# First African Model portrait!



## HitenNainaney (Mar 16, 2014)

Was shooting for a fashion label last evening and Weka here was one of the models involved. After wrapping up the shoot he approached me for a portrait shot for his portfolio, and i was more than happy to do it since he was my first African/Dark Skin model, and that's something I always wanted to do. 

The full shoot was done with 2 octa's 1 key and 1 fill, but was changed to a beauty dish for beauty shots.

Having to wrap up in the next few minutes, i didn't really have time to do a seperate set-up for his shot, so i decided to use the beauty dish itself, i positioned it almost over head and slightly to the front right (Camera POV) asked him to oil-up and took a few clicks. 

This is the final result!

I'm quite happy with this, but any input would be valued & appreciated!

Cheers!
H


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## manaheim (Mar 16, 2014)

There is nothing about that image that isn't amazing.


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## PixelRabbit (Mar 16, 2014)

manaheim said:


> There is nothing about that image that isn't amazing.



Agree with the Bunny and will add...

Wow, this is delicious!  The light, the pose, the model, all delicious, great shot!


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## Robin Usagani (Mar 16, 2014)

I am not as impressed as the other two.   I see white line surrounding the model. Also the background wrinkle is too distracting.  In my opinion you should have over exposed the background which is not hard to do with darker skinned model. Or add background light.  But I do think you can photoshop the flaws I mentioned. But I think it is best to get it right on camera.  Cheers!


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## HitenNainaney (Mar 16, 2014)

manaheim said:


> There is nothing about that image that isn't amazing.



Thank you!



PixelRabbit said:


> manaheim said:
> 
> 
> > There is nothing about that image that isn't amazing.
> ...



Thanks Pixel Rabbit, andi still need to get back to you for that print! Once i convince the wife on how awesome it would be! 



Robin Usagani said:


> I am not as impressed as the other two.   I see white line surrounding the model. Also the background wrinkle is too distracting.  In my opinion you should have over exposed the background which is not hard to do with darker skinned model. Or add background light.  But I do think you can photoshop the flaws I mentioned. But I think it is best to get it right on camera.  Cheers!



Thanks Robin, appreciate your feedback, i did do an initial edit where i over exposed the BG to a full white (Which is how it should've been originally) but after increasing the clarity and contrasts, i personally came to like the texture of the background much more, which is why i stuck to it.  

As for the white line, now that you've mentioned it, i cant get my eyes of it, i will off course fix it, but would you happen to know what causes it ?


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## Robin Usagani (Mar 16, 2014)

The cause is mostly the contrast slider and clarity.  The contrast is probably the main reason.


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## PixelRabbit (Mar 16, 2014)

I didn't even see the white until you mentioned it Robin, interesting how we "catch" different things in something we shoot often.

Hiten, cool and good luck! You know where to find me .


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## manaheim (Mar 16, 2014)

Robin knows more than I do, so listen to him. All I can say is it's better than most portrait work I see on here. I know enough to be impressed by comparison.  (and I still think it's awesome)


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## Robin Usagani (Mar 16, 2014)

He is an awesome model. The photo is not bad.  Just pointing the obvious. Also the pose is a little too feminine for me.


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## tirediron (Mar 16, 2014)

Robin Usagani said:


> Also the pose is a little too feminine for me.


This is the part that bothers me....  The hair, physique, etc; he should be projecting strength and power.


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## HitenNainaney (Mar 17, 2014)

tirediron said:


> Robin Usagani said:
> 
> 
> > Also the pose is a little too feminine for me.
> ...



I can partly agree with that, but I asked him to be himself, and those were the poses he was cracking (on the same lines rather). 

So I'm cool with that. But yes I could've orchestrated too to give it a shot. 

I will be shooting him again in the near future, will try and get some more powerful masculine images then. 

Thanks for your input everyone!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## kkamin (Mar 24, 2014)

Looks nice. Wrinkled backdrop paper usually bugs me but I think it works here. Great job.


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## Designer (Mar 24, 2014)

tirediron said:


> Robin Usagani said:
> 
> 
> > Also the pose is a little too feminine for me.
> ...



I see that, but I think some ambiguity occasionally is not too bad.  It shows his personality, and yet his masculinity shows as well.


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