Regroup, Refocus, Rework
It's been a little while since I've written a post. I spent most of March redesigning my website and updating portfolios, and then spent the rest of March & April working for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Now it's time to regroup, refocus and plan for the next stage.
I've been watching a lot of retouching and colour grading tutorials in the last week to hone my skills, and recently I revisited a creative portrait session I did with my friend Leenie awhile back. I was going for a moody look, using a long shutter speed, continuous light from a flashlight, and a burst of light from a homemade softbox I fashioned out of a cardboard box (which looks incredibly makeshift but happens to create some beautiful, soft light). Feedback from the images was positive overall, but a few people mentioned the images were too dark, so I decided to rework the post-production side.
I'm pleased with the result, so much so that I've added the image to my portfolio. I feel like the lighter areas of the image have a dreaminess to them without losing too much of the moody feeling I was after, and improved the brightness in her eyes and face. It's a pretty subtle change, but I think it changes the overall quality of the photograph. Here is the before & after: