Blue Adept v4
Stepped squarely into my Discomfort Zone. The eyes of this young female, adept character required me to try capturing that gleam which attracted me....
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Stepped squarely into my Discomfort Zone. The eyes of this young female, adept character required me to try capturing that gleam which attracted me.
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Jan, 2021Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken to save the captivating eyes of the character, I named, "Blue Adept" at the Minnesota Renaissance Fairenear Minneapolis-Saint Paul.Time
In the middle of our day long visit to the open air Renaissance Faire, the eyes of this young character, who I have named the "Blue Adept" was likely the worst light of the entire day in the former mining pit and open fields. I approached this young lady and her "Red Adept" friend and convinced them to allow me to take portrait to macro type photographs of their arresting eyes despite the bright, direct midday sunlight.Lighting
I wanted to do my best to capture the arresting shine of the Blue Adept's eyes despite the rule to "Never take a shot in the direct brightness of midday sunlight!" I positioned her slightly turned from the sun and reduced the deep shadows with auto fill flash. I find catchlights located classically near the top of her irises add much to the her own iris' highlights..Equipment
I was using my Sony Alpha58 DSLR body and my 18-55 mm f/4.3 Sony kit lens. The shot was taken hand held using fill flash to reduce harsh shadows. On my crop sensor, my settings were f/8 ISO-100 50mm 1/160 second.Inspiration
I find the eyes of women often arresting especially when viewed close up as if I were a lover seeking to dive into their depths and to not worry about coming back. This Blue Adept and her Red Adept companion strolled past me amid the massive throng of faire attendees, the smile of the Blue Adept lit her entire face and shone so strikingly, that I had to step into my Discomfort Zone and request permission to capture her glow of joie de vivre in her limpid eyes.Editing
I used Skylum Luminar 4 quite liberally, beginning a 4th time with the RAW file. The AI Skin Enhancer helped to reduce the bright shine off her face from the overhead sun. With AI Portrait Enhancer the Whites were were enhanced; the Dark Circles reduced; the Eyes were enhanced and widened, the Eyebrows were enhanced. With the Light tool, Exposure, Highlights, and Shadows were all reduced and the Temperature modified. Color Vibrance and Saturation were both decreased. Details were all decreased to reduce wrinkles and lines. Separate layers were created for each iris where the Details and Color Vibrance were enhanced. In another layer some spot erasing was applied and the Skin Enhancer and Shine Removal were further applied.In my camera bag
In my bag, I carry my Sony Alpha58 body with its kit 18-55 mm f/4.3 Sony lens and a 75-300 mm f/4.3 Tamron zoom lens. Accessories include Sky/UV filters and a series of Cokin glass filters, a Sony flash with direct and wireless OCF capabilities, and spare batteries. If traveling, this is also used to carry my laptop, portable, back up SSD drive, and business cards.Feedback
When in a street scene environment, get over your "Fear of Rejection" and approach someone to get their cooperation for the best shot possible at closer range rather than shooting candidly from afar. Taking this image I was barely one foot ( or 30 cm ) from this young lady and still had to crop an additional equivalent to a 2x multiplier. Be prepared to experiment several times, even in post editing, to get closer to the image your heart saw when shooting a technically good image.
