First beginner photo tests, self portrait, C&C

[giorgio]

Hi to all

Well, after several months of purshasing my Nikon D80 and SB600 Flash, and reading and reading, I finally did some test shots...

- It was at night, in my office, used the remote SB600 Flash(umbrellas or diffusor in some photos)

- I was interested only in the body lighting/projection, please don't pay attention to the background.

- So, was it possible to have better results with the equipment I used?(mentioned above)

- Regardless of which photo looks better, the thing, is how close or way off am I?

I was tweaking everything, I mean, I had in my mind what I thought would look good, but.., also a lot of questions like.. if I wanted more flash/light should I increase ISO?, increase aperture?, compensate Flash on camera's menu, or directly on the Flash?, move the Flash closer?, point the Flash's head directly?, zoom the flash in? etc. etc.

What I want to achieve, is to be able to take photos of business people, on their office and such.

thank yoy very much

Giorgio

 

[Sherman Banks]

I'm guessing 1. umbrella 2. diffusor 3. direct flash? The first of the set looks best for what you want to do. If you want more light/exposure, either bump your exposure compensation or push the power of the flash. These really don't look under lit, but you could use a reflector on the other side of your face to take the contrast down. Since you don't have another flash, you can also use the on camera flash to help illuminate your subject. These are all things you just need to experiment with but I'd leave the ISO adjustment as a last resort if you cant correct it with the flashes.

 

[giorgio]

I'm guessing 1. umbrella 2. diffusor 3. direct flash? The first of the set looks best for what you want to do. If you want more light/exposure, either bump your exposure compensation or push the power of the flash. These really don't look under lit, but you could use a reflector on the other side of your face to take the contrast down. Since you don't have another flash, you can also use the on camera flash to help illuminate your subject. These are all things you just need to experiment with but I'd leave the ISO adjustment as a last resort if you cant correct it with the flashes.

Yes, the ISO has been the last thing I wanted to change, I will practice more. In diferent scenarios and natural ambient lights.

Btw, I have 2 additional flashs(2 Vivitars 285HV), 2 umbrellas, 2 light stands and radio receivers, the thing is I'm trying to figure out when to use manual Flash or TTL. The Vivitars seem to have Auto-mode, but, not sure they'll be useful when I'm moving around. I'm starting simple and with a fixed subject.

I did some crops..., I think they give more character to the first photo.

 

[Photoadder]

Nice. Hard work and will be fine

 

[Sherman Banks]

What a coincidence, I have almost the exact same setup minus the camera. I haven't received my 285's yet, but I thought they were full manual? Anyways, the crops look better (just getting rid of that background looks better), but you should definitely experiment with the additional lighting you have as I'm sure you can get some great results.

 

[GeneralBenson]

To be honest, the first thing I noticed was the stuff on your shelf, then the red chair, then my eye finally found you. This is pretty common thing to forget when starting portraits. Probably you just wanted to wok on your lighting and didn't care about the background, which is fine. But for really portraits, you really want to watch out for distracting elements in the background.

 

[Dao]

To be honest, the first thing I noticed was the stuff on your shelf, then the red chair, then my eye finally found you. This is pretty common thing to forget when starting portraits. Probably you just wanted to wok on your lighting and didn't care about the background, which is fine. But for really portraits, you really want to watch out for distracting elements in the background.

I believe the OP was just testing the lighting setup as state in his original post.

As a beginner on lightning stuff. I like the first one from the 3. If you can bounce some light back from the left side of the photo, the 2nd one is not bad either.

 

[Blank]

My experience with indoor portraits and lighting is very limited. My advice is to get a hold of a recommended book on the subject. There are quite a few very good portrait photographer's on here that could let you know.

Secondly, light reflects and refracts differently of varying surfaces, so your background may have more of a result impact than you think. Use a constant backdrop (drop sheet) as a control for your testing.

Thirdly, be aware of generating hot spots on your portraits.

Finally, there is a free .psd available from www.kevinkertz.com that allows you to show your lighting set-up. You should use this in conjunction with a sample image to see set-up varieties and the effects you end up with. It is also a great tool for reference.

Good Luck