C&C practice shots from home studio

mfdrookie516 · Apr 21, 2012

So, thanks to the great advice I received the other day, I've now got my strobes set up and have been trying them out over the past few days. I'm really wanting to get some feedback as to what I might need to work on, in terms of technique. My practice subject is a very squirmy 2 year old, which I'm sure you all know how difficult they can be. He just kind of does his own thing, but I've caught some cute poses of him in the process.

My setup is a T3i with a Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8. I'm currently triggering the strobes with a metz 45 that was handed down from my father (shooting behind me to try and bounce the light anywhere but the subject... wireless triggers are somewhere in a USPS truck), two 200w/s Calumet Genesis strobes with umbrellas. I'm shooting ISO 100, f/6.3, 1/160 with the strobes at just under and just over 1/2 power. For this image, I darkened the blacks to hide some wrinkles in the backdrop that I hadn't seen until now. I left the exposure the same, but did use a brush to lighten the skin just a hair (CS5 extended). I'd appreciate any suggestions on improving this image.

My thoughts are that the exposure looks good, and the cropping could have been a little more off center. My biggest complaint about the image is that his hair is really dark on top. Any tips on adjusting the lights to fix that? I've got an 8' ceiling, and currently the umbrellas are about 1" from the ceiling pointed down so that if I were to run a straight line from the umbrella, it would meet the other right at the bottom of the background (horrible at guessing angles).

Thanks in advance!

pixilstudio · Apr 21, 2012

if you move one of the lights more to the side or even behind will create that separation from the back ground. imo your crop is way off either center it and cut out the head room or way off set it to the direction he is facing

rexbobcat · Apr 21, 2012

It looks underexposed on this monitor.

In my experience, it's pretty hard to separate the head from a black background with two lights. while still having even frontal lighting. I think it would require three lights, one behind him.

STM · Apr 21, 2012

Why did you chop his legs off?

There is not a lot of separation from the background, this is especially noticeable on the top of his head. Working with black backgrounds can be challenging. Some kind of light to separate them from the background is needed to keep the image from looking flat.

mfdrookie516 · Apr 21, 2012

Thank you all for the feedback. Cropping is definitely something I struggle with, but am certainly reading a lot about. I now see what you all are talking about in separating from the background. I moved the lights around a bit and I think I've got some improvement on the top of his head. Does this one look like I got him separated better? If not, perhaps I'm misunderstanding and need to go back and re-evaluate my interpretation of it.

Granddad · Apr 22, 2012

I'm a noob at studio work, too, but that looks like better separation to me. I'll leave the rest to the experts and note what is said for myself.

mfdrookie516 · Apr 23, 2012

Thanks Granddad. I'd be interested to get some other opinions as well. Hopefully you can take something away from this as well

DiskoJoe · Apr 23, 2012

Both shots seem underexposed and the colors are off on both. He is blue in the first and green in the second.

mfdrookie516 · Apr 25, 2012

Hmmm... I can't see that either are underexposed. I do see the blue, and I changed my white balance to 'flash' in LR4 on the second to correct that. I don't, however, see the green cast on the second picture. I've looked on 2 computers and can't see it. I wonder if my screen is brighter than yours. I get bad headaches with a dimly lit screen, so mine is always about 75% or so. I'm on a brand new computer and the first thing I did is calibrate the monitor. I guess I need to have someone else do it since I'm red/green colorblind and obviously didn't do it right.

Derrel · Apr 25, 2012

Add some magenta to the second one, and you will soon see the green bias that is hiding in his hair and skin tones...

cgipson1 · Apr 25, 2012

both shots appear to be very soft also.... odd since you are using flash. Are you trying to manually focus? How close are you to the subject when shooting? Is there a lot of ambient light also?

You may find this handy... Online Depth of Field Calculator

mfdrookie516 · Apr 25, 2012

I don't want to beat a dead horse here... but I still can't see it. I'm thinking this is going to cause some issues. My wife, however, did see it and with a little work in LR, I reduced it (to her at least). Does this look better? If so, at least I'll know what to do going forward.

mfdrookie516 · Apr 25, 2012

cgipson1 said:
both shots appear to be very soft also.... odd since you are using flash. Are you trying to manually focus? How close are you to the subject when shooting? Is there a lot of ambient light also?

You may find this handy... Online Depth of Field Calculator

I'm about 10' away I'd guess... I was at just about 50mm on these. I used autofocus, however, I did read something on here last night that has me reconsidering my composition. I have been focusing with the center focus point, then recomposing... Last night I read not to do that as it can alter the overall focus, so that'll be my next endeavor. There's very little ambient light. It's actually quite dark without the modeling lights on. No light sources except the windows on my basement doors, but it's so shaded because of the deck above it, it lets very little light in. I may look in to some curtains for them.

Thanks for the link... that is very handy

cgipson1 · Apr 25, 2012

mfdrookie516 said:
I don't want to beat a dead horse here... but I still can't see it. I'm thinking this is going to cause some issues. My wife, however, did see it and with a little work in LR, I reduced it (to her at least). Does this look better? If so, at least I'll know what to do going forward.

You can't take a soft photo.. and make it sharp in POST!

DO NOT focus and recompose.. unless you have years of experience knowing how it works for you........ That explains the softness, even with flash!

Try more ambient light to allow the camera to focus with.... if using AF. If focusing manually.. you will need more light anyway

mfdrookie516 · Apr 25, 2012

Sorry Charlie, I meant fixing the green (I didn't see your post until after I posted). Looking at the calculator, I should have a total depth of focus of 2.72 feet at 6.4 (I was at 6.3 but it wasn't on there) at 10 feet and 50mm. I would guarantee that recomposing has caused it.

I have a lot of good info here to take with me when I go back down to practice some more. I appreciate everyones input a lot.