Lighting Critique Needed

stefeb

I'm pretty happy with the lighting in the picture, but think I could have used a light for the hair.

Used AB800 shoot through umbrella as a main light, and an AB800 to light the background. Had a white, oval reflector angled in front of my daughter.

Scott_Quier

Very nice looking young lady.

The lighting issues are pretty much as you have described. In addition, I would have raised your main a little bit more to put the loop shadow a little further down her face.

stefeb

Scott_Quier wrote:

Very nice looking young lady.

The lighting issues are pretty much as you have described. In addition, I would have raised your main a little bit more to put the loop shadow a little further down her face.

Thanks Scott. Would you mind explaining what a "loop shadow" is? I'm new to studio lighting and I'm not familiar with that term. Also, could you point out where the loop shadow is?

Thank you.

Scott_Quier

stefeb wrote:

Thanks Scott. Would you mind explaining what a "loop shadow" is? I'm new to studio lighting and I'm not familiar with that term. Also, could you point out where the loop shadow is?

Thank you.

Google is your friend.

The loop shadow is a direct result of correctly applied loop lighting (light - shadow, kinda makes sense).

This link (http://www.alienbees.com/johnsonarticle.html) is a pretty good primer on such things.

Also look at http://www.lightingmagic.com/lightqa.htm

OK, that was the long answer. The short answer - it's the shadow created by the interaction between your main light and the model's nose, when the main light is high and to the side of the camera. This lighting results in a shadow that extends from the nose to or near the corner of the model's nose.

You almost had it in your example. One reason to use this traditional lighting is that it tends to be a bit more complementary to the model. Of course, there's all kinds of reasons to use different and/or non-traditional lighting.

stefeb

Scott_Quier wrote:

Google is your friend.

The loop shadow is a direct result of correctly applied loop lighting (light - shadow, kinda makes sense).

This link (http://www.alienbees.com/johnsonarticle.html) is a pretty good primer on such things.

Also look at http://www.lightingmagic.com/lightqa.htm

OK, that was the long answer. The short answer - it's the shadow created by the interaction between your main light and the model's nose, when the main light is high and to the side of the camera. This lighting results in a shadow that extends from the nose to or near the corner of the model's nose.

You almost had it in your example. One reason to use this traditional lighting is that it tends to be a bit more complementary to the model. Of course, there's all kinds of reasons to use different and/or non-traditional lighting.

Thanks Scott. Great links. Helped a lot, and very succinct explanation by you. Will try those suggestions tonight.