Close-Up Portraits of Karen : Sometimes Good Photos Come Out of Tricky Situations


Introduction

A few days ago I did a tutorial on "Easy Black And White Portrait Conversion" and used a photo of Karen from this shoot at Dunstanburgh Beach in Northumberland during winter.  

I thought it might be nice to share some of the other photos from the same shoot.  It was absolutely freezing and the longer we were out there the more Karen's makeup was coming off and her nose was running.  Plus there was a breeze too which was making her eyes water.  This was making a mess of her makeup but somehow it seemed to fit with the shots (at least for me). Sometimes in life adverse conditions can make for a great shot!

These are very closeup portraits taken with my Sigma 70-200mm lens.  If I had a favourite type of shot I would say it is this very closeup, raw kind of portrait.  The longer lens gives a very flattering compression of perspective and beautiful bokeh.

I hope you like them.


The Photos

1 - You can see the makeup is getting a bit ropey but it gives it an interesting feel.


2


3


4 The Photo from the tutorial.  You can see how much the light was varying between the shots.


Bonus Shot

5 - This is a bonus shot from the same shoot although it looks completely different.  I asked Karen to put her hood and gloves on and warmed her up in the car (if I remember correctly).  She also fixed her makeup.  I decided to take a shot with her still wearing the hood.  I also moved her to get more light on the face.  I love this shot but it lacks some of the rawness of the preceding ones in my opinion.  I didn't really get any more that looked like this because it was getting too dark - most of the light from this came from the flash - it looks brighter due to adjusting in PS.


6 - Of course I couldn't resist doing a quick black and white version of photo 5.  This is a very basic Lightroom conversion.  I just clicked the B&W button and let LR choose the colour mix.  I can't decide if I prefer this or the colour version.


If you like my work please follow me and check out my previous photography work and tutorials  @thecryptofiend - hope you enjoy.


Technical Information:

  • Nikon D800 Camera
  • Sigma 70-200mm/2.8 lens
  • Adobe Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC.
  • Model is Karen Thompson Pringle
  • Location is Dunstanburgh Beach in Northumberland, England.

(Verification for me here: http://www.aapicture.com/about-me)

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