Sunday Jan 25 Tease: Get two for the price of one deal:-)

Nikolai

Today wasn't exactly what I was planning, but it turned out OK nevertheless.

I continue to play with my highkey setup. One thing I realized I was missing is a bit more light on the upper part of the bg, so I used my hairlight to shine a bit more lumens there:

#1: New Setup



#2: My primary model today was a local girl called Elizabeth:



#3: She came with a friend Brittany, so I shot her, too:-)



#4: And, in some cases, I shot them both together:



Finals coming some time next week, (or so I hope).

This post was made with the assistance of Star*Explorer

Agnieszka

#2 looks like a mug shot

VEEEERRRRRYYYYY curious (as always) to see the results ... especially outfit #3

angevin1

Agnieszka wrote:

#2 looks like a mug shot

he took the name and numbers off!!!!rofl

Really terrific to see how you use that space. Thanks!

Cannot wait to see the finished products!

That's a lot of light, I'm sure the fan is a welcome treat!

cheers, tom

Nikolai

Agnieszka wrote:

#2 looks like a mug shot

They all do:-)
I'm trying to take these at the beginning of each look or a lighting change. They serve as great visual separators for my filtering/culling workflow and I can always fine-tune the white balance.

VEEEERRRRRYYYYY curious (as always) to see the results ... especially outfit #3

You will :-)

Thank you for looking!

Nikolai

angevin1 wrote:

he took the name and numbers off!!!!rofl
Really terrific to see how you use that space. Thanks!
Cannot wait to see the finished products!
That's a lot of light, I'm sure the fan is a welcome treat!
cheers, tom

Thanks, Tom!
In fact it was pretty chilly. We're getting a cold weather again, I even had to crank the heater up in the studio's makeup corner to make it comfortable for the scantily dressed models...

dogwood

Nik - not sure if this will help but you might consider a broader source of light for your key. I tend to use an umbrella as you can see in this set-up. Two umbrellas on the background and with just three lights, I have a white background and an evenly lit model. The umbrella may lose a 1/2 stop or so of light by her knees, but with dresses this isn't usually an issue. I pop in a full-length reflector to help with this too, though.

Anyway, I can't remember exactly how many lights you're using in your white background shots, but you may be able to get away with less and still get the results you're after.

angevin1

Nikolai wrote:

scantily dressed models...

....scantily clad....oh...too chilly was it??

cheers, tom

Nikolai

dogwood wrote:

Nik - not sure if this will help but you might consider a broader source of light for your key. I tend to use an umbrella as you can see in this set-up. Two umbrellas on the background and with just three lights, I have a white background and an evenly lit model. The umbrella may lose a 1/2 stop or so of light by her knees, but with dresses this isn't usually an issue. I pop in a full-length reflector to help with this too, though.

Anyway, I can't remember exactly how many lights you're using in your white background shots, but you may be able to get away with less and still get the results you're after.

Pete,
thank you, appreciate your info.

I don't think I would have any technical issues with upper body shots or portraits. But it get's really tricky when you incorporate the floor into the full body shots. In the first scenario you only see the distant bg, which you cah light the way you want and would not have ANY affect on the model/subject. However, once you start shooting full height (or sitting/lying on the floor) you immediately come to a situation that you still want your floor lit brightly, but your model exposed normally. In your sample shot the floor is way darker than bg (prolly 2stops at least).
I want them legs!

dogwood

Nikolai wrote:

In your sample shot the floor is way darker than bg (prolly 2stops at least).

She's standing forward of her "spot" for that image. It looks like an action shot but it's posed. I get your point though. I'd argue you don't want the floor the same exposure as the background or the model will look like she's floating.

But... I understand what you are trying to do. A piece of white plexi will reflect a lot of light from an umbrella while still leaving a nice reflective "grounding" for the models feet.



Or you can BLAST your background and add kickers to blow out the floor.



Anyway-- here's how the finished shots from the first setup look.



Little too much gray in the lower right-- that's why I added in the reflector.

Nikolai

dogwood wrote:

She's standing forward of her "spot" for that image. It looks like an action shot but it's posed. I get your point though. I'd argue you don't want the floor the same exposure as the background or the model will look like she's floating.

Yeh, I hear you, I don't mean the same level, but I don't want 3 stops difference either. :-)

But... I understand what you are trying to do. A piece of white plexi will reflect a lot of light from an umbrella while still leaving a nice reflective "grounding" for the models feet.

I'm still exploring my options. I just got the white semi-reflective plastic, and 3 out 4 of the home depot guys didn't know it exists there, I was lucky to have a label printout from the tut and I check the home depot site first, so I *knew* it's there. Plexi/lexan/acrilic is my next thing:-)