Pull backs....lets have some!

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  • HackboneHackbone Registered Users Posts: 4,027 Major grins
    edited August 8, 2015
    Joel, give us some background on the shot, where, what is the flooring, subject from the bkg, processing, any problems you encountered and how you overcame them.
  • kdogkdog Administrators Posts: 11,680 moderator
    edited August 8, 2015
    Sure, Charles. Thanks for the interest. The shoot took place in one of the club members place of business, which is a tile shop. I decided right off the bat that I was going to use two widths of wide seamless paper to give me a 16' wide BG. Instead of using two rolls, I used one and cut it in half which gave me two 18' lengths of 8' wide paper. I attached those to the wall, overlapped them a few inches, and had plenty of length to give me a nice sweep onto the floor. I used four 4x8 shiny white-board panels from lowes for the flooring. Anybody who does high-key should be very familiar with them. I placed them on the floor overlapping the paper for maybe a foot. So that gave us a 16' wide by 8' deep floor. We parked the bikes roughly in the middle of the floor which maybe gave us 6-8' from the BG. I had to borrow two extra Alien Bees for background lights and a boom stand from a friend (thanks, Sam! ) which gave me a total of four lights for the BG which I figured was the minimum I would need. Two were up high on boom and two off to the wides down lower. You want to be careful positioning your BG lights so you don't get too much spill on your subject. Set your lights at about half power to start and then meter the light bouncing off the BG from maybe a couple of feet away. Set your subject lights about a stop below your BG and set your camera to that. Voila, you're now blowing out your BG (which is what you want) and your subject is properly exposed.

    While I do hi-key pretty fairly often, I'd never done one of this magnitude before. Thankfully all the same principles applied and there really weren't any issues to overcome. I shot tethered so we could scrutinize the shots as we went. Not much post processing to do when you get your lighting right. Just basic LR adjustments, then I brought it into Photoshop to use the healing brush to "heal" the seam gaps in the flooring and the overlap on the paper. I used Portrait Professional as well.

    Here's another shot.
    i-rzDsnvV-X2.jpg
  • HackboneHackbone Registered Users Posts: 4,027 Major grins
    edited August 9, 2015
    Thanks, you did a fantastic job on them and the bio was super, again thanks.
  • HackboneHackbone Registered Users Posts: 4,027 Major grins
    edited September 25, 2015
    Slowly getting back from a totatl knee replacement. Been busy selling the physical studio and begin working out of the home after a bunch of years. It's time to slow up a bit.
    Used a small flash on a stand about 6 to 8 ft away to open shadows after I dropped the exposure down some. Then added some play time in photoshop to get the end result. Wish I had audio, a tad over 800 hp.

    1. i-j2ccGGk-X2.jpg

    2.i-nQTwNVL-X2.jpg
  • HackboneHackbone Registered Users Posts: 4,027 Major grins
    edited October 11, 2015
    This image shows how I use either 1 or 2 speed lights for the image. They were about 6ft from the subject

    1. i-bCw4cMV-X2.jpg


    Used two lights for this shot, they might look further than 6 ft due to camera lens at 24mm
    2. i-nVFLZTS-X2.jpg


    This just needed one speed light to open the shadow side of the face. Again 6 ft away.
    3. i-sMGhgKQ-X2.jpg
  • HackboneHackbone Registered Users Posts: 4,027 Major grins
    edited October 12, 2015
    headshots
    Peter Hurley, a great head shot photographer out of NY and Calif was showing this set up for headshots so I thought I'd give it a try. Two mains on a 45 left and right. One main in front coming up on a 45. I added a kicker and bkg light.

    1.i-BrzKm6j-X3.jpg

    2. i-FTvDjLP-X3.jpg

    3. i-RVVQ3PJ-X3.jpg

    4. i-ttZzB4C-X3.jpg

    5. i-ZK5HV4R-X3.jpg
  • travischancetravischance Registered Users Posts: 640 Major grins
    edited October 13, 2015
    Love the catchlights Charles!
    Travis M. Chance
    twin Mark IV's & a bunch of "L" glass
    sitefacebook
  • ThelensspotThelensspot Registered Users Posts: 2,041 Major grins
    edited October 13, 2015
    Great work here, Charles.
    "Photography is partly art and partly science. Really good photography adds discipline, sacrifice and a never ending pursuit of photographic excellence"...ziggy53

  • kdogkdog Administrators Posts: 11,680 moderator
    edited October 13, 2015
    Wow, that lighting works really well, Charles. That's a great alternative for beauty shots. Any particular ratio between the left and right strip boxes and the lower boomed main light? Or were they all about even?
  • HackboneHackbone Registered Users Posts: 4,027 Major grins
    edited October 13, 2015
    All lights were equal at f8 and then re-metered for exposure. More or less three mains. I was surprised how well the smaller lights worked as opposed to the larger boxes I usually use.
  • FoquesFoques Registered Users Posts: 1,951 Major grins
    edited October 14, 2015
    Hurley doesn't use a kicker.
    Just 4 front light elements and an AB for the bg ;)
    Arseny - the too honest guy.
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  • HackboneHackbone Registered Users Posts: 4,027 Major grins
    edited October 14, 2015
    Foques wrote: »
    Hurley doesn't use a kicker.
    Just 4 front light elements and an AB for the bg ;)

    Agreed, I just like to rim my subjects a tad. The vid I saw he only used three lights front.
  • kdogkdog Administrators Posts: 11,680 moderator
    edited October 14, 2015
    Kickers be good. The human species has evolved by improving on those that came before us. deal.gif
  • HackboneHackbone Registered Users Posts: 4,027 Major grins
    edited October 16, 2015
    Many looks here but few postings. Lets see how you do what you do, good or bad. We can help each other especially when seeing the set ups. Don't be bashful, everyone has to start somewhere. You should see some of my early work, or maybe not!!! There is never only one way to do something so lets start posting more of what you do and the set up. Please don't be bashful if you want to learn.
  • FoquesFoques Registered Users Posts: 1,951 Major grins
    edited October 17, 2015
    p1561141854-3.jpg


    results:
    p1561120093-4.jpg
    p1487233717-4.jpg
    Arseny - the too honest guy.
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  • HackboneHackbone Registered Users Posts: 4,027 Major grins
    edited October 17, 2015
    Thanks for posting and great images. Is the bkg a softbox or just a front. At times I've used the big box as a main light with the subject leaning against it. Sounds crazy but it works.
  • FoquesFoques Registered Users Posts: 1,951 Major grins
    edited October 17, 2015
    it is a 30x60 active soft box. I like the way light wraps around subjects
    Arseny - the too honest guy.
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  • HackboneHackbone Registered Users Posts: 4,027 Major grins
    edited October 17, 2015
    Got a pet peeve I'm gonna hit you with. Light doesn't wrap or bend, I hear that all the time it can only travel in a straight line but we can reflect it or refract it. So the light wrap your seeing is light bouncing all over the place. Dean Collins used to paint his camera room flat black so he would not have any bounce and be able to see exactly what the light was doing. I"m not busting your chops just having some fun with ya. You can let me have it back any time.
  • FoquesFoques Registered Users Posts: 1,951 Major grins
    edited October 18, 2015
    Hackbone wrote: »
    Got a pet peeve I'm gonna hit you with. Light doesn't wrap or bend, I hear that all the time it can only travel in a straight line but we can reflect it or refract it. So the light wrap your seeing is light bouncing all over the place. Dean Collins used to paint his camera room flat black so he would not have any bounce and be able to see exactly what the light was doing. I"m not busting your chops just having some fun with ya. You can let me have it back any time.

    Light very much bends; It really depends on the size of ego, my friend ;)rolleyes1.gif
    Arseny - the too honest guy.
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  • ziggy53ziggy53 Super Moderators Posts: 23,762 moderator
    edited October 18, 2015
    Hackbone wrote: »
    Got a pet peeve I'm gonna hit you with. Light doesn't wrap or bend, I hear that all the time it can only travel in a straight line but we can reflect it or refract it. So the light wrap your seeing is light bouncing all over the place. Dean Collins used to paint his camera room flat black so he would not have any bounce and be able to see exactly what the light was doing. I"m not busting your chops just having some fun with ya. You can let me have it back any time.

    A large, double-diffused light source at close proximity to a smaller subject does indeed seem to "wrap" around the subject.

    The reason is that, compared to either a collimated or pointillistic expanding light source, every point of the front surface of the front diffusor acts as an independent emitter of light. The effect is a definite softening and "feathering" of the light vs either collimated or expanding light.

    Borrowing this illustration from Edmund Optics, which displays a somewhat similar principle in telecentric illumination backlighting (as used in a machine vision application),

    fig-2b-tl.gif

    ... you can see rays of light which reach around the object (as viewed from the front of the object), illuminating a rim of the subject similar to rim lighting in effect.

    An illuminated large white matte reflector behind the subject will do the same thing, for the same reason.
    ziggy53
    Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
  • HackboneHackbone Registered Users Posts: 4,027 Major grins
    edited October 18, 2015
    From your example #1. Too many big words for my brain to comprehend.
    #2. I see straight lines that some have been reflected.

    #. supposedly light can be bent around a massive gravitational filed (such as a star) but that so far is a theory. There was some discussion in the 20's about seeing star light bent behind the sun during an eclipse but there are those that disagree.
    Just scratching my head. Lol.
  • HackboneHackbone Registered Users Posts: 4,027 Major grins
    edited October 26, 2015
    A few more with the three main setup.

    1. i-fFFdQ5z-X2.jpg

    2. i-zSb224v-X3.jpg
  • travischancetravischance Registered Users Posts: 640 Major grins
    edited October 27, 2015
    As expected, the lighting is beautiful Charles!
    Travis M. Chance
    twin Mark IV's & a bunch of "L" glass
    sitefacebook
  • HackboneHackbone Registered Users Posts: 4,027 Major grins
    edited October 27, 2015
    As expected, the lighting is beautiful Charles!

    Thanks for the kind words Travis, hope all is well with you. Let me know if your in the area again. I've got a studio for sale that has been around for 37 years!!Laughing.gif
  • travischancetravischance Registered Users Posts: 640 Major grins
    edited November 4, 2015
    Hackbone wrote: »
    Thanks for the kind words Travis, hope all is well with you. Let me know if your in the area again. I've got a studio for sale that has been around for 37 years!!Laughing.gif

    Passed by the studio a few weeks back (early AM) & didn't see your truck outside. Will be up in the next 10 days & will call you :D
    Travis M. Chance
    twin Mark IV's & a bunch of "L" glass
    sitefacebook
  • HackboneHackbone Registered Users Posts: 4,027 Major grins
    edited November 4, 2015
    simple set up
    Here is the simple one or two speed light setup. I exposed for the bright sunlight coming in on the viewers left and the flashes on the viewers right to fill in the shadows. Flashes roughly 7ft away.

    i-gJstcDZ-X2.jpg


    Here is the finished product with some Topaz added and cropped.

    i-HrSp4M7-X2.jpg
  • travischancetravischance Registered Users Posts: 640 Major grins
    edited November 4, 2015
    Simple setup!
    Travis M. Chance
    twin Mark IV's & a bunch of "L" glass
    sitefacebook
  • AndeeAndee Registered Users Posts: 123 Major grins
    edited May 6, 2016
    6 months and no new posts?

    :lurk
  • HackboneHackbone Registered Users Posts: 4,027 Major grins
    edited May 8, 2016
    Sorry, Daughter got a new house and I got the low bid on re-construction. We are slowly closing the studio but will be working at home. Been doing this since 1975. Starting to slow up.
  • AndeeAndee Registered Users Posts: 123 Major grins
    edited May 8, 2016
    Congrats to her on the new house. Glad all is well. I guess at some point we all retire or slow down in one way or another. I have enjoyed what this post over the years.

    I thought maybe I had not checked in on it and so it was not sending me any more updates. But see now it was from no new posts. I am too disabled to hold the camera anymore for much of anything but I still enjoyed seeing these when you all show them.

    Everyone that is still up and at 'em would love to see some more but if not I totally understand.

    Have a great day and a wonderful week ahead!
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