Need opinions, advise....

ShepsMom

Soooo, if any of you followed my post in "Techniques" forum regading studio lighting, i went and bought myself one umbrella Hey, that's a start, right? I'll add 2 more ligths as i learn and go forward.
I'm using my current SB-800 to shoot through umbrella, but i really hate to use pop-up flush to trigger my SB :rolleyes






I really don't know what i'm doing yet. But i'm sure i will learn all i can soon enough, as i have all of you fine people to help me out here!!! :barb




Just set it all up, and here are my first victims...... Do this pictures look quiet bright, with some hot spots, or am i just crazy?
Would love to hear what you all think. Thanks!! :bow




My son.







My mom














My mom and dad (i think he's sleeping :rolleyes)









And of course, my biggest victim.... My dog!

Llywellyn

I'm not a lighting expert, but these look fine on my monitor. The second image looks a touch bright on the left side of your mother's face, but it may be that the shadows on the right are just making it look that way.

The third image looks a bit flat comapred with all the others.

The one of your mother seated has fantastic lighting on her! That bright spot of tie-dye in the upper left distracts me, though, and makes the lighting feel too bright. Though if I block that and look just at your mother, things look super!

And that image of your parents' almost kiss is fantastic!! A nice father's day print, perhaps.

ShepsMom

Thanks Kerry!!! Appreciate your opinion

I need to shop for deals on drops and props (if anyone knows such place), this BG was cheap so i bough it

Anyway, i agree on what you said, but i don't see third image to be flat, i've been staring at it for a while, so i might be going blind

Shot with my mom standing by the chair is horrible :cry Lighting is very wrong , i can see it miles away.....

Practise, practise, practise!!!

jeffreaux2

...Im no NIKON guy, but are you trying to say...

That the built-in wireless capability on the D80 requires that the on board flash be fired?

If so, that stinks!!!



As for the lighting in the photos.....one of the studio folks might better steer you than me, but it sure looks like you are getting close to where you need to be. Some could use a bit more reflected light on their dark side.

If there is a white wall in that room, you might could move closer to it on the side opposite the umbrella.

ShepsMom

jeffreaux2 wrote:

...Im no NIKON guy, but are you trying to say...

That the built-in wireless capability on the D80 requires that the on board flash be fired?

If so, that stinks!!!m

That's exactly what i'm saying Jeff cry, even though i have a diffuser for my pop flash, i wish i didn't have to do it. May be someone knows other way?

As for the lighting in the photos.....one of the studio folks might better steer you than me, but it sure looks like you are getting close to where you need to be. Some could use a bit more reflected light on their dark side.

If there is a white wall in that room, you might could move closer to it on the side opposite the umbrella.

Thank you Jeff, i'll play with it and see where it'll take me! :

Llywellyn

ShepsMom wrote:

... Anyway, i agree on what you said, but i don't see third image to be flat, i've been staring at it for a while, so i might be going blind

I did say "compared with the others." On its own, it probably looks just fine. In looking at it as part of the set, the first image of your son and the others I mentioned in my first post have richer, nicely set shadows. It seems like this one has a hint too much fill, versus the second image which seems to have not quite enough fill for what looks like side-lighting.

Though it is time for me to visit the optometrist again, so I could be looking at this all askew. :giggle

I agree with jeffreaux that you're on the right track. And I really think you nailed it all in that "near kiss" photo.

ShepsMom

Just ignore me Kerry . You might be right, i see what you see now, it's morning and i can function better

Thanks again!

Flyinggina

Very nice set, Marina!

Check with your manual and/or the Nikon gurus, but I think there is a way to set up some Nikons at least to trigger off-camera flashes without the on-camera flash firing. I think you can do it with the D80.

Good luck. You are inspiring me!

Virginia

ShepsMom

Thank you Virginia! What a nice ideal to check the manual I haven't even thought of that.

Appreciate the comments as well!!!

joshhuntnm

the lighting tooks good to me. One thing I noticed in 2 and 3 is the shoulders are almost square to the camera. I have heard this called the driver's license pose. I prefer it, as it is i other shots, when you turn the model a quarter turn.

ShepsMom

Thanks Josh, those 2 shots were just that, shots . I know what you mean about poses, i need to get a book or something on creative poses.

Thanks for the comments!

Seneca

Well I have that same exact umbrella...but I have a pair of them. I use them for this shot.

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=96242

But I think you need a larger reflector that one is more for on location than for a studio. You won't get a good effect. Go larger.

ShepsMom

This reflector came with the umbrella, so i didn't really have a say

I'm not sure how, if even, i'm going to use it yet.
Your shot looks quiet lovely. Thank you for the comment.

Scott_Quier

I'm a little late to the game here, but I gotta say that these are very good for a first attempt. I think you can be quite proud of these results. The light looks like it's coming from a good angle and from a reasonably close position (which tends to soften shadow edges a bit). I think the suggestions above about a reflector of some sort or a second light source on the "leeward" side will add significantly to the photos.

The strobist provides here one good way to make some really nice light for portraits, using only one light source. Check it out!

Even I was able to make some reasonably good shots as seen in this thread.

ShepsMom

Thank you Scott for your input. I will check out Strobist site, of course.

I'm not sure how to use reflectors, where does it go, on the opposite direction of the light? Against umbrella to reflect? I'm just guessing

Scott_Quier

ShepsMom wrote:

Thank you Scott for your input. I will check out Strobist site, of course.

I'm not sure how to use reflectors, where does it go, on the opposite direction of the light? Against umbrella to reflect? I'm just guessing

Reflectors are used to .... wait for it .... reflect light to places where there isn't any. So, you put it where there's light. Given that light behaves in a very predictable manner (covered, in part, in my post ... here) ....

With your set up (one light), your subject will be lit on one side. The reflector will be somewhere on the "shadow side", situated such that it captures some of the spill from the light source (spill is that light which is not other-wise used - usually spill is a bad thing in that it's usually not well controlled) and bounces it back to the shadowed side of your subject. This creates a light source that partially fills these shadows and is of lower intensity (again, see this post for more on why this is) than the strobe. In this manner, the reflector now becomes a second light source. It is left as a exercise for the student to figure out the distance between the reflector and the subject (also covered in this post).

ShepsMom

Ahhh, thank you Scott! I figured that's how this works, but just had to double check . I will definitely experiment with this.

Thanks again!!