1st "Studio Style" shots

imagesofhim

Okay... this is only my 4th or 5th photo post on dGrin---I'm VERY intimidated by all the amazing photographs I see. However, I'm trying desperately to learn and absorb as much as I can, so I need comments and criticism on these. I ran to the fabric store and picked up a scrap piece of material... Then, using ONLY two skylights and the light from a sliding glass door, I was able to catch these... I've toyed with the idea of putting a studio in my gameroom and using only the natural light that's available... (eventually plan to purchase reflectors). Anyway, this is what I've got... Any and all suggestions greatly appreciated!

#1


#2


#3


#4


#5


#6


#7

Art Scott

A job very well done.
As for using only natural light......going to cut yourself very short on shooting times....unless you home rotates to keep what appears to be northern light coming in:D:D:D......invest some time into studying what you can do with shoe mount (type) strobes (Vivitar 285HV in particular) and some softboxes and such.....[at strobist.com]...inexpensive and works like a charm....also the Vivitars have a built in filter holder and you can add colored theatrical gels to simulate sunrises/sets and so on...........

NOWLEST SEE SOME MOREclapthumbthumbbow

WingsOfLovePhoto

Cute girl and nice posing! The light is pretty good for natural light, a little flat maybe and like Art said...you will eventually want to invest in some strobes, flashes or modifiers. The only really negative thing that jumps out at me at first glance is the softness of the eye area. Like the main focus got directed somewhere else. In the first photo there is more focus on the arms/legs. Not quite sure why the others are soft. If you have photoshop I would try unsharpmask at 75%, 2 and 3 to see if the eyes come more to life. I love #3 but would probably have cropped a little off center. #7 is my least favorite though I am not sure why....maybe the eyes are too dark as they didn't catch much light. But take these comments for what they are worth.....I mean no offense. Keep posting!

rutt

Perhaps these are all a bit overexposed?

In any case, take a look at Dan Margulis' portrait technique for a post processing approach which can make a big difference for shots like this. I know it seems daunting at first, but with a little practice, it becomes very easy and fast. This took me less than a minute to do:

Joe Dukovac

First, I want to say that I like your shots. The poses were nice and pleasing, and for what you have, you did a bang up job with lighting

I'm not sure if you've ever heard of WhiBal Cards or not, but if not, I would check it out (you can google it). It's a grey card to help you get your white balance accurate, and for me it was a life saver when I first started shooting. I still use it today as I'm not the best at ensuring my white balance is always correct in the camera. I typically shoot a WhiBal shot with every new scene. As an example, if I shot some shots in the studio, I first shoot a WhiBal shot and take my photos, then if I move to the outdoors, shoot another WhiBal shot because the lighting has obviously changed also. Then when post processing, you can adjust your white balance to the WhiBal shot and voila, it seems to be dead on. I always shoot RAW to be able to make those adjustments afterwards, not sure though if you can if shooting JPG. Anyone?

That's my two cents, for what their worth.

Joe

imagesofhim

Thanks EVERYONE for the thoughts and suggestions. I do have Photoshop CS4, however, I've never really used it much for post-processing because I don't know how... I tend to use it for my other love, scrapbooking and creating digital scrap pages. Anyway, I will try to read up on this post-processing thing and check into a grey card. I used one more than 25 years ago when I was shooting 35mm with an old Pentax K1000.

Rutt--thank you for the link... I'll take a look at it tonight and see if I can learn how to do anything other than burn the edges...

Art--I do have a 420EX flash---is the Vivitar something different?

Again, thank you all... as I said, I'm trying to absorb all I can!!

blaser321

I like #6 alot