Where did I mess up?

RacinRandy

Finally had a Chance to get a very good friend of mine back under the Strobes. I'm so Glad she loves to play in front of the camera. Still working on lighting and posing so C&C is requested .... I feel I'm in a rut and can't find a way out.

1)


I know black on black is a "No No" and really made things tough on myself.:scratch:dunno

2)


3) Same pose as 2 just a little more "Attitude"

zoomer

In a set up like this just headshots may have been the way to go.
She has a nice look,
Shot like this really aren't my area, so will leave it to someone else to comment on your lighting.

Yes the black on black was not helping you .

RacinRandy

zoomer wrote: »

In a set up like this just headshots may have been the way to go.

So I could assume that your more partial to the first image then Zoomer?

I do have some "Head shot" type images from this that I vould post up too.

zoomer

I I had to pick one I would go with two, because I like her sexy confident look in that one.
If it were mine I would crop it tighter,just below the bust, and edit to the point where all of her body parts had some separation from the background.

Nikolai

One thing I can say for sure is that someone had too much fun with curves/contrast... ;-)

Another one would be the vantage point for ##2,3: shooting femail subject upper body from below her eye level rarely works.

I'd be happy to point a few more things out, but for that I need to understand what your intentions were, cause many of them can be considered either as pros or as cons depending on what you wanted.

RacinRandy

Nikolai wrote: »

One thing I can say for sure is that someone had too much fun with curves/contrast... ;-)

Yeah I may have gotten a little far with the black point

Nikolai wrote: »

I'd be happy to point a few more things out, but for that I need to understand what your intentions were, cause many of them can be considered either as pros or as cons depending on what you wanted.

I would say the primary was working with the lights and trying to better understand placement for separation.

Secondary would be facial shadowing and trying to add depth while minimizing some features.

Here is a representation of the area I have to work with...


Two AB800's One with a 30 deg Grided BD back left and one front right into an umbrella... This shoot should have exif attached unless i mucked that up too

Nikolai

Gotcha, thanks for the clarification.
Well, a few things:

• As I have been saying over and over, for the upper body female portraits you really want to be at or above the subject eye level. Being below leads to "fat tummy" effect and forces the subject to bend the neck down, adding rarely attractive neck creases. There are exceptions, but they are - exceptions. Rule of thumb: "the closer you get (to the face/mountain), the higher you go". For #1 you got it, but the other two it looks like you were at her chest level.
• I would say your BD light (the way it's positioned on the jump shot) is too low. For this size I'd put it about 3 ft higher. Rule of thumb: Hair light is at least as high as main, or higher. Again, there are different scenarios for using the second light, but for what you were doing my point stays.
• It's difficult to understand the actual light position from the picture/description. But it looks like you we going for the "cross-fire" setup, when the lights and the subject ar on a single line. I have a suspicion the line was broken. It can be justified sometimes, but for a basic upper body shot you'd really benefit from this simple-to-remember rule.
• 30 degrees grid on the back/hair light is rarely enough to avoid flare. I typically try to use gobos/flags when the lights have a chance to hit the lens (unless I'm working with 10 or 20 degree grids).
• I have a feeling that you were too close to the model and probably were using a wider-than-needed lens. Can't say for sure, just a gut feeling.

HTH

RacinRandy

Nikolai wrote: »

Gotcha, thanks for the clarification.
Well, a few things:

• As I have been saying over and over, for the upper body female portraits you really want to be at or above the subject eye level. Being below leads to "fat tummy" effect and forces the subject to bend the neck down, adding rarely attractive neck creases. There are exceptions, but they are - exceptions. Rule of thumb: "the closer you get (to the face/mountain), the higher you go". For #1 you got it, but the other two it looks like you were at her chest level.
• I would say your BD light (the way it's positioned on the jump shot) is too low. For this size I'd put it about 3 ft higher. Rule of thumb: Hair light is at least as high as main, or higher. Again, there are different scenarios for using the second light, but for what you were doing my point stays.
• It's difficult to understand the actual light position from the picture/description. But it looks like you we going for the "cross-fire" setup, when the lights and the subject ar on a single line. I have a suspicion the line was broken. It can be justified sometimes, but for a basic upper body shot you'd really benefit from this simple-to-remember rule.
• 30 degrees grid on the back/hair light is rarely enough to avoid flare. I typically try to use gobos/flags when the lights have a chance to hit the lens (unless I'm working with 10 or 20 degree grids).
• I have a feeling that you were too close to the model and probably were using a wider-than-needed lens. Can't say for sure, just a gut feeling.

HTH

Thanks Nikolai!!


Okay, Would moving the BD light forward and using it more like a BG light help?? Would I still need to raise it? I have room to raise it i'm just curious.

I guess I was Maybe 6-8 feet from her. Had a 28-135mm f3.5-5.6 exif says 60mm iso125 1/250

Also, Would I be better to switch the BD to the Front light and toss the umbrella? I have a Giant Softy I Could put on the Rim/Hair/BG with the grid on/off?

I do also Have a 42" round reflector i could put opposite the back light and maybe fill in more on the other side?

zoomer

ha....I love love that last photo of her jumping, so much energy.

Nikolai

RacinRandy wrote: »

Thanks Nikolai!!

Randy, you're most certainly welcome!

RacinRandy wrote: »

Okay, Would moving the BD light forward and using it more like a BG light help?? Would I still need to raise it? I have room to raise it i'm just curious.

It depends. If you going to aim it at the backdrop it's OK where it is. However if you wanna proceed with "cross-fire" setup (both lights pointing to the subject while being on the different sides from the subject and having the subject on the line between them) then yes, it helps to raise the BD.

RacinRandy wrote: »

I guess I was Maybe 6-8 feet from her. Had a 28-135mm f3.5-5.6 exif says 60mm iso125 1/250

Gotcha.. I guess I was wrong :-)

RacinRandy wrote: »

Also, Would I be better to switch the BD to the Front light and toss the umbrella? I have a Giant Softy I Could put on the Rim/Hair/BG with the grid on/off?

Well, I myself prefer by hairlight being a bit sharper than main/fill, but it's really up to a personal preference. You can most definitely play around and see what *you* like better.

RacinRandy wrote: »

I do also Have a 42" round reflector i could put opposite the back light and maybe fill in more on the other side?

Not saying you shouldn't do it, but you'll lose most of the 3D effects of the "cross-fire" setup. Again, depending of what your intensions are you can play it differently. One thing to try while having the lights in a cross-fire is to use the reflector for the clamshell effect, i.e. on the same side as the main light but below the subject.

HTH

RacinRandy

Thank You!
Zoomer... Thanks, That came from one of the "adjustment periods", while I was arguing with myself about the lights I cranked up the radio. she started hopping around and "Dancing". So I pulled up the lens and just fired off a couple, this was the sharpest and clearest.

Nikolai... Thanks for all the tips!! I am going to get her over here again today to try some of them out!!
I'll Post the results when we are done! I think i'm going to try the Black on Black again, I have a few frames from this session i really like the pose in just not the lighting. So we will see if I can get Happy with the whole image and not just parts of it.