Portrait Workflow

While editing several sets of images lately I thought it may be interesting to describe my workflow from camera import to Lightroom export.  While the process does vary a little from portrait to portrait, there is a basic order that I use to process images.

First is importing into Lightroom 4.  As soon as I get home from a shoot the images are uploaded onto my desktop and an external drive as backup.  If they are for hire they get organized inside my business folder by type and name. 

After importing the total number of images are narrowed down.  If there are multiples of the same pose/group I look at the 100% image for expression, eyes, and pose.  Any pose that just doesn't look right gets deleted.  The main point is to narrow the session to the best examples and not overwhelm the viewer with choices. 

The next step is basic white balance correction, minor exposure adjustments, and straightening.  Most of the time I shoot on the Auto White Balance setting because the images are shot in RAW format.  RAW gives me the flexibility to adjust white balance in post instead of in camera.  Sometimes the exposure, highlights, or shadows need minor adjustments before I bring the image into Photoshop for more intensive editing.  Finally for this step is straightening the image if the camera wasn't lined up the way I wanted it.

From Lightroom the image then goes into Photoshop for the majority of the edits.  First step here is to duplicate the original layer so if there are major issues I always have that base layer to start again.  The duplicate layer is used to fix any skin blemishes or other minor items.  Then if it would help the image the healed layer is duplicated and taken into one or more Topaz Labs plugins.  Adjust 5 is great for color and detail and Clean 3 is great for skin softening.  After all edits in Photoshop are complete the image is sharpened and imported back into Lightroom.

Final tweaks are done in Lightroom before either export or upload to Smugmug.  Of course my workflow differs from portraits to landscapes but the same basic steps are there.  Later I will do a post on skin softening and what has really worked for me.  For now here is a before and after from Ben and Karissa's wedding.

The original image was a little flat for my taste so I used one of Topaz Adjust 5's presets to add a little color and increase detail.  Minor skin smoothing and hot spot removal. Flattened the back of Ben's vest that was bulging out.  Sharpened for final output.

 Final output.  This is the first time I've posted a before and after so you will have to let me know if this kind of post is helpful or not.

Recent Portrait Work

One of the things I am going to add to my blog is recent sittings.  I often post personal projects because they are fun.  While those posts allow me to talk about a variety of topics they often don't showcase work that is done for clients.  The first post about a recent sitting was about a local musician beginning his doctoral studies (full post available here). 

Today's post includes a picture from my niece's second birthday shoot.  She is such a cute little girl and a joy to photograph.  She follows directions well and loves the camera.  I'm very fortunate to be in a position to capture these moments in time for members of my family.

For this image she was sitting on a little rocking chair in front of the small waterfall at my mom's house.  We were playing peek-a-boo and she was pretending to be a little shy.  I love the innocent look on her face and the direct contact of her eyes and the camera.  It was hard to change positions or want to move on because she was having fun and giving lots of different smiles.

Some technical info on this shot.  My SB-800 was aimed into a Photek Soflighter 2 with diffusion cloth above and to the left of Natalie's position.  I paired my 70-200mm with the D700 with a large aperture to make sure the background was out of focus.

Natalie has a great little smile.  Quite often now she sticks her tongue out the side and I think it makes it even cuter. 

For the majority of the shoot I was laying on my stomach to get closer to her level.  It is an easy way to make your photographs of children that much better.  For more tips check out my previous blog post, Taking Better Pictures of Children.

Camera Modes Explained

After a recent Facebook poll I decided to post about the different modes you may see on your camera and what your camera does when you select each mode.  Not all cameras have the same modes so if there is one I don't cover that you would like more information on please comment below and I will see what I can do to help you out.

Automatic

As the name implies the camera does all the thinking for you and determines the shutter speed, aperture, flash,  and sometimes ISO for you.  Some cameras allow you to turn off or adjust the automatic ISO feature.  The camera doesn't know what you are trying to achieve so it does what it thinks is necessary to get a proper exposure.  My belief is that you should always be thinking when you are taking a picture and as such you should probably stay away from the automatic mode. 

Program

This is similar to Automatic and is a good mode for beginners.  Unlike Automatic, once the camera determine what settings should be used, you may then make adjustments to what you think they should be.

Aperture Priority

With this mode you are starting to make your way towards total control over the image.  You select the aperture (which controls depth of field) and the camera will determine a shutter speed for a correct exposure.  For example if you are taking a portrait and want the background out of focus you would select a wider aperture (lower number).

Shutter Priority

This is the reverse of Aperture Priority.  Here you select the shutter speed and the camera will adjust the aperture to give you a proper exposure.  This is useful when you aren't picky about the aperture but you don't want the shutter speed to change.

Manual

Once you have learned the basics it is time to move into Manual Mode.  This gives you full control over ISO, aperture, shutter, and white balance. With complete control over all settings you can create whatever look you are envisioning.  After some practice you will discover times when certain situations can fool your camera's computer brain.  Using Manual will allow you to make adjustments to overcome those obstacles.

This image was shot in Aperture Priority and manual focus. I set the aperture at f/10 so the stem and buds would be in focus while the background would be out of focus.  Knowing that an aperture of f/10 would yield a shutter speed that would be difficult to hand hold I bumped the ISO up to 500 which gave me a shutter speed of 1/60 sec. 

Musician Portraits

Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of working with one of my favorite wedding couples for the second time.  Ben and Stephanie are so much fun to work with and be around.  Ben is currently beginning his doctoral studies at the U of M.  He contacted me about taking some head shots and detail shots of him and his instruments for his website.

I was thrilled to help him out and we had a lot of fun on the first half of our shoot.  We spent a couple hours shooting details and some shots of Ben with his instruments.  A special thanks to Stephanie for agreeing to be my stand-in assistant through the shoot.

Both his tenor and alto saxophones are incredibly interesting subjects.  I really hadn't realized how intricate they are until we were working and trying to decide what parts we wanted to highlight.  We could have easily spent several more hours focusing on all the little details.  Below are a few of the detail shots and one of my favorites of Ben with both of his instruments.

Night at the Cathedral

My original plan yesterday was to shoot a sunset from the high bridge.  The clouds didn't cooperate so I decided to head over to St. Paul's Cathedral and try some night shots.  While there weren't any clouds left I figured that the architecture would be enough to add interest to the shot.  As it turned out the Cathedral was much like my shot from Duluth.  The lack of clouds didn't bother me.  Clouds would have added drama but the occasional clean sky works.

All said I spent about an hour walking around the cathedral trying different angles and elevations.  A couple of locations required a couple different shots to fit the whole building in.  The picture that I posted on Facebook was a good example of that.  I wanted to have the stairs in the shot with the railings leading up to the building.  I also wanted to have some space above the top of the church so, if printed, the top wouldn't be cut off.

For my recent shoots I've been using my new Promote Control.  After my previous remote release started to fall apart I wanted to replace it with something that had a little more functionality.  A couple of the benefits of the Promote Control is it bypasses the built in 30 second limit and expands the maximum number of shots in a bracketed series.

The first image is the one I posted to in Facebook.  It is a combination of two HDR's.  With the 24-70mm lens I wanted to show how large this building is.  Shot from a low angle helps to accentuate the size of the building.

The second is a popular angle.  I love the gentle rise of the grass in the foreground and the cars parked just in front of the church.  They help to establish how large the building is.

Photographer or Equipment

Anyone who invests money in quality photographic equipment has heard the following, "That's a great camera, it must take great pictures."  Most photographers will smile and agree while screaming in their head, "I create the image! The camera is just the tool I use to capture it!".  Some may even give you a lengthy lesson in how the photographer's individual skill is more important than the equipment they use.  Anyone with a lot of disposable income can buy an expensive camera.  This doesn't necessarily make them any good at taking pictures.

While browsing some of my favorite photography websites I came across the perfect article on this issue.  Over at PetaPixel there is a fabulous article on the subject.  Sohail Mamdani explains in his article, Gear Doesn't Matter - Except When It Does, that to a certain extent the photographer must have the skill and knowledge to properly capture a picture.  However, there comes a point where gear does matter.  Any time you start to specialize the right gear makes a huge difference.

The best example I can give of this is my last trip to Walt Disney World.  One of my main goals was to capture images of the dark rides.  This is a great example of when the gear you have makes a difference.  For the dark rides I had my Nikon D700 with a Nikon 50mm 1.4 attached.  The full frame D700 has great low light capability and the 50mm 1.4 has a very wide maximum aperture.  The combination of these two pieces of equipment allowed me to shoot scenes that would have been difficult (if not impossible) with lesser gear.

Sure you could use flash to illuminate the subject but on any of the dark rides a flash would be distracting to other guests as well as ruin the atmosphere of the ride.  Dark rides at WDW are tricky due to low light, unstable ride vehicles, and scenes that confuse your camera's exposure meter.

I highly recommend reading the full article on PetaPixel (linked above).  That article plus many others are very useful.  Below are a few examples of pictures that were made possible by using more specialized equipment.

Pirates of the Caribbean - ISO 2500 1/30sec at f/1.4 (an ISO that my first camera couldn't achieve and would have been so noisy that it would have been completely unusable.)

POTC - ISO 2500 1/40sec at f/1.4

Rockin' Roller Coaster - ISO 1250 1/15sec at f/2.8 (used the 24-70mm lens for this one)

Macro Details

I've always been facinated by macro photography.  Looking at every day objects up close gives me a whole new perspective on the things I see every day.  Flowers are a great example.  We see them every day but rarely stop to appreciated how intricate they are.

This first example is little groups of flowers found along my mom's driveway.  I have no idea what they are but from a distance they look like boring little pink flowers.  Get up close and it is a whole different story.  Changing my perspective (lying down on my stomach) and utilizing my 105mm macro lens revealed these delicate curled stamen.  To really appreciate these structures go to my site and view the image at original size (O in the size choices).

This image was a little difficult to capture as I was unable to use my tripod.  Instead I had to use the same breathing techniques I do when at the rifle range.  To complicate things a little further there was the slightest breeze which really moves around these miniature flowers.  Thankfully my mom is very supportive of these little endeavors and used one of my pop-up reflectors to create a wind break.  After a few attempts I got one that I liked.  The only post processing done on this shot was a white balance adjustment and minor sharpening.

Here is another flower that looked very unassuming from my 6'3" vantage point.  Originally I was drawn to this flower because of the vibrant color and the darker veins that ran from the center out.  After my first shot I saw the sharp, crown-like structure in the center.  Not sure if this is stamen or not but since it is interesting I don't really care.   This was another shot that was hard to get because of the movement of the flower.  Post on this consisted of minor sharpening and removal of a few dust spots.

The last one is one of my favorite flowers that can be found at my mom's house.  They are pretty large flowers so I wanted to focus on one element instead of the flower as a whole.  In an ideal world the stamen in this flower would all be in a nice row so they are all in focus but nature doesn't like doing that.  I didn't want to increase the depth of field since that would draw attention away from my primary subject.  When out of focus the flower provides a wonderful background as it transitions from deep red to vibrant yellow.  Post on this image was a white balance adjustment and minor sharpening.

Be sure to check them out at their original sizes at my site.  As always they are available for purchase in a wide variety of forms.