Ballerina Art Print
Sorry for no pull back but the light was a 3x4 soft box on a 45 degree behind the subject. Didn't like the shadow side and a reflector did not give me the results I wanted so I turned and umbrella on and used it as a fill.
Two from last evening.
Been awhile but got the chance to got out last evening. Both images with two bare flashes on a stand. Camera at 2.8 iso 100 shutter 1/2500. The flashes were about 5 to 6 feet away from subject and you can see the stand in the lower right corner.
Help with headshots!
Hey guys and girls i have a question! I'm not very experienced with studio photography, and this coming Sunday my union president asked me to do some head shots for our board, anyways the equipment i have is 2 alien bees (800s), with umbrellas, ( i don't have any soft boxes yet) i have triggers to set off the lights with my camera so my question is what settings and set up can use for these shots does anyone have any examples of the set up and photos with the settings that i can go by? Any help would be greatly appreciated! i shoot with Nikon D750, and I'm guessing i can use my 28mm 1.8 or my 85mm 1.8. this is my very first time doing head shots. (this job is not paid is just for experience).
Thank you so much!
Hey guys and girls i have a question! I'm not very experienced with studio photography, and this coming Sunday my union president asked me to do some head shots for our board, anyways the equipment i have is 2 alien bees (800s), with umbrellas, ( i don't have any soft boxes yet) i have triggers to set off the lights with my camera so my question is what settings and set up can use for these shots
This part of your question is impossible to answer, there are simply too many variables. Size of room, color of room, color of background, any ambient light. Are your umbrellas shoot through or bounce, do you have reflectors, plus dozens of more details that can affect everything.
That's all before you begin dealing with the possible skin tones and colors of the people and whatever clothing that they may be wearing. Color cast from clothes, walls, etc. can get reflected easily depending on the angle of light.
Generally if the environment allows and you're not lighting the background in addition to the people a two light system will have your main light directly behind and above camera and the other at camera level either right or left at a 45 degree angle to the person.
Then you use your modeling light to kind of work the light until it fits.
The clamshell set up works well for quick and dirty shots. Both lights directly in from of the person 1 light right above (key), 1 light below (about waist level if standing) for fill.
Specific settings for the lights/camera are just too hard to guess without know far more details. General rule (loose term) of thumb from key to fill ratio is 3 to 1.
the room is banquet size pretty big, i have have a white umbrella and a black one i can reflect of it. i have two reflectors, the only light is florescent light I'm planing on using my black backdrop i also have two flashes. the wall is cream color i will try to practice on my husband ans see how they turn out, thank you for trying to explain.
Black would not be my first choice. Depending on how much light hits the background you could end up with a cave look. Depending on how the walls look, cream might be the better choice.
With your current umbrellas, I would suggest putting the bounce back behind and above the camera. This will soften it up quite a bit. Put the shoot through on one side of the camera (I prefer left side, but doesn't matter) and use that to fill and sculpt the face.
If you need to use the black backdrop, use your flashes to provide some light on it, so that it isn't completely dark. (think grey). Keep the flashes wide and behind the people so they don't cast the color back on the person.
Lighting......I would set my main light up as a shoot thru and keep it on a 45 to the subject and feather it a tad toward the front of the subject. (if these are single people shots I would keep the main just out of viewfinder range. With two people you might have to move the main more toward the camera to prevent shadow spill on one of the subjects). I would set my exposure till I am pleased with the result. I would leave my f stop there. Then I would bring my fill in possibly as a shoot thru and put it behind the camera and a tad toward the main and set the power a bit lower and check the screen till you get a pleasing opening of the shadow side of the face. Leave you f stop alone and drop the power on the fill to do this. Do you have a small strobe that you can hit the bkg with? If you do use it and if too much power don't be afraid to put folds of handkerchiefs of it to tone the power down. I would keep my subject about 6 ft from the bkg.
Posing.....I would have the guys facing the main and the ladies with their backs toward the main and the heads turned back toward the light. It's an old posing rule that does make them look better. I would use the 85 mm lens before the wide angle. Hope that helps.
Been a busy/hectic year for me. Shoulder surgery, lost my mom, daughter got married and I got the low construction bid on my other daughter's house. But we all have to march forward. Here is a pull back of a family session. Wanted to try mirrorless so I purchased a Sony A7rII and got a self contained (battery not corded) flash unit, Xplor 600. All work with High speed sync I could have lessened the intensity of the bright background but then I loss the mid ground and was not happy with the look so I went with what I liked. Iso 100, 85mm lens. f1.8 and 1/800 for the camera settings. Grandma to help with smile and keep the light from falling over.
The xplor was a tad too powerful as I wanted the flash closer to be a tad softer.
Travis, hope all is well with you and the family. Let me know when you're coming by and I'll try to be at the studio. Do well friend.
Andee, thank you for your thoughts.
Life has been crazy this time of year for all but I thought I'd do a Christmas one for all. 6 lights in all with the last one behind me aimed at the ceiling to add to the shadows.
This one is an easy set up. A strip box slightly behind the subject on each side, same power. Make sure you don't completely light the nose. The front was a tad dark so I aimed a flash up at the ceiling way behind me and that gave just enough fill to lighten the front of the face. Added a blue gel on the bkg.
Wanted to do a self portrait and was unhappy with the light hitting the head being so bright. When I reduced the light output everything was too dark so what to do. Use a gobo to block some of the light. I had a shawl used as a prop earlier so I draped it over the top of the main to cut down of light coming from the top of the box so less was hitting my head.Images a tad jumbled hope you can see the results.
Those are both nice but I do like the results of the one with the zipper sweater.
Funny how one can have a lot of gear but sometimes will still need to do a little 'MacGyver' to something to get the look we want. Thanks for sharing that info.
I jumbled the images. The black top was without the gobo and I put the sweater on for the final after I liked the lighting setup. The lighting is the same in both images except for the use of the shawl.
Been doing a few evenings of a ballet group and the second group only had a few gals so I had a couple of minutes to play. This child is in the seventh grade but when I saw those eyes I looked at my wife and she said lets use her veil. The veil was just a tiny piece of material that we could pull up and use it as a veil. I grabbed a small 14" kicker softbox and put it about two feet from her face with a reflector on the other side about the same distance. Had a hair light adjusted to barely hit her and part of the bkg. It was over and done in about two minutes. Did some eye work and an extra hit on the lip highlight and it was over and done.
Comments
Sorry for no pull back but the light was a 3x4 soft box on a 45 degree behind the subject. Didn't like the shadow side and a reflector did not give me the results I wanted so I turned and umbrella on and used it as a fill.
www.cameraone.biz
http://andeedesign.com/
Been awhile but got the chance to got out last evening. Both images with two bare flashes on a stand. Camera at 2.8 iso 100 shutter 1/2500. The flashes were about 5 to 6 feet away from subject and you can see the stand in the lower right corner.
1.
2.
www.cameraone.biz
http://andeedesign.com/
Hey guys and girls i have a question! I'm not very experienced with studio photography, and this coming Sunday my union president asked me to do some head shots for our board, anyways the equipment i have is 2 alien bees (800s), with umbrellas, ( i don't have any soft boxes yet) i have triggers to set off the lights with my camera so my question is what settings and set up can use for these shots does anyone have any examples of the set up and photos with the settings that i can go by? Any help would be greatly appreciated! i shoot with Nikon D750, and I'm guessing i can use my 28mm 1.8 or my 85mm 1.8.
Thank you so much!
Not sure if anyone want to take a look of my website.
http://zwellsphotography.com
This part of your question is impossible to answer, there are simply too many variables. Size of room, color of room, color of background, any ambient light. Are your umbrellas shoot through or bounce, do you have reflectors, plus dozens of more details that can affect everything.
That's all before you begin dealing with the possible skin tones and colors of the people and whatever clothing that they may be wearing. Color cast from clothes, walls, etc. can get reflected easily depending on the angle of light.
Generally if the environment allows and you're not lighting the background in addition to the people a two light system will have your main light directly behind and above camera and the other at camera level either right or left at a 45 degree angle to the person.
Then you use your modeling light to kind of work the light until it fits.
The clamshell set up works well for quick and dirty shots. Both lights directly in from of the person 1 light right above (key), 1 light below (about waist level if standing) for fill.
Specific settings for the lights/camera are just too hard to guess without know far more details. General rule (loose term) of thumb from key to fill ratio is 3 to 1.
This one is easy, use the 85mm.
Website
With your current umbrellas, I would suggest putting the bounce back behind and above the camera. This will soften it up quite a bit. Put the shoot through on one side of the camera (I prefer left side, but doesn't matter) and use that to fill and sculpt the face.
If you need to use the black backdrop, use your flashes to provide some light on it, so that it isn't completely dark. (think grey). Keep the flashes wide and behind the people so they don't cast the color back on the person.
Website
Posing.....I would have the guys facing the main and the ladies with their backs toward the main and the heads turned back toward the light. It's an old posing rule that does make them look better. I would use the 85 mm lens before the wide angle. Hope that helps.
www.cameraone.biz
In the first image flash was all ready flashing to open shadows.
1.
2.
www.cameraone.biz
Or should I say use to when I was able to shoot more!
http://andeedesign.com/
Been a busy/hectic year for me. Shoulder surgery, lost my mom, daughter got married and I got the low construction bid on my other daughter's house. But we all have to march forward. Here is a pull back of a family session. Wanted to try mirrorless so I purchased a Sony A7rII and got a self contained (battery not corded) flash unit, Xplor 600. All work with High speed sync I could have lessened the intensity of the bright background but then I loss the mid ground and was not happy with the look so I went with what I liked. Iso 100, 85mm lens. f1.8 and 1/800 for the camera settings. Grandma to help with smile and keep the light from falling over.
The xplor was a tad too powerful as I wanted the flash closer to be a tad softer.
www.cameraone.biz
Those are nice Charles!
So sorry about your mom.
http://andeedesign.com/
Long time my friend & sorry to hear about your mother. As always, the images look fantastic! Hope you're well Chuck...
twin Mark IV's & a bunch of "L" glass
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Travis, hope all is well with you and the family. Let me know when you're coming by and I'll try to be at the studio. Do well friend.
Andee, thank you for your thoughts.
www.cameraone.biz
A few more from the session with the same set up.
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Those are lovely, Charles! I esp love the warmth in the greenery behind them, in the one of the three sitting on the ground.
http://andeedesign.com/
Life has been crazy this time of year for all but I thought I'd do a Christmas one for all. 6 lights in all with the last one behind me aimed at the ceiling to add to the shadows.
www.cameraone.biz
This one is an easy set up. A strip box slightly behind the subject on each side, same power. Make sure you don't completely light the nose. The front was a tad dark so I aimed a flash up at the ceiling way behind me and that gave just enough fill to lighten the front of the face. Added a blue gel on the bkg.
www.cameraone.biz
Very nice football portrait Charles!
http://andeedesign.com/
Thanks Andee. Have a wonderful Merry Christmas.
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Haven't been around for awhile so I thought I'd start with proper reflector placement. LOL.
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lol Looks like you are having fun Charles!
http://andeedesign.com/
Wanted to do a self portrait and was unhappy with the light hitting the head being so bright. When I reduced the light output everything was too dark so what to do. Use a gobo to block some of the light. I had a shawl used as a prop earlier so I draped it over the top of the main to cut down of light coming from the top of the box so less was hitting my head.Images a tad jumbled hope you can see the results.
www.cameraone.biz
Those are both nice but I do like the results of the one with the zipper sweater.
Funny how one can have a lot of gear but sometimes will still need to do a little 'MacGyver' to something to get the look we want. Thanks for sharing that info.
http://andeedesign.com/
I jumbled the images. The black top was without the gobo and I put the sweater on for the final after I liked the lighting setup. The lighting is the same in both images except for the use of the shawl.
www.cameraone.biz
The shawl worked out really nice!
http://andeedesign.com/
Been doing a few evenings of a ballet group and the second group only had a few gals so I had a couple of minutes to play. This child is in the seventh grade but when I saw those eyes I looked at my wife and she said lets use her veil. The veil was just a tiny piece of material that we could pull up and use it as a veil. I grabbed a small 14" kicker softbox and put it about two feet from her face with a reflector on the other side about the same distance. Had a hair light adjusted to barely hit her and part of the bkg. It was over and done in about two minutes. Did some eye work and an extra hit on the lip highlight and it was over and done.
www.cameraone.biz
That is beautiful Charles!
http://andeedesign.com/
Thank you Andee. Sorry I didn't have a pull back it all happened so fast. Hope all is well with you.
www.cameraone.biz