For Part 5 of our How Was This Picture Taken series, I present to you: this portrait.
The answer has been posted here.
This is Sander. We worked together to create some high school senior portraits a few years ago and this has to be one of my favorite images from the day. While it might look like a fairly straightforward portrait, I’ll admit that there was a bit of work done on it in post production. My question to you is: how was this picture created?
A few things to consider:
- What camera and lens were used?
- What camera settings were used?
- What was the light source (or sources)?
- What was done in post production?
- What was the setting where this image was taken?
- Just for fun, at what point in our portrait session was this created? (thanks to Spencer’s post for making me think of this question)
You can now see the answer to how this picture was made here.
– 85mm, wide open
– Background maybe 1 stop underexposed
– Larger silver reflector camera left, up high (reflection in the forehead and under the eye / over the cheekbone)
– Warmth added in post
Polaroid One Step OneStep Instant 600 Film Camera. Scanned at Kinkos. Edited in Microsoft Paint.
I agree with the long lens guesses.
85-100mm range.
Sun as backlight
Left side fill with reflector
Over exposed a bit in post
Temp warmed up in post
Haven’t got a clue, I opened this post on Facebook to learn how this picture was made…
You’ll have to wait a few days for the answer :)
EXIF was left in photo – no brainer… Only thing I would say about lighting. He is standing in the shade, sunlight from behind and those beautiful catchlights in his eyes are from open sky in front of him. No artificial light or reflector. :)
Exif data is forged.
The kicker could also be a strobe on a lightstand hidden in the bushes, with a CTO gel on it.
It could be a test shot at the beginning of the session, when you’re not directing the model yet, and just checking lights.
Looks like the EXIF gave it away, but before seeing that my guess was 85mm, large aperture, manual exposure and spot meter the face because of the back light, and a bit of post to dodge/burn and keep the reds in the skin tones controlled. For the lighting – the left side is better lit and there is a soft shadow from a light source in that direction, so I’m guessing a simple reflector to the lower left catching the sunlight.
Ok this is a hard one for me, zero exp with portraits :) What camera and lens were used? – I dinnae ken, but if you’re telling us it’s that smartphone lens thingy that you reviewed the other day I’m gonna eat my hat :) What camera settings were used? – HI would wager a wider aperture based on his blurry shoulders. What was the light source (or sources)? – Wild guess, but judging by the background colours it looks like outdoor/nature What was done in post production? – Maybe his face needed more brightness, it must have been a lot darker due to being backlit. Also his ears and shoulders are suspiciously blurry, this may have been more than… Read more »
flare on the right side of the photo is too strong and too distracting. I would use a gradient to make it a little more even. I like portraits where you do not think or notice the technique, but composition and the subject are what makes the image strong. This is good but without backlight and flare it would be a stronger image.
Definitely a Fuji X-E2 with 50-140mm f2.8…I would be shocked if this is not correct.