Portrait, Lighting C&C

ghinson

I bartered with a local jeweler for a casual family Christmas card photo.

They wanted the store interior, the scenic location, and the family all featured, so I used a wide angle.

I am a lighting novice. I tried to expose for the exterior and light the interior with a big softbox, fired by a SB800, placing it at about 10 ft in height, even with me, and aimed down at their faces.

This was the result. They're pleased, and that's what matters. But I'd be interested in a little C&C from the pros here. This was the first time I've ever tried to light a scene with anything more than a Fong lightsphere.



Since they wanted to have some fun with it, we also did another shot where I leviatated them by masking out stools in PS. And another shot with funny faces that I treated to a little HDR effect.





Thanks for the comments.

Mitchell

These are pretty good.

The first shot here is your money shot. You did a nice job of displaying the family in the environs of the shop. My biggest problem is that by exposing for the scene out the window, you have lost the focal point of the composition. If the outdoors were brought down a stop or two, you would still be able to make out the details, but the family would have been better isolated with your lighting.

The boy looks a little hunched over in the first shot as well.

The second shot doesn't do much for me. As a digital trick, it might be good for a giggle. There is no shadow to really give the illusion of levitation.

adbsgicom

Greg, nice shot, and the pleased customer is

Nits:
I agree w/ Mitchell that the boy might be a bit too tall for the pose now. He's a bit hunched. Could you lighten the pooch by a little? The light falloff toward their feet seems to leave the pup a bit in the shadows. The image is also slightly rotated CCW by a fraction of a degree. Check out the lines in the window.

ghinson

Excellent points, both of you. The boy, in torn sweatpants and hands in his pockets, didn't really want to be there and, unfortunately, it was his best pose. I see the rotation too. Will fix that. And can lighten the dog, I believe.

I feel the same about the outside. It does take away too much from the subject. I felt it, and now know why.

I like how the HDR processing actually brought the outside down a bit. Might try that with the main pic, just to see if it helps.

Thanks!

ghinson

Processed a little bit more:



(You can tell who's good at this, I think, by how little time they spend with a photo once it leaves the camera. That's not me yet!)

adbsgicom

I like the edit better. The pup doesn't look out of place (unnaturally bright) and you can see him/her better.

Sorry for one more nit, but if you are running a tool with lens correction, you might want to tweak it a bit to get the curvature of the out of the image. It's pretty small but you can tell, esp. on the main lintel over the doorway.

Filter->Distort->Lens Correction on CS4.