In the interest of improving my skills as a portrait photographer I am embarking on a project, who knows how long, to master every piece of equipment I own and try as many practical tips and ideas as possible from the many books, YouTube videos and Flickr groups I have access to, as well as my own.
I will appreciate any and all practical comments on what works and does not work in these tests, what I can improve and what new techniques I should try.
This uses the same setup from previous day, but was exposed close to correct in camera. I believe the overhead light was turned on, so it provided a bit of ambience on the wall and subject. The WB was set to flash, so the photo came out too yellow. The fun began in post processing.
Processing: I am aware of at least three ways of changing color temperature in Lightroom. Color profile, WB adjustment and split toning. Here, I used all three and wonder if the result is worth it.
- Color profile Modern 07 applied -- made the photo even warmer than shot
- Set WB by using color picker on the wall, which I think of as gray. Then reset it again by using the white trim on the shirt. The WB changed. Conclusion: the wall either is not gray or, more likely, it picked up more of the ambient warm light than the shirt.
- Split toning: Shadows to blue at 14% saturation. The combination of these three adjustments changed the wall from beige to mauve and made skin tones more to my liking. A simple WB adjustment using color picker produces similar results, but I found combining a warm color profile with cool shadow toning an interesting exercise.
The good: the look of almost natural light from a flash.
The bad: need new poses and facial expressions. Not that I don't try them, I just don't like any that I try.
Next steps: learn how the pros correct color temperature and try different color profiles, primarily the Adobe Portrait, which should match the subject the best.
Set WB to auto instead of flash.
Get a second Yongnuo flash.
See if Yongnuo flash triggered remotely will optically trigger the Canon flash set as a slave.
