First try studio portraits with Panasonic Lumix S5

[Sparkassenkunde]

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I was asked to do some portraits of the local band "Rontano" and used some LED studio lights in an on location shot with different background items. All pictures with the Panasonic Lumix S5 and a Sigma 50/1.4 DG-HSM. It was a fun experience and I think it could have gone far worse for my first photoshoot with people I just met once before. Feel free to comment and please don't spare with criticism as I would like to get better.  Next time we will try some contextual photography with the musicians equipment and other group settings. I think the most critical part besides the right light setup will be giving the right instructions. And I will do some pictures with Leica gear, too 🙂

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[Sparkassenkunde]

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[Sparkassenkunde]

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[Sparkassenkunde]

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[stuny]

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The group shot and the separate photos of the men are all excellent.  The individual shot of the woman is not flattering with the light on the lower right of the image, and the angle you've caught her.

[Sparkassenkunde]

Dear Stuart

Thank you very much for your kind feedback and esp. the thoughtful remark about the picture of Tabea! I messed up the selection of pictures while exporting them from Lightroom and so ended up bringing one with the settings that suit the men, while I used different settings for her. What do you think about this:

 

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Edited July 22, 2024 by Sparkassenkunde
Wrong picture again...

[Alberti]

My remark is different, not about the contrast of Tabea's picture. [But I prefer #1]

It isbecause of the way she looks that I 'would not accept/would discard'. It is as if she is looking out of the height but still has a gaze across the camera/you, just a tad in the void.

You like high contrast and shallow; and punch. It has it's charm. 

- but maybe using a Clarity slider of -20 and texture -10 in LR or so could help to make the plane of focus (these are all wide open shots I assume and hence easily overexposed in areas?) softer (esp. #3). But the highlights also suffer from the splash of light; that is I did look at the picture and that needs to change a bit too imho. 

& phew what a sharpness. 

But look just my way of looking. 

 

[Sparkassenkunde]

Thank you, @Alberti, your feedback is much appreciated. I am on vacation now, so I can only try out your suggestions on LR mobile on my phone. On the small screen it is not easy to see the difference but I will look through the pictures again when back. Regarding the sharpness I think it is better to start from a sharper starting point and make the overall look softer in post than the other way around. And in the end the band has the ability to decide on the looks they like. I already provided some different styles for them to choose and don’t have any problems to fiddle with the pictures until they like them 😀 And I absolutely know that I have a lot to learn in the process!

[Alberti]

The issue was common in the time of the M8: when using Capture One I had very ‘hard’ results with the Summicron 50mm-V. Like many others. I fact it was the first time ‘we’ came into contact with the new medium, that was so different even compared to the ADOX50 or AGFA-25 film. 
But in time, now in certain ways the Cron is soft. Compared to the modern asph.

I struggle(d) with the modern Karbe look, as again this is the same uphill battle of sharpness vs rendering (we always lose it seems) but that will be learnt over time too.

My own take-away is that the settings of the developer (LR, C1 etc.) need some tweaking in certain circumstances.

Happy shooting.

 

[Alberti]

Dear James; because I felt the new explication of Forum Politeness rules by JaapV to also fit my comments, yes I can be offensive.

Part of that is Dutch Bluntness (nice to take cover) but the real story behind it is that yes, I have studied art-history and worked in a museum - all that makes my eye rather penetrative. 

Actually, for the purpose, as I understand, an artistic representation of performers, I do think the presentation of them is rather nice. Super even, great on a cover.

And yes, Ik like Tabea's second, because the eyes light up better showing more wit instead of just looking away. [In itself a strange thing, because I can imagine she looks at you out of the corner of her eye. A trick question 😉: when you take a picture of Tabea, does she ever just happen to blink her eyes - so the picture is mis-taken? . . . ]

Mind you, these are very difficult things to phrase. 

albert

[Sparkassenkunde]

Dear Albert ( @Alberti )

I thank you very much for the additional feedback! Regarding your first response I can assure you that I in no way thought it to be offensive 😀 It is good to get a honest feedback, I rather appreciate it. A „like“ or „nice picture“ is given fast and by the way, but you really took your time and saw details I didn’t take care of. My project with this band is not over so I will hopefully get some more chances to try out some other poses, light setups and have now some more things that can help me to do a better process of selecting the best pictures. In the end I have the will to improve my skills in photography. Btw., I think that Tabea was the person that was the most challenging of the four and I will take more time for her in the next session.

[Ken Abrahams]

Great James - I have just come across these images, well I may have seen one of the images come up but wasn't aware of several postings by you. I am impressed with the lens and its unique rendering on the Panasonic sensor. Sorry, the portraits are very good too, it's just that I was seeking out sample images by Panasonic cameras and landed here. Even with post processing one gets a good idea of the sensors output and your studio shots impressed me. Very nice styling on these monochrom shots James.

 

Ken   

[LocalHero1953]

I have also just seen this thread. I have enjoyed both the photos and the discussion. (FWIW I did not think @Alberti's comments were at all offensive - it would be great if we could always get such constructive criticism!)

My first thought was: what are these pictures for? Your own exploration of portraits and group shots? For publicity for the band? If the latter, does the vibe you have used for shooting and the way you have processed them (both the choice of B&W and the high contrast) match the 'look' the band wants to convey? How will they use these images, and will they work well with the music they perform and the audience they want to appeal to? In these days of Facebook & Instagram drip-feed publicity, and posters tied to railings (surrounded by many others), B&W is a 'courageous' choice, unless the rest of the graphic design matches it.

Personally, I find 50mm a bit short for headshots like this - I would rather use 75mm or longer (I use the 85mm Sigma f/1.4 DG DN, a longer equivalent of your lens). At 50mm I notice the distortion in a headshot (large noses) more than I do at 75-90 (though I think it works quite well in #6, where it is mitigated by the knowing smile). I recognise that other people don't feel the same way, so I only mention this with caution!

I'm interested hearing your experience with LED lighting - I have just started with them. It looks like you used two rectangular soft boxes? Though I can also see what looks like a window reflected in the eyes. How did the individuals react to the strong continuous lighting? They can be quite a shock when turned on, and can make people squint. Or did you dial down the brightness and shoot at higher ISO?

You've done well in lighting the group shot to avoid stray shadows across the faces, especially given the strong light from the left and the way the people overlap each other.

I look forward to more photos from your work with the band - a great opportunity!

Edited October 11, 2024 by LocalHero1953

[Sparkassenkunde]

Thank you so much for your remarks, Ken @Ken Abrahams and Paul @LocalHero1953, I really appreciate that you took your time to not only look into this somewhat older thread but also giving me your feedback and sharing your thoughts! It must be a sign of the heavens, as I didn't have contact to the band since summer. We were all deeply involved in vacations and other doings - so e.g. Tabea is married now 🙂 And this evening I visited an indian restaurant in our neighborhood for the first time and from the next table I was greeted by the lead singer of the Band. We chatted briefly and will continue the photo sessions in the next weeks.

The feedback I got from them on my interpretations on the pictures we took was very positive. They didn't have concrete ideas so we started with these rather plain portraits. Next we are up to stage them as band in a proper location and will work on more contextual material.

Regarding the lights I used there feedback was rather positive. The lights only emit a maximum output of 30W each, so they are not to radiant. And as I worked with colored light, the overall brightness was not to disturbing for them. I don't have any experience with flash photography and with the prices of small led continuous lights I will make my next steps solely relying on this kind of light source. I am still working on my final setup for this kind of photography but the first results are close to what I wanted to achieve. 

In the next shooting I will probably try to put my two Q3 versions (28mm and 43mm) and the Lumix S5 with my 85/1.8 to use. I will certainly show my progress in this ongoing project here!