A classic 'formal' portrait - that popular photographic style that hangs on the walls of millions of grandparents around the world!! ;D
An interesting, but constrained style, especially after working in a gritty contemporary style just a few days ago!
Meet Stephanie, our new receptionist. This was snapped while she was at her desk, under flouro lights and surrounded by orange and blue folders! Thanks for helping out Steph. :)
Nice! It does have that stock portrait look, but the background is a bit sharp, and you didn't mask and blur her skin. It's like stock portrait on steroids!LOL Is that what you were going for?
@mikew Hi Michael - yes I masked the background, and there was also a hand to remove from near the right of the head. :)
@m9f9l - I was thinking of those school portraits that used pull down fake backgrounds! I have masked the image, and softened the skin texture quite a bit, but wanted it to look natural because the last time I tackled this type of portrait I 'overcooked' the skin ( http://365project.org/ltodd/365/2011-10-21). :D
I was stumped for an appropriate 1970's background - I tried Gaussian blur / layer blends on this background, but it looked odd being too 'soft' or pastel, so I opted for an equal balance of attention for the subject & background. Maybe that was not the best choice of balance? Or, do you think a different image / texture would have been better?
I had been thinking about the new "get pushed" challenge, and what it will feel like to have much less than our normal amount of creative control - like the 'school portrait' photographers who are required to churn out hundreds of basically the same shot every day. I guess my shot would be a parody of a photographic style of an openly constrained formal style. Not a style that really resonates with me, but I am always keen to try, and learn from, new approaches to photography & processing. :)
@m9f9l - I was thinking of those school portraits that used pull down fake backgrounds! I have masked the image, and softened the skin texture quite a bit, but wanted it to look natural because the last time I tackled this type of portrait I 'overcooked' the skin ( http://365project.org/ltodd/365/2011-10-21). :D
I was stumped for an appropriate 1970's background - I tried Gaussian blur / layer blends on this background, but it looked odd being too 'soft' or pastel, so I opted for an equal balance of attention for the subject & background. Maybe that was not the best choice of balance? Or, do you think a different image / texture would have been better?
I had been thinking about the new "get pushed" challenge, and what it will feel like to have much less than our normal amount of creative control - like the 'school portrait' photographers who are required to churn out hundreds of basically the same shot every day. I guess my shot would be a parody of a photographic style of an openly constrained formal style. Not a style that really resonates with me, but I am always keen to try, and learn from, new approaches to photography & processing. :)