Emilia *High Key Attempt*
Hello friends!
Long time no see!
: I've been rather busy lately!
We've had my spouses little sister Emilia on a visit for a few days and naturally I didn't miss the opportunity to play with my camera a little. This is my first attempt at High key images, I dunno if these are qualified to be called High key, are they? :scratch
Comments and critics are welcome!
Regards / Matty
Long time no see!
: I've been rather busy lately!We've had my spouses little sister Emilia on a visit for a few days and naturally I didn't miss the opportunity to play with my camera a little. This is my first attempt at High key images, I dunno if these are qualified to be called High key, are they? :scratch
Comments and critics are welcome!
Regards / Matty
0
Comments
Is this studio setup new?
Well, all I did actually was hanging a white sheet over the curtain rod in our livingroom, and put a white sheet on the floor. Then I had 3 st. 500W halogen constrution lamps on stands (bought cheap at Claes Olson: http://www.clasohlson.se/images/products/S/hi/B/361290_X_2004-07-01_155403.jpg) shining through white umbrellas (that I bought very cheap at BR: http://www.br-leksaker.se/)
I experimented and mixed this combo with a bouncing Speedlite 580EX, primarely to get faster shutter speeds. Even with 3 st. 500W very close to her, in a dominating white surrounding and clothing, I couldn't get faster shutter than 1/30s-1/60s at f/3.5 and I just didn't felt like going with the tripod. I don't quite understand the characteristics of indoor light - to my eyes, and to Emilias for sure, there was plenty of light. I figure it has something to do with the "quality of light" and the color temperature - or something like that. But, perhaps you never get faster shutters shooting indoor with tungsten lighting?
Matty
Its amazing what you can do with little money if you think out of the box!
Great work!
Regards,
Andreas
Matty
Great job. What ISO were you using? You might need to bump it up a bit to get your shutter speed up if necessary. Did you do some photoshop work to cover the seams between the backdrop sheet and your floor sheet (it looks like one continuous backdrop to me).
I like the last photo the best. I'm sure Emilia was very pleased!
Fred
The last one is a GREAT pose and haunting expression, my only suggestion would be to put a little twist in the arm she is leaning on to minimize it's thickness, and get an even bigger catch light in her eyes, even if it meant using one of the halogens without an umbrella to get a big rectangle. Stylistically this is awesome.
Dana
** Feel free to edit my photos if you see room for improvement.**
Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if
no birds sang there except those that sang best.
~Henry Van Dyke
Well, when shooting without the flash, I went with ISO 400, leaving me with ca 1/100s. Usually I'm not afraid to cram up the ISO, I oftenly go with ISO 800, and time to time ISO 1600. But at this shoot, I did want to keep the ISO low.
Yes, I did some work on the backdrop. The seams was no big deal, but although ironing for about one hour, I just couldn't get rid of all wrinkles. And after a few poses on it, it became even worse. But - thanx to photoshop, that's no big deal eihter. I clone out the worst, then I mask the background and copy it to another layers. Then I add some "dust and scratches" to smooth it out.
Yes, she was a bit hessistant to my idea of dressing up all in white at first, but when she saw the result, she was happily surprised.
Matty
No, I haven't tried that! Next time, I'll give it a go! This was only my second tryout with the new halogen lamps. At the first shoot, I didn't have the umbrellas, so the light was very harsh and the shadows drove me nuts. The umbrellas really did the trick! I am at the experimenting stage - I haven't worked with tungsten before (worth meantioning) and I don't really know how to successfully combine flash and tungsten. But my goal is to work only with the tungsten. I think my next purchase will be a remote controll, and although the awkwardness and "immobility", I'll put the cam on tripod.
My favorite also is the last one. But there is something with it that bothers me - the pose dosn't look comfortable and naturall. Her right arm elbow should have been put more to the left (to the right for her) so that her face was centered between her arms. Catch my drift? And of course, her hand should have been flat with the fingerstips visable. Something like that.
But still, I like it!
Thanx for your input and suggestions!!!
Matty
If you work professionally, then of course "the real expensive stuff" would be necessary. But for amateures like me, home made solutions like this works just fine - especially when you have like me, a spouse that is very intolerant when it comes to bying camera stuff!
Matty