Studio portraits of my daughters

Mitchell · November 24, 2008

Broke out the strobes this weekend for some fun with my daughters while my wife took my son to his soccer game.

Samantha decided to play dressup in an old ballet costume

Kanga got in the act!

Headshot

Travis · November 24, 2008

Very nice.

#3 is especially great. The lighting on all of them is great. The only nit I have is that I'm not digging the black background on these. The subjects are so light and vibrant, I think the dark background is a little heavy.

Mitchell · November 24, 2008

Travis wrote:

Very nice. #3 is especially great. The lighting on all of them is great. The only nit I have is that I'm not digging the black background on these. The subjects are so light and vibrant, I think the dark background is a little heavy.

Thanks, Travis.

I feel the same way about the background. Unfortunately, right now I only have black, white and a really ugly color (that looked so good on the internet:cry ).

I played with some gels a while back for some color, but that experiment proved a little heavy handed with my lack of talent.

I'll keep trying!

goldenstarphoto · November 24, 2008

Good job with the lighting and posing. And may I say you have beautiful daughters. I think the black background works well with #3. It really makes the colors of her outfit pop.

tonichelle · November 24, 2008

goldenstarphoto wrote:

Good job with the lighting and posing. And may I say you have beautiful daughters. I think the black background works well with #3. It really makes the colors of her outfit pop.

I thought so to...

I like black backgrounds anyway.

keeps the focus just on them.

joshhuntnm · November 24, 2008

love the sharpness of those eyes!

Flyinggina · November 24, 2008

Your daughers are soooo adorable.

Love looking at these pix. Very nice strobe work.

How lucky you are that your girls let you do this!!

Virginia

Nikolai · November 24, 2008

Mitch, nice pics!
I have a feeling most of them run a bit hot on the foreheads/noses/cheeks. Typically it's a sign of the strobes being too close, hence very strong fallout gradient.
HTH

photogmomma · November 24, 2008

Your daughters are just gorgeous and your lighting is perfect! I agree about the black, but dont' find it bad. Just that a lighter color might be more suitable.

joshhuntnm · November 24, 2008

These are great pics. I hesitate to say anything because I KNOW you are a better photographer than me. But, here goes. If had these in lightroom, I'd make them slightly darker and slightly warmer. Also, I really like hair lights, especially on a black background--which I really like, by the way.

Zanotti · November 24, 2008

Very nice Mitchell. As always, very clean shots.

Can you back up and take a shot of your setup?. I did mine in my thread. If you could comment on any improvement, that's great!

Z

gpphotos · November 25, 2008

what jumped out at me (besides the cuteness factor) is the catchlights in the eyes...perfect! care to show us your setup?

Mitchell · November 25, 2008

gpphotos wrote:

what jumped out at me (besides the cuteness factor) is the catchlights in the eyes...perfect! care to show us your setup?

Thanks!

The lighting setup is actually very simple. I have one AB 800 in an octabox high on camera right as the main and a second AB 800 in a shoot through umbrella lower on camera left. I left the background unlit. You can see that I also didn't use a hairlight (probably should have).

No photos of the setup. I'll have to take a few shots next time. Very ghetto with the whole thing set up in my family room.

Hope this helps.

Mitchell · November 25, 2008

joshhuntnm wrote:

These are great pics. I hesitate to say anything because I KNOW you are a better photographer than me. But, here goes. If had these in lightroom, I'd make them slightly darker and slightly warmer. Also, I really like hair lights, especially on a black background--which I really like, by the way.

Josh, please don't ever hesitate to comment on my photos. I'm always receptive to your suggestions.

These are definitely a little brighter than what I normally shoot. I think Nik has hit the nail on the head regarding the proximity of the lights to the subjects. I've been trying to get the octabox close to soften the light, but I suspect they were just a little too close for these.

I've also be really studying the histogram during PP. Now that my monitor is calibrated with a real device (not the huey), I've noticed that my prints are coming out about 1/4 stop too dark. I now brighten them based on the histogram distribution as best I can. These looked pretty good when printed.

Thanks again.

Travis · November 25, 2008

Mitchell wrote:

Now that my monitor is calibrated with a real device (not the huey),

So out of curiosity, which did you go with?

Mitchell · November 25, 2008

Travis wrote:

So out of curiosity, which did you go with?

When I upgraded to a Vista computer, I found out that the huey was not compatible with Vista!

The company has been very stand up about the whole situation. They have been unable to find a way to get the huey to work with vista!

They sent me an eye1 xrite calibrator for free!!

This has some Vista 64bit issues, but it does calibrate my monitor nicely and is a significant upgrade over the huey.

Kudos to Gretag-Macbeth.

Travis · November 25, 2008

Mitchell wrote:

When I upgraded to a Vista computer, I found out that the huey was not compatible with Vista! The company has been very stand up about the whole situation. They have been unable to find a way to get the huey to work with vista!

They sent me an eye1 xrite calibrator for free!!

This has some Vista 64bit issues, but it does calibrate my monitor nicely and is a significant upgrade over the huey.

Kudos to Gretag-Macbeth.

Now that is impressive customer service!

Just hear that leads me in the direction of purchasing a Gretag-Macbeth when i eventually upgrade my Spyder2.

Ed911 · November 25, 2008

Nice shots Mitchell...Great looking kids.

Comments: As has been said before, you shots are a little hot...and you are upside down on your numbers, being that your skin colors are high in magenta and low in the yellow range causing the reddish look.

I have done a little with one of the photos...if you wish, I will post it...if not, I understand.

Thanks for sharing.

Mitchell · November 25, 2008

Ed911 wrote:

Nice shots Mitchell...Great looking kids.

Comments: As has been said before, you shots are a little hot...and you are upside down on you numbers, being that your skin colors are high in magenta and low in the yellow range causing the reddish look.

I have done a little with one of the photos...if you wish, I will post it...if not, I understand.

Thanks for sharing.

Please post, I'm always interested!

jeffreaux2 · November 25, 2008

All are nice Mitchell....but that #3......that's some personality right there!!!

What an adorable little munchkin!!!

....My oldest daughter just sent me a text to ask if we can do some shots of her while she is home on break from school. Maybe I will have some to share myself soon....of my.....not so little munchkin...

Ed911 · November 25, 2008

Mitchell wrote:

Please post, I'm always interested!

Hope this helps. I don't even know if you will like it, but the numbers work and the skin is much warmer. If this were for a client, I would save the eyes in their original color as taken...very pretty they are...

By the way, black is one of my favorite backgrounds...and the one that I shoot the most lately. People just like it.

Original...

Some Changes

sweet caroline · November 25, 2008

Ed911 wrote:

Hope this helps. I don't even know if you will like it, but the numbers work and the skin is much warmer. If this were for a client, I would save the eyes in their original color as taken...very pretty they are...

I probably shouldn't comment since my monitor is not calibrated, but the warmer version looks too orange to me. I'm not seeing the original as too magenta, but I'm just eyeballing. She looks like she had skin much like my older daughter's- fair but not totally washed out. I could see maybe adding just a touch of warmth, but kept very subtle.

Caroline

pathfinder · November 25, 2008

I agree with the too warmer on my calibrated monitor as well. Somewhere between the two images will be perfect.

Cute kids, and nice shots too.

joshhuntnm · November 25, 2008

pathfinder wrote:

I agree with the too warmer on my calibrated monitor as well. Somewhere between the two images will be perfect.

Cute kids, and nice shots too.

here is a third vote for "we are going in the right direction, but I think we went too far."

Ed911 · November 26, 2008

joshhuntnm wrote:

here is a third vote for "we are going in the right direction, but I think we went too far."

Thanks for the comments...I agree...a little too warm here. Just for the heck of it...pull the image and put it in Photoshop...and see if the colors don't look a little better...skin tones more to your liking...as I have said here before, I am finding that photo viewers...even the one used here...tends to be warmer than Photoshop CS3...the version that I am using. It may still be too warm for your liking...but it would be nice to see if you find that there is a change.

I opted to use the Photoshop version...rather than a lighter, cooler version...because it is the one that I would use for print production, given that I couldn't re-shoot.

Maybe it's just me...but it would be nice to know. Possibly Andy could comment on the difference between CS3 and other print viewers...or maybe one of the more knowledgeable members.

I would be very interested in knowing.

About uncalibrated monitors...since most come from the stores too bright and too blue...if you are seeing your photos too warm, then they are really too warm...however, all monitors not being created equal...you really need to invest in a monitor calibrator. That being said, laptop, CRT, desktop LCD...my laptop is not suitable for Photoshop work even though I calibrate it. I get consistent color from EZ-prints with my calibrated desktop monitor as viewed in CS3.

Mitchell · November 26, 2008

This is always an interesting topic. The redone image looks too orange on my calibrated monitor.

Keep in mind that I shoot a grey card first to help with setting the WB whenever I use my studio lights.

This is not from this shoot, but you get the idea.

I'll have to print it to see, but I think the colors on my original shot are pretty close to her actual skin tone. Perhaps a tad too magenta?

The biggest problem I've had with matching monitors with prints has been brightness. I've often been fooled with the brightness of monitors rendering prints that look 1/4 stop underexposed. I pay much more attention to the histrogram now in PS.

ivar · November 26, 2008

Ed911 wrote:

pull the image and put it in Photoshop...

Regardless of where I look at it, it's just too warm if you ask me.

I like the original image better, but I think it may be a tiny-tad cold. It may look that way more because of the very black background. You happen to have some with the white bg, too?

Ed911 · November 26, 2008

Mitchell,

Have you pulled it and looked at it in PS...just wondering...

I put your photo in PS...the numbers were upside down...with more magenta than yellow...according to smugmug...this is the most likely cause of returned photos...not warm enough...without overdoing them...like you have stated here. This is a mechanical thing and not a perceptual thing. Of course if your subject is pink...sun burned...like I had once...then the numbers will look this way...

This shot..with the gray card looks just right. Skin tones are what I think are perfect...lighting etc. I only shoot using the histogram on my D300...making sure that I have a good capture...a lesson that was well worth learning...and I also use the histogram in PS...helps get the light right. I use an expodisc for custom white balance...even with RAW...just one more thing that I don't have to adj in post...know what I mean.

I attended an SB800 seminar...and was told that the first thing I should do if shooting light skinned people was to drop a third of an f-stop in exposure...to correct for light reflection...and the opposite for dark skinned people...bump it up a third. This might help you in a pinch...when you are out and about.

Thanks for the discussion...I always learn something...and look forward to your posts..

joshhuntnm · November 26, 2008

This one looks perfect to me:

Mitchell · November 26, 2008

joshhuntnm wrote:

This one looks perfect to me:

Josh, this one's perfect because I didn't do anything to mess it up!

Straight out of the camera with auto WB shot with natural light. We get into trouble with WB and exposure when we use artificial lighting and try to outsmart the camera!

joshhuntnm · November 26, 2008

Mitchell wrote:

Josh, this one's perfect because I didn't do anything to mess it up!

Straight out of the camera with auto WB shot with natural light. We get into trouble with WB and exposure when we use artificial lighting and try to outsmart the camera!

ha! so true.

someone needs to invent a ever so slightly blue gray-card, so when you shoot with it, the colors come out like this--just a little on the warm side. Emphasis on little.