First go at high key

nikmolson

really hard to get a good blown out back ground while keeping good light on the model with very limited equipment but i think i managed alright.. shot with a sb-600 into umberella camera right and above, a old no name flash in a softbox camera left and level and another old no name flash behind the backdrop. thoughts?

getting ready

Flutist

Really fun series......the blue makeup is great!

Scott_Quier

Looks like you had a bunch of fun! The shots are nice and very well focused.

I think you have an issue with exposure - primarily with light bleed from your background. The next time, think about moving your model a little further from the background so you can better seperate the lighting on the background from the lighting on your model.

rhondavid

Really cool series of shots. Love the extreme makeup and props. I think the ear rings should have matched the makeup to make them pop out too. Purple ear ring just did not do it for me.

Model seems to be having fun with it all too which is important. Looks like a great connection there. Lots of creativity there.

mpaulie

Great series!! Like Scott said, there is some light bleed from the background. That being said I still think this shot is awesome

nikmolson wrote:

nikmolson

thanks every one. il try bringing her forward next time (i didn't even consider light bleed last time) but yes it was lots of fun and those were the closest matching earrings we had haha though i could always trying making them match a little more in post

whiteagle

Great series. Awesome model. My wife wants to know where she got the makeup.

I agree with mpaulie. That's definitely the strongest shot of the series.

You are having trouble with two different areas. First is light bleed onto your subject. Consider using some black foam core or something similar to cut the light where you need to. The second is your biggest and easiest to solve problem. Your background is simply too bright. It's eating her hair. It's most obvious on the left side of the second image you posted. Just bring down that back light until you don't get that and you'll be fine.

What's the room like that your shooting in? How high are the ceilings and what color are they? Same for the nearest walls. How much space is between the subject and the background?

nikmolson

this was shot in studio type "attic" above our garage, the ceiling is about 8-9 feet high i would think? and the room has a sort of arced ceiling and is unfinished with plastic over insulation. here is a picture of the rough set up (though that white sheet would be hanging lower and my drum kit would be covered haha) model was about a foot infront of the white


the only thing im thinking about the "light bleed" is that may have been done in post as i only had one flash dedicated to blowing out the background and alot of the shots did not turn out perfectly white so i over exposed them in light room

Scott_Quier

The light bleed is not a function of how much light you have on the background but, rather, is a function of how close your model is to the background. With only a couple of feet between your model and your background, the light bleed was almost unavoidable.

nikmolson

would it have made it better to have the flashes pointed at the white from infront of the sheet instead of behind it pointed at the model?

whiteagle

It would. Ideally you'd have two flashes of equal power shooting from each side, a couple of feet in front of the background. Although I have done it just fine with a single flash for the background. With something like this, Turn your flash down and then stop down your camera until the background isn't blown out. This will actually let you see how the flash is lighting it. Move it around taking pictures until you get it as evenly as possible. I'd start with about 4' in front of the background, off to the left as high as you can get it.

Paint the ceiling and walls in there black with some of that krylon plasic spray paint if you can. Just make sure you've got adequate ventilation. At least the ceiling above the model.

It would help to move your model about even with the background light (4-6' in front of the background), then flag it to keep it off her. I beg to differ on the cause of the light bleed. I shoot high key off white office walls weekly and there's seldom much separation between the subject and the wall. The background should only be two stops brighter than the subject to prevent bleed, but the day I buy a light meter I'll let you know.

nikmolson

well i can't paint it and i don't really have the space of the lenses for that, though il try to get as close to it as i can

D'Buggs

WOWZA!!!

nikmolson

thank you! my favorites as well!

whiteagle

Can you maybe hang a black sheet over it? Just a suggestion. The more you can eat up that light, the better.

nikmolson

im sure i could though i really don't think to much light is the problem, its probably my post processing that your not liking as most the pictures didn't come out fully over exposed and i blew them out in lightroom

nikmolson

whiteagle wrote:

Great series. Awesome model. My wife wants to know where she got the makeup.

the make up is nothing special, she usualy uses Mac but this is was some no name pallet with a bunch of colors. she used eye shadow on the lips