Newbie wanting to get started :)

[Jessarah13]

Hello all.
Not sure if I am posting in the right area?
Short intro - I am an artist and designer - In my previous degrees I touched on photography but it was very basic and in my later course I focused more on photo editing rather then shooting the photos.
I am an artist of all trades; painter, airbrusher, silk painter, sculptor, you name it I have done it… I also then moved into the digital world completing a degree in graphic design so pretty up there with photoshop
All this time I never pursued photography all the way, sure I dappled in it but not seriously…. until now!
I have owned a Canon EOS 50D for 3 years (plan on upgrading) which has given me great raw photos to which I have managed to edit to a fairly professional level….. I have experimented a lot with natural light but really want to play with studio and studio lights for my next path as an artist using photography.
I am planning to do a course in photography but I was completely impatient and have acquired a 2 head soft box kit
So far I have got it working with the camera and have disabled the camera's flash and sync the camera with the soft box, which I hope I have done it right??… but now I am trying to fine tune the rest of the settings which yes I am not very knowledgeable in - oh dear!!!
So currently the photos are coming up very bright - overexposed - no idea where I got the idea from, probably very wrong, but I adjusted the ISO and the pictures became loads better set at around 400… I am guessing I need to adjust aperture to reduce the natural light? and shutter speed is that right and what else should i do??

What I would love to achieve is low key portraits, portraits against white or lighter backdrops etc - I am wanting to paint and create artworks on the human body so thats what I am looking at bringing in the photography to capture these artworks.
Thank you in advance

 

[KmH]

Are you using constant lights or strobe lights (flash)?
Do you have a light meter?

With flash shutter speed controls the ambient (constant) light exposure. Lens apertur controls the flash exposure

All else staying the same changing the lens aperture will also affect the depth-of-field.
Camera Exposure Aperture ISO Shutter Speed

 

[Designer]

Welcome!

IMO low key doesn't need a white or light backdrop. Also, I think your camera would do quite nicely with flash and the ISO set to 100.

If you don't have a flash meter, you can simply experiment with the aperture and flash output until the exposure is correct.

 

[soufiej]

My second dumb question of the day; have you looked at any of the books/lesson plans focused on portraiture? Ahead of taking the course, a well written lesson plan should explain the concepts rather well.

Or, are you looking for a single, specific answer to solve the problem?

 

[Jessarah13]

Hi everyone. Thank you so much for your response and making me feel welcome...really appreciate it and most of all appreciate your patience with such a "naive" newbie!!!
Sorry I did forget to mention the lights I am using :-/ They are strobe - I just went out and bought a 2 head Visico soft box kit (VL series?) I don't have a flash meter - Thought that perhaps I could just experiment a bit to find the "sweet spot"
I did find along my travels that you don't necessarily have to have a black backdrop to do the low key - I think from memory you can kill the amount of natural ambient light is that right…. just trying to work out how to do this on my camera… but having said this I am fortunate enough to have a black back drop.

Not a dumb question at all….. I suppose I see myself going for the long term so yes I guess I am just trying to problem solve this current situation but I won't be stopping from there…. would like to explore all paths of photography - I would love to learn all I can and I guess having been trained in photoshop already and being a little computer savy I have ventured around and found some great articles, books and what would probably be tutorials/lessons and have experiments and educated myself in some basics with my own camera but I am still trying to get my head around it all…...

 

[Jessarah13]

I have yet to find a good reputable course…. I have noticed a lot of photography courses are done online now - barely any colleges, TAFE or university offer them??

 

[407370]

why do you think you need to do a course to learn photography?
Join a club or get involved on TPF. The interweb is full of stuff about photography.
Do you have a specific end result in mind like portrait / landscape / macro / still life / sports / pets / HDR / fashion / street, to name a few variants.
Put a few pics up for comments in the appropriate gallery and some very experienced people will give advice for free. Some of it will sting a bit but you will progress.
Just ignore the advice you dont agree with.

 

[Jessarah13]

I don't know really know if I need to do a course actually? I guess having been trained previously in all different art mediums such as airbrushing, oil painting etc etc - it was only natural of me to think that perhaps enrolling in a course??? But you are probably right… having my artistic background and graphic design with working with photoshop I certainly have an advantage.
As you say I probably could just navigate myself around learning the skills for photography - after all in just a few weeks I have already taught myself a few things…..
Thank you so much.

As for specific end results… I have a big studio set up downstairs for my art which I have just installed a black backdrop - so I would love to do a bit of studio work = Portraits, which would include my artworks that I paint and create on the human form - if that makes sense?? I would also like to bring this into the outdoors too. I am also passionate with landscape - love weather photography too - would LOVE to go storm chasing lol