Teenage 'Glamour Party' (11 images)

vangogh

Hi everyone

I recently posted for advice about a make up artist for a Teenage 'Glamour Party' that I'd been asked to do. Many people here offered advice and I just want to thank you all for that.

The girl's loved it and had a fantastic time. Some of them I think were natural models and once they'd got over the idea of being in front of a camera, started posing quite naturally as though they had been in the industry for years.

I also had a fantastic (but tiring time) and am now offering that as a major part of my service.

Several people asked to see some of the pics, so here's a small selection (total upload was 270 pics!!!).

Here's the birthday girl:






Charlie's Angels eat your hearts out!!






























Luckily the wall was a neutral colour so I didn't have to worry too much about the light there, but if I was shooting more than 2/3 people bits & pieces crept into the pics, like door frames etc as I don't have a large enough back drop yet & we had to use a cushion to cover up an unsightly plug which would have been in every pic otherwise.

BUt otherwise, not too bad a shoot I think.

Nicola

Swartzy

Lots of fun poses
Bet it was fun! The images have an overall pink tone to them as they need white balance correction. This is evident in the skin tones, wall, background. Did you shoot these in RAW? Hopefully you did and can correct this with a click.

Scott_Quier

That certainly looks like you had a wonderful time. I really like the one of the three - well done indeed!

dogwood

Nice shots. They'd be even better if you changed the lighting a bit-- looks like you have a light on each side of your model and you're getting cross shadows. To eliminate this, try putting a key light at 45-degree angle to the model, and then putting your fill over the camera axis. And stop down the fill a stop or two less than the key. This will improve the shadows and overall mood quite a bit.

Or-- since these are "glamour", you could try glamour or butterfly lighting with a single light up high over the cam to give you that little butterfly shadow under the nose.

Here's an example of glamour/butterfly lighting:



Here's an example of the key & fill technique (note how the shadow is on one side of her face and forms that nice little triangle of light on that side):

vangogh

dogwood wrote:

Nice shots. They'd be even better if you changed the lighting a bit-- looks like you have a light on each side of your model and you're getting cross shadows. To eliminate this, try putting a key light at 45-degree angle to the model, and then putting your fill over the camera axis. And stop down the fill a stop or two less than the key. This will improve the shadows and overall mood quite a bit.

Or-- since these are "glamour", you could try glamour or butterfly lighting with a single light up high over the cam to give you that little butterfly shadow under the nose.

Here's an example of glamour/butterfly lighting:



Here's an example of the key & fill technique (note how the shadow is on one side of her face and forms that nice little triangle of light on that side):

Thanks for the suggestions. Yes I did have 2 lights with umbrellas, at 45 degree angles on each side. I also got the girls to use a reflector when i wanted to ease some of the shadows. The problem I have with the system I have is that the lights only have 3 settings, High, medium & low & I usually have them on low all the time as they tend to give too much light otherwise. One of the lights has barn doors on it & I close that up a bit to cut down the light output. And when I shoot in my flat I can't put the lights back further than 11' because of space issues. Is there a way round this do you think? Would a softbox do it?

I like the idea of the butterfly lighting. I will try that at some point.

Yes I shot in raw. I thought I'd taken out the cast.

dogwood

vangogh wrote:

Yes I did have 2 lights with umbrellas, at 45 degree angles on each side.

Nicola:

I can tell this from the catchlights and shadows. This is what is giving you cross shadows. See the nose shadows in your pics? They're a little 'confusing' because two lights are competing to create those shadows. Move one light to above the camera and meter it a stop or two less than the remaining 45-degree light-- that will help. You also may need to raise your key (the remaining 45-degree light) a little to drop the nose shadow just a bit.

vangogh

dogwood wrote:

Nicola:

I can tell this from the catchlights and shadows. This is what is giving you cross shadows. See the nose shadows in your pics? They're a little 'confusing' because two lights are competing to create those shadows. Move one light to above the camera and meter it a stop or two less than the remaining 45-degree light-- that will help. You also may need to raise your key (the remaining 45-degree light) a little to drop the nose shadow just a bit.

I can't stop the light down. It only has 3 settings: hgh medium or low & I have it on low as it is. Its a very basic light set up. Any suggestions? I give the set up a ry next time I do one.

Alkhemist

Hi Nicola
I like these. This is theatrical head shot lighting. Very nice.
As for your lighting issues.
Probably the easiest way to modify the light output is to use a Neutral Density lighting filter on your light source. They come in sheets 20 by 24 inches. Get a ½ stop filter (approximately 70 % transmission) and cut it into quarters 10 by 12 inches. Clip the filter(s) onto your barn doors using C-47 clamps (movie industry slang for wooden clothes pins). This allows you to reduce the light up to 2 stops in ½ stop steps. If you really want control add a ¼ stop and a full stop filter (about $6.00 each sheet here in the US). While these filters are designed for hot lights, they work equally well on strobes. When you order ask for a filter sample book (usually free); a very handy reference when you need to color or correct light sources. Rosco and Lee are the best known companies that manufacture lighting filters.
Were you using hot lights or flash?

dogwood

Alkhemist wrote:

Probably the easiest way to modify the light output is to use a Neutral Density lighting filter on your light source.

With all due respect, there's a much easier way to modify how much light hits your subject-- just move your light. Farther away gives you less light, closer gives you more.

Alkhemist

Pete is correct, if there's room--It IS the easiest way.

vangogh

Alkhemist wrote:

Pete is correct, if there's room--It IS the easiest way.

Unfortunately, when I shoot at home particularly, there isn't room. My front room is 11' by 14' & I often end up putting the lights in the doorway or even out in the hall!!.

Is there a specified distnce that I light should be away from a subject or does that depend on the light itself? Also, I know this mught sound a bit silly, but when using umbrellas, should I have the light pointing at the subject so that it goes directly through the umbrella itself, or should I have the lights facing away, so the light is reflected back at the subjects, or doesn't it matter?

Txs

Mike02

5-8, and 10 are great, nice job shooting .

JWCarter

Glam shota
These shoots are fun, I did it for an 11yrs birthday.

vangogh wrote:

Hi everyone

I recently posted for advice about a make up artist for a Teenage 'Glamour Party' that I'd been asked to do. Many people here offered advice and I just want to thank you all for that.

The girl's loved it and had a fantastic time. Some of them I think were natural models and once they'd got over the idea of being in front of a camera, started posing quite naturally as though they had been in the industry for years.

I also had a fantastic (but tiring time) and am now offering that as a major part of my service.

Several people asked to see some of the pics, so here's a small selection (total upload was 270 pics!!!).

Here's the birthday girl:






Charlie's Angels eat your hearts out!!






























Luckily the wall was a neutral colour so I didn't have to worry too much about the light there, but if I was shooting more than 2/3 people bits & pieces crept into the pics, like door frames etc as I don't have a large enough back drop yet & we had to use a cushion to cover up an unsightly plug which would have been in every pic otherwise.

BUt otherwise, not too bad a shoot I think.

Nicola

dogwood

vangogh wrote:

Unfortunately, when I shoot at home particularly, there isn't room. My front room is 11' by 14' & I often end up putting the lights in the doorway or even out in the hall!!.

Is there a specified distnce that I light should be away from a subject or does that depend on the light itself? Also, I know this mught sound a bit silly, but when using umbrellas, should I have the light pointing at the subject so that it goes directly through the umbrella itself, or should I have the lights facing away, so the light is reflected back at the subjects, or doesn't it matter?

Txs

Sounds like the ND gels are your best bet if you can't move the lights. Are you shooting at the lowest possible ISO?

You can set your umbrellas either way-- they'll be a little softer and more focused as shoot throughs, and much broader if bounce the light off of them. It's all a matter of personal preference.

I know what you mean about tight space-- I do some catalog style shoots for a local boutique and we do them in the store. There's maybe ten feet by ten feet to shoot with a full backdrop and model-- I end up shooting with a wide angle! This shot make it look like there's more room than there is... a 16 mm on a FF body will do that!