For the first time with boxes very nice.!!! Look at the catch lights and you can see the first two about 10 o'clock and you dropped the third one to 9 o'clock. Generally speaking you want your light to be on two axis. One axis is on a 45 from floor to ceiling. The second axis for the same light should be on a 45 from your position either left or right. Again generally if your using a fill light it should be on the same side as your main........not by your main but off your shoulder area. ex. main on the left at 45 the fill should be on your left shoulder. Again these are general beginning rules. Your exposures are good but you gotta work on the "grumpy" expressions.
I do like your background light on the last one.
Thanks Charles. The photog will be happier when someone else is sitting in front of the camera . Hoping for this weekend. So, for the setup shown, I believe I was close to the 45 from floor to ceiling, can't get any higher in that room, but not on the second axis. Will try some more this weekend and repost setup. Also, I am assuming that once light is positioned correctly I want to turn the box forward of the subject to catch the fall off of light? Is this true?
Also, I am assuming that once light is positioned correctly I want to turn the box forward of the subject to catch the fall off of light? Is this true?[/QUOTE]
Keep your subject to the rear of the softbox ( most of the box out in front of your subject).
Don't aim the box at your subject as much as skimming it across. Don't tip the box keep it vertical. If your box has in inner baffle you might want to try the light with the baffle in and then out. Hope that is clear.
Keep your subject to the rear of the softbox ( most of the box out in front of your subject).
Don't aim the box at your subject as much as skimming it across. Don't tip the box keep it vertical. If your box has in inner baffle you might want to try the light with the baffle in and then out. Hope that is clear.
Thanks. No inner baffle with my soft boxes so can't try that. I will be shooting this weekend with someone else but couldn't wait to give this a try. I won't post any more with this set up since it's probably getting a little repetitive. Thanks so much for your help though. I'll keep working at it.
Notice that my set up is affected by the low ceiling height and the reflection off the ceiling. Tried playing with the background by shooting a gridded speedlight through some clear glass bottles several layers deep.
And the results.
Thanks again for all your help and for creating this thread.
Here are the sunlight shots all with the lastolite ezybox and a quantum flash. If you have any questions shout out.
What size ezybox is that? It looks like a perfect size for what I need. I have just started portraits and am shooting mostly natural light, outdoor portraits, so I am looking for the most cost effective ways to correct some harsh sun and too much shade.
OK gonna be brave. Please do not laugh too hard or if you toss rocks at me hope you are a bad shot.
I have been doing a daily photo for over a year and love to shoot food so here is one I did. I wanted to mix in some color and went to the hobby store and picked up some poster board on sale. I already had the two foam boards on the sides. These days I have no real extra money. I splurged for .50 cent per color poster board. I used a clothes clip in front to hold the red poster....and I have a frame on my wall holding on the back or top of the poster-board rather. Only used my speed light hand held on this one. But will play more later.
What size ezybox is that? It looks like a perfect size for what I need. I have just started portraits and am shooting mostly natural light, outdoor portraits, so I am looking for the most cost effective ways to correct some harsh sun and too much shade.
Thanks
The box is 18". I use a Quantum Q flash with this set up. It is very nice in open shade and some direct sunlight but to compete with the sun your going to need power. The closer to 1600 the better. Not sure you can get this particular box to hook up with a larger light source.
Andee, that is a very nice job for what you were working with. You don't always need all the bells and whistles to do a great shot. Talk a little about your flash placement and how you went about exposing for this shot.
Sorry about that I knew I was forgetting something. Not really too much to it tho. I had my Speed-light SB 600 on camera and bounced off the white ceiling. Maybe more of an angle forward. Hard to tell as I moved around for a few shots and not really sure if it was direct bounce on this one or not, or if it was a bit more angled. I have been having issues with my camera (Part is me tho). My camera has a firmware update that needs to be done and I have never done one. I am afraid of doing it wrong and frying my camera...that aside.... I have been trying to get everything in focus and yet well lit and seems to not be able to get everything in the frame in focus. Some more so OK but other times really looks like I have done a DOF on one spot on purpose and I have not. I would love to have it all in focus. Odd I know but I like my subject all in focus especially on one of my daily picks food shots. I have a Nikon D90 with a kit lens. So I do not have the options (lens wise) I would if I had one of those cool lenses for macro.
The box is 18". I use a Quantum Q flash with this set up. It is very nice in open shade and some direct sunlight but to compete with the sun your going to need power. The closer to 1600 the better. Not sure you can get this particular box to hook up with a larger light source.
Wondering if you have any other suggestions for outdoor portrait lighting. The budget is still small, so I am really looking for the essentials and hopefully not break the bank.
This is an example of what I need to try to compensate for:
This is not a bad photograph. You've got the start of Rembrandt lighting your exposure is just off. Expose for the hightlights so you don't loose texture and detail in those areas then fill in the dark areas with a reflector or fill flash if needed.
Your in a tough spot. You will need to spend some money to get the equip you need but education is the key and what do you want the end result to be.
With this shot there are several ways to go.
1. big, powerful light to match the sun, you can then make some decisions how you want the bkg to look ie lighter, darker then play with your settings to do that. Competing with the white areas is a problem that they are brighter than your subject so you need to bring them down to make your subject stand out. If you had the power you could do that.
2. Use subtractive lighting........but a blocker above her to lessen the amt of light hitting her, that would work here but then your white background and sky would be totally blown out but that could be ok depending on the look you wanted.
I would not worry too much about equip but I would aim for small class education. Classes that are 2 to 3 days with less than 20 per class. You will learn so much in a short time. I know I probably didn't answer your question entirely so ask away for clarificaiton.
Wondering if you have any other suggestions for outdoor portrait lighting. The budget is still small, so I am really looking for the essentials and hopefully not break the bank.
This is an example of what I need to try to compensate for:
I agree with Charles on most things but I do not think you need to spend a lot of money on really big flash heads to compensate for the sunlight. You just need to 'manage' the light properly.
HIison, if your in direct sunlight you will have a heck of a time trying to compete with a small flash. I've tried Oh How I've Tried!!! Even ttl with high speed sync will give your problems
I agree with Charles on most things but I do not think you need to spend a lot of money on really big flash heads to compensate for the sunlight. You just need to 'manage' the light properly.
HIison, if your in direct sunlight you will have a heck of a time trying to compete with a small flash. I've tried Oh How I've Tried!!! Even ttl with high speed sync will give your problems
Well, the cloud are supposed to disperse tomorrow and we should see some sunshine. If it happens, I'll upload a sample of what I'm talking about.
Charles, if I were to message you with a few photos from a session, would you be able to tell me your suggestions on how to properly light the subject? Or maybe I could start a new thread, just not really sure which dept to do that in...
these are two shots from the same sunny day. The first is without the flash, second is with the flash. I have the flash on camera, would this have worked better using the flash off camera, a little closer and positioned to the left?
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I am in to my second year and more focused on food shots and really want something like what you have there! Thank again!
http://andeedesign.com/
www.Jerrywhitephotography.com
http://andeedesign.com/
Thanks Charles. The photog will be happier when someone else is sitting in front of the camera
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Keep your subject to the rear of the softbox ( most of the box out in front of your subject).
Don't aim the box at your subject as much as skimming it across. Don't tip the box keep it vertical. If your box has in inner baffle you might want to try the light with the baffle in and then out. Hope that is clear.
www.cameraone.biz
Thanks. No inner baffle with my soft boxes so can't try that. I will be shooting this weekend with someone else but couldn't wait to give this a try. I won't post any more with this set up since it's probably getting a little repetitive. Thanks so much for your help though. I'll keep working at it.
Notice that my set up is affected by the low ceiling height and the reflection off the ceiling. Tried playing with the background by shooting a gridded speedlight through some clear glass bottles several layers deep.
And the results.
Thanks again for all your help and for creating this thread.
My Photos
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What size ezybox is that? It looks like a perfect size for what I need. I have just started portraits and am shooting mostly natural light, outdoor portraits, so I am looking for the most cost effective ways to correct some harsh sun and too much shade.
Thanks
http://www.darkfaeriedesigns.com
I have been doing a daily photo for over a year and love to shoot food so here is one I did. I wanted to mix in some color and went to the hobby store and picked up some poster board on sale. I already had the two foam boards on the sides. These days I have no real extra money. I splurged for .50 cent per color poster board. I used a clothes clip in front to hold the red poster....and I have a frame on my wall holding on the back or top of the poster-board rather. Only used my speed light hand held on this one. But will play more later.
http://andeedesign.com/
http://andeedesign.com/
The box is 18". I use a Quantum Q flash with this set up. It is very nice in open shade and some direct sunlight but to compete with the sun your going to need power. The closer to 1600 the better. Not sure you can get this particular box to hook up with a larger light source.
www.cameraone.biz
www.cameraone.biz
http://andeedesign.com/
Wondering if you have any other suggestions for outdoor portrait lighting. The budget is still small, so I am really looking for the essentials and hopefully not break the bank.
This is an example of what I need to try to compensate for:
http://www.darkfaeriedesigns.com
Your in a tough spot. You will need to spend some money to get the equip you need but education is the key and what do you want the end result to be.
With this shot there are several ways to go.
1. big, powerful light to match the sun, you can then make some decisions how you want the bkg to look ie lighter, darker then play with your settings to do that. Competing with the white areas is a problem that they are brighter than your subject so you need to bring them down to make your subject stand out. If you had the power you could do that.
2. Use subtractive lighting........but a blocker above her to lessen the amt of light hitting her, that would work here but then your white background and sky would be totally blown out but that could be ok depending on the look you wanted.
I would not worry too much about equip but I would aim for small class education. Classes that are 2 to 3 days with less than 20 per class. You will learn so much in a short time. I know I probably didn't answer your question entirely so ask away for clarificaiton.
www.cameraone.biz
I agree with Charles on most things but I do not think you need to spend a lot of money on really big flash heads to compensate for the sunlight. You just need to 'manage' the light properly.
In this shot, you could have underexposed the ambient by a couple of stops and used your flash off camera to fill in the shadow side of her face. A great resource for learning to use your small flash off-camera is the Strobist site. (www.strobist.com) Here is one page discussing how to balance the sun and your flash. http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101balancing-flash-with.html
www.Jerrywhitephotography.com
www.cameraone.biz
A reflector to camera right would have been the ticket. No batteries required.
please visit: www.babyelephants.net
Well, the cloud are supposed to disperse tomorrow and we should see some sunshine. If it happens, I'll upload a sample of what I'm talking about.
www.Jerrywhitephotography.com
www.cameraone.biz
twin Mark IV's & a bunch of "L" glass
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That's perfect (15 miles from home)!!! I'll be there!!!
twin Mark IV's & a bunch of "L" glass
site ∙ facebook
I doubt it. Haven't been a member since before my heart attack in '06. Might think about it though.
www.Jerrywhitephotography.com
http://www.darkfaeriedesigns.com
www.cameraone.biz
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