First Studio Maternity (cc welcome)

[HallieD]

I m pretty new to studio work, and while I do quiet a bit with pregnant women, this was the first time coming into the studio for a session. I learned a lot (a lot of what works and even more of what doesn't, etc lol) Im wondering if my rear light should have been brought down in strength... or if it works, I really loved having more control over the light when working with the pregnant body, but want to grow in it. Thanks for the CC (be gentle, its my first time posting an image here)

 

[Robin Usagani]

B&W!

 

[CowgirlMama]

I think the light is fine, but it bugs me the way her back arm kind of cuts off. Maybe find a way to have her other hand showing?

 

[howtophotograph]

hallie
maybe you can experiment with one light only
see my pregnancy shoot
pregnancy and maternity photos | Tudor Photography - Sydney wedding and portraits studio, photography tutorials, tips and learning to take better photos

Regards
christian

 

[tirediron]

hallie
maybe you can experiment with one light only...

Christian, perhaps in the interest of educating both the OP and others, in addition to displaying your work, you could provide an explanation of the lighting set-up you used?

 

[Tee]

Christian, perhaps in the interest of educating both the OP and others, in addition to displaying your work, you could provide an explanation of the lighting set-up you used?

But then he wouldn't be able to pimp his site. On topic- I agree with the Schwettster and try it B&W.

 

[howtophotograph]

No worries
i have a studio with 4 lights! They are all 400 watts
main one softbox 80x120 cm, one fill smaller soft box, and 2 background lights, either direct on the backdrop or with umbrellas
i usually play with all combinations during one session, i turn them on and off they way i believe it works better on the moment

In this case, the first image BW the light came from behind on the left, one light only
the ones with white backgrounds, had the 2 bacground lights one, and no main lights from the front

I hope this is helpfull
Christian

 

[howtophotograph]

Christian, perhaps in the interest of educating both the OP and others, in addition to displaying your work, you could provide an explanation of the lighting set-up you used?

But then he wouldn't be able to pimp his site. On topic- I agree with the Schwettster and try it B&W.

What do you mean by that?

 

[cgipson1]

No worries
i have a studio with 4 lights! They are all 400 watts
main one softbox 80x120 cm, one fill smaller soft box, and 2 background lights, either direct on the backdrop or with umbrellas
i usually play with all combinations during one session, i turn them on and off they way i believe it works better on the moment

In this case, the first image BW the light came from behind on the left, one light only
the ones with white backgrounds, had the 2 bacground lights one, and no main lights from the front

I hope this is helpfull
Christian

Do you mean constant lights? monolights? what?

Try this... http://www.lightingdiagrams.com/Creator

 

[IByte]

No worries
i have a studio with 4 lights! They are all 400 watts
main one softbox 80x120 cm, one fill smaller soft box, and 2 background lights, either direct on the backdrop or with umbrellas
i usually play with all combinations during one session, i turn them on and off they way i believe it works better on the moment

In this case, the first image BW the light came from behind on the left, one light only
the ones with white backgrounds, had the 2 bacground lights one, and no main lights from the front

I hope this is helpfull
Christian

Do you mean constant lights? monolights? what?

Try this... http://www.lightingdiagrams.com/Creator

Bookmarked lol. Sucks Visio doesn't have any plugins for this.

 

[howtophotograph]

They are strobes.
i have not worked with continous lights. Strobes are much more powerfull, allowing for a sharper image for faster shutter speeds and small aperture values.

 

[KmH]

Strobe lights are rated in watt seconds (ws), not watts (w). The 2 units are very different. 400 watt seconds is a lot more light power than 400 watts is.

 

[Studio7Four]

By rear light, do you mean the light on the backdrop or the light coming from camera right which seems to be pointing back toward the camera?

- If you mean the light to camera right, yes, I feel its power should be dropped. At first glance the brightest part of the image is her left (far) upper arm, which with this pose is probably the last thing you meant to draw attention to. On the other hand, if I guess right that the real intent of that light is to provide rim lighting for the belly, I like the amount of light you have hitting there. So perhaps rather than playing with power levels you can play with light positions so that you are getting the belly rim light without getting much spill onto that arm.

- If you mean the backdrop light, I personally would drop the power a bit but that is purely my taste, I think it works like this as well. My personal preference would be to drop the power level of the main as well, this just seems like the lighting is a bit powerful rather than soft as befits (again, IMO) maternity shots.