Had my first day in the studio today for my independent study. What a blast. Oh man, Patricia filled my head with so much information that I am -still- assimilating it all. It was intimidating, exciting, scary and wonderful all at the same time. The model was a sweetheart. I really liked her. Got off 175 shots in the time we were there. Went through them and there look to be some keepers in there. Anyway, I've been playing with one (this one, it's just a random shot ... didn't pick it for any particular reason) trying to see how I want to do these. In color, black and white, toned (selenium, platinum, gold), soft focus, etc. Anyway, the reason I posted this is that I was amazed how badly I butchered the conversion of this to a toned and blurred image. The banding in the gradation of the background really surprised me. I have no idea how I got this far off (started with a high res 16/bit per channel image in AdobeRGB workspace). Ah well ... still haven't decided which way to present these yet (though I think I am leaning towards b&w with very slight toning). -=>Donald

Drool! [And not just because of the babe!] Really like the dynamic angle here. [I'm seeing strange tilts a lot in the Gallery lately. Here it works really well. Is this a recent "fad"?] Lighting is perfect. Wow! What more can I say! About the banding... What did you do? I've expanded it here for those of us who are monitor-challenged. In your original it just steps up one level at a time. ...wonder... If you convert to B&W like I sometimes do, by just copying the Red, Green, or blue channel... this likely quantizes to 8-bits. If, however you are not as lazy as I am, and convert using the channel mixer... the arithmetic should be in the full precision... Time for an experiment!

She's Beautiful! I hope I see more pictures!!! Jinx

i am so happy for you donald... just as in drawing, figure studies create a strong base of artistic sight... you already hold so much knowledge that this work should put you over the top... to opening your own studio & being published hope to see more of this beautiful work! :]

Bravo Donald! ... I like the look of this, very beautifully toned... how about 1 shot with a side by side comparison.... color, BW, toned etc...

does the happy dance with Jinx and Cyn :) 'chelle - I'll see what I still have saved from when I did this. If not now, when I finally do convert these for real I'll post a couple like that. Will be interesting to see how each change effects the mood of the image. Misha - You are going to love this. Wasn't converted to b&w in Photoshop. It's something new I've only recently learned how to do. I use CaptureOne DSLR to convert my images from RAW into TIFFs. There is a photographer who has created a camera profile for C1DSLR that "sees" color in B&W. In other words, the profile maps color very well to a b&w colorspace. So, when I use these settings in CaptureOne, everything in the conversion (from initial thumbnails to ouput) is in RGB grayscale (not grayscale mode). I think that's important as I don't have to keep making the switch in my mind from Color to B&W. From the moment I open up the app to the conversion, I am always thinking of and seeing the images in B&W. All controls/tools work, so I can tweak the look by adjusting color temperature and tint, exposure, saturation, contrast, brightness, gamma, levels, curves, etc. Doing this at the Raw conversion stage gives you the ultimate level of control and retention of detail and image data. Of course, I am still learning how to use this to the fullest, but possibilities for this are incredible. So, I know the banding didn't occur there. Had to be when I was screwing with my toning curves. I probably switched from 16-bit to 8-bit mode and then did something stupid there. Just can't remember what it was that I did. Ah well, will keep a closer eye on my editing in the future. -=>Donald

Misha - I do know what I did now and it did happen during the initial conversion. When I converted, I inadvertently clipped the crap out of the red channel. All of these with exception of toned/softened one came from the same image (the color one) that was then converted to grayscale in PS. The last one was done as grayscale through raw conversion (as described above). That one is the only one I really did any exposure and curve settings to which is why I think the lighting looks nicer (the other ones is just untouched except for color temperature setting). It's also why the banding is worse, but the others have it too. Will need to watch that when I convert for real. 'chelle - ok, here you go. I just grabbed and changed image size on each of these in PS. Nothing fancy. These are the ones that I played with. Because I didn't do a real conversion, there is loss of detail and a couple colorissues in these so ignore that. I think the softer, moodier treatment works well on these. -=>Donald

I think I like this look for toned. Softening is minimal, curves don't bring lighting to such a low point, but I think has enough shadow to give it a nice feel. Minimal post processing work is Potatoshop. And the absolute best part, because it was in the studio with strobe lights only, I was able to select the first 81 shots (which had this light setup) and apply my settings from this one to get them all looking the same. Oh that makes me such a happy little camper. :) Will be processing this shoot tonight. It's going to be a bit nerve racking to show these to a professional photographer and having her comment on them. :) -=>Donald

These are beautiful, Donald! Glad you figured out the banding. On the composit display above, #6 seems somewhat dark for my monitor. #5 is perhaps my favorite in tone and "harmony" with the background. The softening (is this like Bidsey's 'Glow') works nicely here, (but please save the originals in your archive!) So, did you work with the instructor on these? What does the instructor do? Are you both shooting together? Does she watch over your shoulder, and crack jokes about the size of your lens? Enquiring minds want to know these things! The "one more before reality" is a religeous experience.

[Try some with a blue tone...]

#5 is definitely my favorite as well.... the softness and tone is exquisite...

Misha - haha... I sure hope pane #6 looks dark, it's a black square. :) hehehe ... I just didn't want a big white space there. Yes, worked with the instructor. We started with a lighting set up that I'd never seen before. The first 81 shots used a 3 light setup: 2 key lights with softboxes, 1 background light with gel and no fill. Then we removed one light, lowered one light to a background stand, and added a reflector for working on reclining poses. Then for the last set, raised light back up but left reflector. We went through metering the space in 3 dimensions. Meaning, mapping out your light at multiple key points so that you get an idea of exposures as the model moved in all 3 axes. Then, once the model arrived, she started directing as I shot. Going through a half dozen or more pose setups and then talking through directing the model to morph these into dozens more. The whole time I am shooting, she was pointing out things to watch for, prompting me to stop shooting at times and to move through the scene to see the different things going on, showing by example how to let the model know what you need, what you want, how to give enough prompting but not so much as to stiffle what the model brings and a lot of other little things that years of experience brings. Man that was so cool. We did that for about an hour and then she said the scariest sentence I have heard in a long time, "Ok ... I'm going to sit back, you'r directing everything. Go." Talk about deer in the headlights look. :) Whole thing was almost 3 hours (30 minutes on setup, 2 hours with model, 10-15 minutes to break down studio). Next week we'll go through what I shot and then onto independent assignments. -=>Donald

ebots seem to be on spring break but i'm glad i came back on my own... i don't see 6 at all o.O! lol but 5 looks right to me too :] did you help pose the model or does the model just move around? all these questions... we'll let you work & dance :]

"Cool beans!" to quote someone I've heard this from. Valuable experience.

hi donald, this looks great. looks like you're getting the experience you've been looking for. i also like the #5 and #3 of the group and the one in post 8 has a lovely soft feel and tones. have fun :)

Cyn - Patricia's style is to start the model in a certain pose or even just an orientation. You begin there and then she gives a sort of target pose or orientation and has the model move to it. Sometimes moving at normal speed and then sometimes very, very slowly. There were also times we just let the model play with a pose. She would direct with something like "turn slowly, but use your space ... use it how you want ... the space belongs to you, it's all yours." I also love the way she uses descriptive terms. It's something I want to practice. For instance, when I was directing I was having a hard time telling the model how I wanted her to move a piece of fabric. I knew in my mind I wanted it to begin drapping down, but I couldn't form the words. Patricia jumped in to help and easily conveyed everything I was trying to say with "Let the fabric slowly pour off your body." Misha and Fire - Definitely everything I was hoping it would be and more. The one-on-one aspect is killer. There is no way I could have gotten this level of interaction in any class or workshop.

All the best :]