Sunset & Night Portraits - Movie Style

Here are a few images from a shoot I did the other week with actress Gayna Millican, who has most recently been seen in UK's Byker Grove. The shoot was a mix of natural light and flash based photography shooting through sunset and into the night.

This was something of a trial run for me as we will be filming some new tutorial clips in the New Year and this shoot enabled me to scout some potential locations and run through some ideas together as a team.

The first image was shot using natural light at ISO 400 using a lastolite tri-grip reflector to bounce light back into the shot. With an intense sunset happening behind the model flooding the bridge, the opportunity to use that strong light is too good to miss. This was shot on a Canon 50mm F1.4 lens using the MK1 5D. Compositionally I've framed Gayna between a couple of vertical posts and positioned her head on a strong focal point. The image was post processed in Lightroom and CS3 and the sunglasses were cloned and patched to remove the reflections of myself and my assistant. In the full res file you can see the reflections of the Tyne Bridge still in them.


In this second image I have gone with a more central composition, and have removed the sunglasses to create direct eye contact. This time I move Gayna into an area of shade, allowing me to use the flash unit to create seperation between the model and the background. Quite often central compositions aren't as effective, however used correctly they can have bags of mood and impact. This was shot using a 580EX fired through a 15" lastolite Ezybox triggered with an ST-E2. WB in both shots was left on auto however by using the flash instead of a gold/silver reflector the skin tones have been rendered differently, creating two unique looks.


On the subject of WB this next shot was creted using auto WB with a gold reflector providing the return light. The image was shot to look like a movie still and I had scene from Miami Vice or CSi Miami in mind when taking this one. It was back on with the shades and that relaxed and confident look shines through here. The sunset was intense and although I could have used flash and held the background I decided to let the highlights go. Shooting at around F1.8 on the 50mm and then post processing the image with a gold layer over the top to give a warm glow across the deliberately blown highlights in the image.


As the sunset faded and night was upon us we decided to continue shooting movie style images. Of course to keep some ambient light coming through you have to increase the ISO settings. A lot of these images are shot at around ISO 1000 or 1250 with wide apertures and slow shutter speeds. I find myself using the flash to freeze te subject and retain sharpness and letting the ambient come through in a softer way. The light in the backgroun here is from teh bridge lighting and Gayna was shot from below using a snooted 580EX and a 580EX through a softbox. ISO was set at 1000 and the image was created using a Canon 70-200mm lens. The composition makes use of diagonals and vertical lines and has a strong sense of drama and danger .. created through the low angle, Gayna hanging off the ledge and the darkness of night.

The following image had the background light colour changed in lightroom and CS3 and uses the low shooting angle again. Notice the repetition in the arch shapes throughout including in the shoe. I did deliberate cloning the strip of trainer showing just above the ledge but decided that it didn't distract enough. Movie style images should retain some realism for me and of course I like to keep my workflow to a minimum where possible. ISO 1250, 70-200mm, F4 were the settings used with 2 580EX flash units on manual.


Hopefully these images give you an idea as to how the shoot went and how we worked the one location from sunset onwards. Shooting into the night can give you an opportunity to create different, modern looks which clients will love. Increasing your working day isn't always a good thing however it's good to be able to make use of the time when desired.

5D MKii ISO 4000 & Budget Lens

I had the opportunity the other evening to shoot some images with a tuition client using one of our new 5D MKii's. I've been in the process of writing a more comprehensive review of the unit however I wanted to post a couple of examples on here to give prospective buyers an idea of what they can expect.

The image below was shot at ISO 4000 at F5 using a Tamron 28-75mm F2.8 lens (One of the most affordable and lightweight F2.8's available). This isn't a match for the 24-70mm Canon unit but these images will give you an idea of what can be resolved detail wise and how well the camera performs at a relatively high ISO. The first image is the uncropped image, processed using the default in Lightroom with no adjustments or sharpening. This was shot handheld and a couple of speedlites provided the illumination.


The next image is a 1000% crop from the image above allowing you to take a closer look at the detail and noise in the image. Once again no processing other than the default lightroom settings with no additional sharpening.


After these set up shots were done I continued to shoot and created a few of the images below which have had a full lighting set up and have been processed in Lightroom and CS3.
A slightly more dramatic angle in this one and a touch wider ... as you can see these were shot just as the sky was turning that lovely deep blue. Adjusting the shutter speed and ISO to control the ambient and allowing the flash units to keep the subject sharp create some strong and high impact images.

5D MKii Video

Here is an example of a video shot in low light with the Canon 5D MKii. The ISO was set to H1 on this shoot (12,800) and the lens used was an F2.8 24-70mm. This clip also shows the Canon ST-E2 transmitter in action and explains a little bit about the benefits of using this device on location.

Imagenomic Plug-ins

For the professional portrait photographer speed without sacrificing quality is of the essence. One area where many photographers slow down is on post processing. This is because many do not have a suitable system in place for getting high quality results at speed.

I have a number of systems depending on how I need the finished shot to look and of course depending upon the desired final quality of the image. In this tutorial I am going to take you through some quick steps using plug-ins to get high end results at high speed.

In the image below you can see we have opened up our processed raw file into CS3. This image has had very little raw processing and was just batched on some safe settings.

This was a natural light image taken using just a reflector at the end of a 70-200mm Canon lens.

The first port of call is to set the black and white points (I am assuming you have some knowledge of this in this tutorial). Once that has been done you will see an instant improvement in the tone and contrast of the shot as can be seen below.

For the purposes of this tutorial I am going to be using the Portraiture 2 plug-in from imagenomic available at http://www.imagenomic.com/. Once installed the software will be available in your filters menu in CS3 and can be accessed through this menu as can be seen below.

Once the plug-in has opened you will have access to the control panel for Portraiture 2. At first this can seem a little daunting however it is a very easy but powerful interface to get to grips with. One of the main benefits of this system is that it incorporates a quick mask solution allowing you to apply the effects only to the skin tones in the image, leaving all the other sections unaffected.

The dashboard is shown in the image below.

The detail smoothing controls the way in which blemishes are handled. You can see the selected mask to the right on the white background. The skin tones are selected from the skin tones mask section on the left using the eyedropper tools. The controls below allow you to fine tune your selection. Below that palette is the enhancement palette. This is where the majority of your tuning will take place, adjusting softness, warmth, brightness etc to give you a finished look. In the example above you can see the split screen view allowing you to see the original on the left and the preview of the effects on the right. The bottom right hand corner of the screen is the navigator which allows you to select which section of the image you want to view. Here we are viewing a Canon 5D file at 50%.

One you are happy with the results you can drop the split screen to view a larger viewing area before finally deciding to go ahead. You can click to create the effects into a new layer in Photoshop so you can then adjust the opacity of that layer as necessary. In this example I have pushed the file a bit further than I would normally do with the intention of adjusting the opacity of using a quick layers mask if necessary to fine tune the shot.

We then click OK in the top right and the image effects will be processed and will appear in a new layer in CS3 as shown below. In this example I have applied a layers mask to the Portraiture plug-in layer and have erased back the eyes and lips to ensure that none of the smoothing and skin adjusting takes place in these crucial areas. I then adjusted the opacity of the layer to the desire level.

As you can see in the image above there are still a few larger skin blemishes which haven’t quite been removed. At this stage I duplicate the layer and deal with these using the Spot Healing brush. It’s a very quick job to just dab each one until the skin is improved. At the same time as doing this I make slight tweaks to any other features which need attention such as a quick saturation or dodge to the eyes. If required I may use the Clone Stamp tool on individual sections to get it right.

At this stage I could flatten the image in CS3 and make the final curves adjustment, and I would have a file with good skin tone and free of blemishes, in other words a perfectly saleable image to a portrait client. However I want to take this further and make the image more striking. To do this I am going to use another plug-in call Contrast Master, this time from Photo Wiz and available at http://www.thepluginsite.com/products/photowiz/index.htm

My aim here is to add a bit more drama into the background of the image as the blue wall is crying out for some attention and more contrast. Firstly I duplicate the layer and set the mode to 8 bit. Once again we find the contrast master plug-in under the filters menu. Once opened you will find a huge array of controls, some of which are aimed at the novice and others giving incredible controls for pro’s who really have got to grips with the software.

In the example shown below I have the expert mode open. This is still manageable for novices as a lot of the controls are hidden until you need them. I start by making adjustments to the shadow and highlight contrast as well as the saturation levels. I am only looking at the background at this stage as I will be using a layers mask on the adjusted layer to finish the shot in CS3. There is a preview click box in the bottom left which enables you to see the before and after effects as and when you need them.

As you can see the skin has started to look quite harsh now however as mentioned don’t worry about this as you will be erasing this section away using a layers mask back in CS3. Once you are happy with the results and they look the way you want you can click OK to apply the effects and return to CS3.

In the example below you can see that I have applied a layers mask and am using a brush to erase away the effects of Contrast Master over the areas of skin and hair.

At this stage once again I have a great shot that I am sure the client would love. For my own benefit though I want to have a look at making a couple of hue and saturation changes so I create a new adjustment layer.

I then adjust the sliders until I have reached the desired look. Once again the skin tones will have been thrown out however we can once more mask these back in using a layers mask. I love the cyan coloured background here and the slight orange tint to the jacket. The blue and yellow work really well but this shot just has the edge for me so I decide to go with it.

Once I’m happy with the settings I click OK and the layer appears in my layers palette. I then use a layers mask and work over the skin areas once more until I reveal the correct skin tones below.

Here is the result.

It’s a really good shot now and with a quick curves adjustment it could be finished. However I decide to once more harness the power of the Portraiture 2 plug-in to brighten those skin tones a touch and just give a little more separation from the background. The adjustment to the hue and saturation are just begging to have this final tweak performed.

Once more I go a little over the top so I can then reduce the opacity back in CS3 to get the finished look I want. As before I use the same controls as the first time but this time I reduce the strength of the effects as most of the work has already been done. It’s really just a final tweak now to brighten the skin against the edgy cyan background.

All that is left for me to do is to make the final curves adjustment to the file. I do this in my usual manner applying an S-Curve to the file in CS on a new adjustment layer. I use a number of points making very fine adjustments until I get exactly the look I need.

I then click OK before adjusting the opacity of the curves layer. This time settling on around 45% as this gives me the perfect finished image.

The image is then flattened and saved without sharpening. It’s a shot that will look great printed onto canvas or displayed sandwiched between acrylic in any contemporary or modern home. It might look like there were quite a few steps in this tutorial but in real time this entire retouch and process took less than 10 minutes from start to finish.

Of course you couldn’t retouch a beauty shot in the same time or using the same techniques however if you are a busy portrait professional the this is an ideal solution to giving a very high end look to your shots with the minimum input of time.

Welcome to my blog here at Blogger.com

The aim here is to provide you with a bit more information about my day to day photographic life. I intend to add to this blog to provide a resource for photographers from amateur to professionals. Giving you tips, tricks of the trade and interesting articles that will hopefully benefit your own photographic life.

With a bit of work and mutual contribution my blog should become a reference tool for anyone wanting to know more about photography, photographic training or the business of photography.

For those wanting to know I am Dan Pearson, a full time professional photographer, writer and photographic tutor based in Northeast England. I'm currently 33 years old and live with my better half and a crazy 10 year old who goes by the name of Molly.

So now that the introduction is out of the way I suppose I ought to go come up with some content.