More practice at portrait lighting.

anonymouscuban

I took these today while my wife and I came home to have lunch. While she was prepare our meal, I setup my lights again in the living room.

Key on camera left with 45" umbrella on reflective side, large foam core at camera right for fill and hair light at camera right and behind her. I clipped to 7" reflectors together to form a sort of snoot and placed it on the hair light. In retrospect, I should have used something to diffuse the light a bit, maybe some fabric.

#1 - Hair light caused a bit of a hot spot on her right brow... too far foward. It also is a bit hotter on the shoulder than the key light since it's not diffused at all. Not sure I like the bright spot on her left boob either.



#2 - I had her move a little foward here to reduce the hot spots from the hair light, which it did, but I then I lost the effect of the hair light and the separation from the background.



#3 - Here I shift the position of the hair light. I like this shot better but it's still a bit hot. This is where I realize I could have used something to diffuse the light and it would have been good. At least I think it would.



#4 & #5 - I turn the power down on the hair light here but kept it in the same position as above. I think I like these two shots the best. Her smile is a little stronger in #5 (I made her laugh). Not sure which of the two I like the most.





So... what do you all think? All C&C is appreciated and welcomed.

Regards,
Alex

Gary752

My favorite is #5 followed by #4. What did you do differently between the 2? Reason I ask is her teeth are much whiter in #5 that the others. Was that done in PP, or did you use a different camera setting for #5? Not sure what would need to be done, other than doing it in PP, but I would like to be able to see the eye color a little more. Maybe someone will chime in on how to accomplish this with lighting, or camera settings.

As others have stated in previous threads, you are one lucky guy to have such a beautiful and willing model to work with!

GaryB

Swartzy

Bringing your key about 2/3'rd stop higher would illuminate the eyes and nail the overall exposure. These are a bit under and the whites of the eyes and overall punch suffer as a result. Use your histogram and get it exposed to the right a bit more. For these close up shots, bring your kicker in closer and it will soften (you'll have to lower the power of course) but make it's presence known...with the key up it will fill perfectly.

anonymouscuban

BroPhoto wrote:

My favorite is #5 followed by #4. What did you do differently between the 2? Reason I ask is her teeth are much whiter in #5 that the others. Was that done in PP, or did you use a different camera setting for #5? Not sure what would need to be done, other than doing it in PP, but I would like to be able to see the eye color a little more. Maybe someone will chime in on how to accomplish this with lighting, or camera settings.

As others have stated in previous threads, you are one lucky guy to have such a beautiful and willing model to work with!

GaryB

Nothing different between 4 & 5, same settings on camera and also lights. Camera was 1/320 @ f/8 with ISO of 100. I think her teeth look whiter because her smile is wider in #5 and her head is tilted a little different exposing more of her face to the light.

I agree with Swartzy that these shots are just slightly under exposed. I am looking at them now on my office display and I can see they are a bit dark. On my home display they look a bit brighter. I really need to recalibrate my home monitors. As Swartzy pointed out, bringing up the exposure will brighten the whites of the eyes and bring up the color overall.

anonymouscuban

Swartzy wrote:

Bringing your key about 2/3'rd stop higher would illuminate the eyes and nail the overall exposure. These are a bit under and the whites of the eyes and overall punch suffer as a result. Use your histogram and get it exposed to the right a bit more. For these close up shots, bring your kicker in closer and it will soften (you'll have to lower the power of course) but make it's presence known...with the key up it will fill perfectly.

Thanks Swartzy. I wasn't using a kicker light here. Used a reflector as fill but I get the what you are saying. I do agree that they are a bit dark overall.

Nikolai

Alex,
glad you have time, desire and a willing model to experiment with all those little nuances. As it's been said many times, two lights and a reflector can do a lot....
It also looks like you oversmoothing her skin, no?

anonymouscuban

Nikolai wrote:

Alex,
glad you have time, desire and a willing model to experiment with all those little nuances. As it's been said many times, two lights and a reflector can do a lot....
It also looks like you oversmoothing her skin, no?

I am realizing how much one can actually do with the setup I have. I have no shortage of desire so the only limiting factor will be time and the willingness of my wife to put up with me. She is just as excited about this as me right now so hopefully that won't change.

I did clean up a couple of pimples she has right now... she made me do it if I was to post them online, but I use the healing brush for that. Does her skin look overly smooth/plasticky??

Nikonic1

The one little nit I have (which really is inconsequential) is the weird shadow created by he shirt lifted slightly by her right shoulder/collar bone and her hair I think. The lighting is really good in these and I definitely don't think the PP has been overdone to turn her skin platicky at all. Nice work.