First time with the Hasselblad C+C

[Ballistics]

I am trying to do a combination of my school project and my wife's makeup portfolio.
Here's my first attempt at it, and I personally feel it's unsuccessful.
Using a HB 503cw with digital back and 3 lights.


036 by The Photo Major, on Flickr


063 by The Photo Major, on Flickr


I used a beauty dish for the main light, and a bounce umbrella for the fill.

I was very pressed for time to try other options, but I don't think that time would have made a difference.

 

[amolitor]

What's not to like here?

I think you've done a good job of showing the makeup, the second one better than the first, but paired they work well. The first is "this is what you will look like" and the second is "this is what the makeup looks like" which is fine. The lighting might be overly dramatic but in the first place it doesn't conceal the makeup (yay) and in the second place it plays well with the dramatic makeup.

My quibbles are:

the way her shoulder looks in the first one makes this shot feel like one of those horrible "hold the camera out at arm's length" "selfies", which is really an unfortunate association, since the damn picture is actually quite good!

her hair could have been styled better. Maybe even pulled back to emphasize the makeup, and get that slight (very slight) feeling of untidiness out of the frame.

neutral background is probably a good choice, but I wouldn't mind seeing these with a background selected to complement the eye makeup colors,

 

[PhotoWrangler]

I'm so jealous right now....

 

[Ballistics]

What's not to like here?

I think you've done a good job of showing the makeup, the second one better than the first, but paired they work well. The first is "this is what you will look like" and the second is "this is what the makeup looks like" which is fine. The lighting might be overly dramatic but in the first place it doesn't conceal the makeup (yay) and in the second place it plays well with the dramatic makeup.

My quibbles are:

the way her shoulder looks in the first one makes this shot feel like one of those horrible "hold the camera out at arm's length" "selfies", which is really an unfortunate association, since the damn picture is actually quite good!

her hair could have been styled better. Maybe even pulled back to emphasize the makeup, and get that slight (very slight) feeling of untidiness out of the frame.

neutral background is probably a good choice, but I wouldn't mind seeing these with a background selected to complement the eye makeup colors,

I scheduled the studio for 2 days. This was from day 1. Day 2 I feel went even worse. I think the issue is, I'm trying to go for a certain look, and I just can't get there.
I'm so clueless on posing too. Our first assignment is carte blanche, so there was no lesson prior to this shoot. Just a wing it assignment.

 

[Ballistics]

I'm so jealous right now....

You already have a hasselblad lol.

 

[amolitor]

Can you talk about what it is you think you're not getting? Probably you have no pat words to draw a picture, but perhaps by talking around it and wrestling with the words you can give us, and more importantly yourself, some clarity about the goal?

 

[PhotoWrangler]

You already have a hasselblad lol.

NOT ONE WITH A DIGI-BACK!!!

 

[Ballistics]

Can you talk about what it is you think you're not getting? Probably you have no pat words to draw a picture, but perhaps by talking around it and wrestling with the words you can give us, and more importantly yourself, some clarity about the goal?

After reading this, and giving some thought, I think I want a softer butterfly lighting, and maybe a shorter FL. I can't really describe it any other way. Like you said, the lighting is too dramatic.

 

[Ballistics]

You already have a hasselblad lol.

NOT ONE WITH A DIGI-BACK!!!

After recently finding out what we get with this course, I can't see why people wouldn't purposely fail and just take it over and over again.

You get unlimited studio use (If scheduling allows, you can shoot 7 days a week if you want) Unlimited printing (You have to supply the paper), and complete access to the hasselblad system. All of which can be used for your own personal use. I asked specifically if I can use the studio to shoot my wife's makeup portfolio and my professor said "Of course! I want the studio used as much as possible! You can use the studio for anything you want, even personal gigs" This was a pleasant surprise, due to the fact that the studio was limited to classwork only last semester for the reason that someone brought people in for a paid gig. I guess over the summer they decided to support the students careers while in school.

This course costs about $480+$50 lab fee.

 

[Forkie]

I love the poses and the lighting, but her skin looks like it's been moulded out of clay with clumsy thumbs - the second shot more so than the first. Need to work on your skin smoothing I think.

 

[Ballistics]

I agree Forkie.

 

[Ballistics]

xxxx

 

[Derrel]

Looking at the lighting, I think maybe the source ought to be larger...it appears like it was lighted with rather old-school parabolic reflectors, which are relatively "hard" lights, that put out "real" shadows. I think that is giving the moulded from clay look forkie mentioned. Not sure exactly what you have at your disposal, light modifier-wise, but the modifiers used on these give a classic, "old-school" type of lighting that shapes the face to a very high,high degree--which CAN be wonderful, if that's what you WANT to end up with.

Do you have a large scrim you can fire a flash head through? Or a big softbox you can set up and angle down and get a nice butterfly lighting set-up with? Ov even some large umbrellas? Not sure what you HAVE available, so it's hard to comment on options, except to say, maybe move to a much bigger light modifier that has a less "dramatic" shadow character at this range, on this type of subject.

 

[Ballistics]

That's the thing. The light modifiers are very small . I happen to personally own 45" shoot through umbrellas.

There are very small soft boxes, no bigger than 28" on the long side and a beauty dish which is probably 36", and a few very tiny umbrellas.
There are scrims and flags too.

 

[Derrel]

Hmmm....I learned to light mostly by reading articles/books that showed a photos, and had a detailed verbal description of the lighting modifiers and the flash head/reflector used. THe easiest way to get good feedback is to describe the modifers and distances, so people can gauge how XX modifier looks with XXX Watt-seconds at xx inches, aimed in _________ manner (feathered,direct, from high, on a boom arm,etc).

The makeup in these looks quite heavy, as if the models have a very heavy,thick liquid foundation applied...I'm not familiar with how that back renders color,and I don't want to appear to be bashing your wife's MU skills, but the makeup looks a bit too heavy for high-resolution photography under intense studio lighting.Like in the third photo, the woman appears overall, too "tanned"...too "brown", with not enough warmer hues anywhere in her face, so the look to me is a bit unflattering. I'd like to see a hint of blush on her cheekbones, but she has a brownish look there, where I'd expect to see a warmer, more-ruddy coloration. I'm not 100% sure, but I have SEEN THIS color rendering out of "some" digital systems...and I'm not enamored of this way of rendering human skin. The Sony A900 had a similar all-brown rendering under studio flash. I saw it shot vs the Mamiya 33 back and a 22MP back on a Hassy, and a Canon 1Ds Mark IV, and the Canon had the best "color".