumably one was on the camera and one was providing light from Aimee's right?

Jennifer: you're right, it would be a bit difficult.

PhilB: no, not quite. The 580EX was on the camera, diffused with a lightsphere, and the 420EX was immediately behind Aimee, illuminating the background.

Hi David,
F3.5? To me it appears like the focus is coming in from an angle - camera right. Do I see a bit of PS magic?

Hi Dave. Thanks for these great shots of my girls. Both very different photos which IMO reflects the very different natures of Aimee and Daisy. Smashing stuff :o)

Eric: yep, there's an element of PS magic with this one :-)

Louise: you're welcome, and I'm glad you like them both.

Cute kid, but the hair blur distracts me. I'm not sure how much of it is true DOF from the lens and how much is Photoshop.

How did you synch both flashes? Pocket Wizards?

Max: the 580, which was on the camera, was set as the Master: the 420 as a slave.

Interesting the lighting on this image, I look forward to tomorrows image

Suby

Sorry, but I don't like the blur - no matter it's natural or photoshopped. In addition Aimee's face needs more contrast in my opinion.
Maybe this one's natural, but it's too flat and looks like unfinished (+that nasty blur). So far there have been many many portraits that were postprocessed the way that models look impossibly smooth, soft and perfect. This one seems to be cut off the background in a hurry and then blurred on the edges - instead of making a good use of this fascinating model and boosting all her advantages.

I think it's the first time I'm that critical on your work. Anyway, looking forward to the Daisy's shot.

Obviously it's very nice technically and the styling is pure eighties on this one. Miami Vice, The Goonies, Adventures in Babysitiing, etc etc. That may have been intentional, of course... And it's not necessarily a bad thing, just saying what I see... Roy Walker would be proud ;)

修改的痕迹太重了！

Good family portrait... unfortunately the blur on the hair is a bit overdone on the left. The high-key is also half done but the tone somehow works well. Good work for the eyes, that's golden.

Lovely shot ditto on the blur.

Really excellent. Post processing, the detail and also the way the hair goes out of focus too. Did you use any reflectors or was it just straight flash?

Ok, I read that you used a lightsphere, I will try and get one today. Um, what I am interested to know now is:

1. The eyes are sharp, as is the nose. Yet, the f stop is 3.5 which usually results for me in a sharp nose but soft eyes. Any tips?

2. Did you soften the hair in PS or was it due to the f stop. I personally like it. Accentuates the face and make the image far more than just a straight "snap".

I have stuck my head in the sand and yet have to shoot 16 portrait shots come the end of the month. I also have another question Dave. I need to have the backdrop in focus on the images I am to shoot, what sort of f-stop am I looking at but without losing detail on the subject? Is it possible or am I going to need an external lighting source? I will be shooting in a television studio, I may be able to utilise their lights.

If you could help, would be great.

Cheers tobias

I like the expression and tones, but i don't like the artificial blur

The blur as commented on above. It takes away the hair and the lips. She has beautiful eyes, perhaps a colour version would be more effective?

Mooch (Tobias) - Check out strobist.com. Lots of lighting info.

Dave - I would have to agree with most of the others here on the blur. The thumbnail version on the comments pages hides this and is less distracting.

Cheers Whodat. I am a landscape photogrpaher through and through but a co. now wants me to shoot 16 presenters off the back of some recent work. Having difficulty saying no, I dived straight in and then promptly pretended it wouldn't happen.

Ahhh!

Nice one Dave. I see you finally got the lightsphere. I see what the other mean about the blur and I think it's rather too much on the hair still (personal preference)

The more subtle blur is great. I can understand, however, why you wanted more blur, as it highlighted Aimee's face. This is a photo you can be proud of.

Thanks all.

bmoll: I don't think this is too flat. Also, it wasn't cut from the background. I do take your point about the blur though and have posted a new version.

Jamey: the style was Aimee's choice. I was just the monkey with the camera :-)

mooch: I explained the lighting in my intro'. As for your questions:

1) always focus on the eyes.

2) yes.

3) it depends on the lens you use, the distance between you and your subjects and your subjects and the background. My only real advice would be to mock up the set up beforehand and see what aperture you'll need to shoot at. I suspect, unless you have good lighting, that you may have some problems.

tulna: I did try a colour version, but it didn't work out as well as this one.

I like this one too!
I'd probably lean to this one though, Daisy's portrait tones remind me somehow of "Athena"

i prefer this one much better to the previous version. i think the extra detail you've put back in the hair helps frame the face a little better. i now see how much sharpness you got in the overall portrait and not just in the eyes. really a much better version.

I prefer the new version to the old one. Great portrait!

Ok, cheers Dave. I will have to try and get this situation set-up prior to the event. Fingers crosssed.

Nice shot! But why use PS for bluring? Isn´t it always better to do the DOF with the camera so it dosn´t give the photo a strange feeling...

Had been interesting to hear your point of view of that one.

Anyway, a great portrait.