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This technique is beautiful for fashion and bridal portraits. Keep
in mind that you can adjust the degree of exposure from one to two
stops under your main light to achieve different results.
The key to this overexposing technique is to make sure that you
do not loose the tip of the nose and blow out its detail. The photography
technique is as follows:
Lighting
- Background
light – 2 Photogenic lights set at f/16 aimed straight up to the
ceiling to bounce
- Main
light – 3x5 Larson soft box with a photogenic light set at f/16
placed above and in front of the subject tilted down at a slight
angle
- Accent
light – Photogenic light with barn doors set at f/4 (optional)
- Hair
light – Larson soft box with accordion shade with a Photogenic
light set at f/4
- Reflector
– Eyelighter purchased from Larry Peters, shaped in a half-moon
with silver foil was used under the subject to create a half moon
rim of light in the subject’s eyes
Camera
- Fuji
S3 set at f/8 which is 2 stops under the main light
***When learning this technique, there are
two approaches toward make-up. The first technique is to apply
the make-up before the image is taken. The second technique
is applying the make-up in Photoshop after the image is taken.
Both are explained below:
Make-up
- For
the make-up to show up in an over exposed image, it needs to be
applied extremely dark. But, make-up may also be applied
as normal and retouched in Photoshop as seen in the next step.
Retouching
- You
will see that very little retouching needs to be done in an overexposed
image because most of the imperfections and blemishes have been
blown out leaving a beautiful porcelain complexion. Any
dark shadowing under the eyes or on the face that needs to be
removed can be done using the Healing tool or Patch
tool.
- Use
the Burn tool to burn in all of the make-up, including
eyebrows, eyelashes, and eyeshadow. The lips can be burned
in if so desired, but sometimes it is more dramatic to leave them
overexposed.
- For
the eyes, use the Burn tool to darken the pupil and burn
a rim around the cornea of the eye. Use the Dodge tool
to brighten the catch light on the pupil and the rim of light
seen in the cornea.
- If
the image is processed as a color image, you may find when burning
in the eyes that a lot of red shows up. You can eliminate
the red by going to Control/U for the PC or Cmd/U for the MAC
and select the red channel and reduce its saturation.
Color or Black and White
- This
technique is very dramatic in Black and White and our preferred
method of Black and White conversion is using the Lab Color
method. If you are unfamiliar on how to apply the Lab
Color conversion, please go to our website at
www.ferrophotographyschool.com and select Photoshop, Lesson
#2 for the instructions on Lab Color conversion.
This technique has been very successful in our
studio with clients as well as in competition. It’s sure
thing!
Be sure to check
out our website at
www.ferrophotographyschool.com for other Photoshop and photography
lessons from us and other photographers available for free.
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