Brand new to studio photography and lighting: thanks for your advices and CC

[BANANAJACK]

Dear TPF members,

First of all forgive my english, my mother language is french

Even although I am a regular reader of TPF, this is my very first post.

I have decided to make the jump and begun with studio lighting.

When I was younger I was a fan of Dean Collins work and I would like to practise with his technique.

So I have build PVC frame with satin panel and make some training on a mannequin head

Do you think that I could achievean acceptable result with this setup ?:

ALIENBEE B1600 behind satin diffusion panel 78 X 78 inches, 30° camera left.
The subject is about 10 feet from the panel, and 10 feet from the grey background.

There is neither reflector nor fill light.

NIKON D60 1/200 - Sigma 70-200 @ F/8 ( I have under exposed volontary to avoid to much highlihts)

I would be happy to have your help with your CC

I plan to make with "living people" if it is good.

Many thanks in advance

BANANAJACK

 

[Big Mike]

For us to tell you if your shot was successful, you really need to tell us what your goal was.

The first thing that I notice, is that while you said that you didn't use any fill...the shadows clearly aren't pitch black....so you must be getting fill light from somewhere. Are there windows? Are there walls close by for the light to bounce off of?

As far as shooting people goes, 'portrait lighting' is a whole topic unto itself...and there is seldom a right or wrong...just what you think looks good.

As far as shooting this specific mannequin, the 'skin' has lots of direct reflection (which you can see in the highlight...the refection of the light source). You won't be able to get rid of that because a head is round, but you can choose to make it bigger or smaller. With the case of darker skin tones, it's usually preferred to 'fill more of the family of angles'...making the highlights bigger. So in your case, move the panel and light closer to the subject. This also makes the light softer, which is usually something good for many types of portraits. Usually, we try to have the light source as close to the model as possible, without showing up in the shot.

 

[tirediron]

Bearing in mind Mike's comments and advice, I think you've done well here. i'd not be quite so concerned about the reflection on the skin, since human skin has much different reflectivity properties than does plastic.