First Ever Attempt at Studio Photography

[pixmedic]

--Given the cramped space, how would YOU set this up?
I prefer a modified "clamshell" lighting setup. it gives me the nice, even lighting that I like and eliminates most shadows.

--What can I do to help with the reflection on my glasses, without causing unwanted shadows elsewhere?
take the glasses off.


--Overall, how is the lighting? Too hot? Not enough? I especially think that my hair light was absolutely useless. Not sure if I had it too low, or maybe accidentally pointed too much at the background (because I did have to darken the background in post), but it seems completely unnoticeable to me.
lighting wise I like these. on the first i might take the highlights down just a hair more, but thats really just nitpicking.
how did you darken the background? for me, I usually have the subject a few feet in front of the background for good separation and it usually means all I have to do is bring the "black" slider down a little in LR to completely finish off the black background. I almost never use the brush on the background unless im getting rid of spots or clone/healing something out.

View attachment 99288

Thanks, Pix! You're another one that I'd be happy emulating style-wise with portrait work, so I'm very interested in your thoughts.

I did actually DO some without glasses, and certainly it DOES eliminate the glare problem--but I've worn glasses for something like 40 years (got them in second grade, but spent a few years in high school wearing contacts)--I just look ODD to myself without them!! (Granted, I think I look odd anyway...lol)

Pretend I'm ignorant on the topic, and explain what clamshell lighting is. I could google it--but I'd rather hear it from you.

On the background: Yeah, I just adjusted the levels a little, just until the wrinkles started to fade enough. Your results look better though--how do you deal with the problem of the black that shows through my hair? I wasn't quite sure how to handle that (so I just didn't mess with for now).

clamshell lighting is basically where you set up two lights on either side of the subject. like a clamshell, where the subject is the pearl. the exact positioning isn't really set in stone, it just depends on how you want the light to fall. i dont put mine quite "on the sides" but more around a 45 degree angle for each. or so.
the background is easier to manage if you have a few feet of separation. then its just making adjustments to "black" "white", and "shadow" to get the background where you want it.
you can make a lot of lighting changes without actually moving the "exposure" slider much. highlight, white, and shadow are all good for minor adjustments after you move "exposure" more or less where you want it. the rest is good for fine tuning, depending on where you feel the picture needs the most work. If you have to bring the highlights down a lot, you can make the fixing adjustments with the white and shadow sliders. its really a lot of trial and error. I get the background where I want it first, and then see what adjustments need to be made the the subject. it sounds kinda backwards, but setting my background adjustment first gives me one thing to start from, and then i can work my way forwards.

Ah, makes sense, thank you! I'll try this as well. Seems like that setup (as well as John's) would also buy me a little more space to give more separation between subject and backdrop.

On the background adjustment: That is very helpful! What *I* did was adjust levels AFTER moving the photo from Camera Raw to PS. Sounds like you do it all in ACR, which makes sense.

95% of our photos go right from camera (raw) into Lightroom and then exported at 100% into a jpeg.
everything is done in LR.
every so often we need Photoshop for something, but not often.

 

[sm4him]

95% of our photos go right from camera (raw) into Lightroom and then exported at 100% into a jpeg.
everything is done in LR.
every so often we need Photoshop for something, but not often.

Oh goodness. Don't get me started on that, Jason. I am SCARED of my LR.
I bought it over a year ago. Kept putting off installing it until about six weeks ago. I've opened it exactly once. It scares me--the whole library/organization part of it is what scares me, and yet that what I really need it for.
You do NOT want to know how I currently organize my photos.

 

[pixmedic]

we use 43" softbox umbrellas, get them as close as possible, and dial down the flash as needed.

 

[Derrel]

Regarding the hairlight, and the background light...doing your set-up tests with those two lights first allows their positioning/effect to be evaluated pretty easily. Since this shot is a black background shot, there is no background light, so that's moot. But the bare flash hairlight...if a frame had been made with JUST that single light firing, it would have been easy to visually gauge what its light was hitting...too low? too high? etc,etc...

If the hair light is slave triggered or triggered by a signal from other lights, the other lights do not have to be turned off per se, but just spun around or set really low to the ground, but just not allowed to hit where the subject is placed at. In a small shooting area, there still might be a bit of spill, but it should not affect your ability to gauge how the hairlight's setup is working.

And please, do not be afraid of Lightroom...it's surprisingly easy to actually use to edit photos with!