Halloween portrait

[adamhiram]

Halloween portrait of my favorite subject.

This Halloween was certainly unique, with trick-or-treating replaced with a scavenger hunt for candy at home. He still got to wear his costume though, which of course came with a photo shoot.

Nikon D500 with 50mm f/1.8 lens
50mm, f/8, 1/250s, ISO 100

4-light setup in front of a black seamless backdrop

• Rim lighting from behind and off to both sides using a pair of vertical 12x56" gridded strip boxes
• Key light in front and slightly camera left from gridded 38" octobox
• Subtle grid spot on the background with a red gel

20201031-DSC_1585a by adamhiram, on Flickr

 

[smoke665]

@adamhiram Man you have grown by leaps and bounds in your lighting skills. Very sound job on this. Having a subject with a killer smile doesn't hurt either.LOL

Only suggestion I might make for next time is to add a white reflector under your key, close to the floor angled up, to bring a little more soft light under the chin. The other thing I've started doing with good success on the eyes, is have them close their eyes and smile while I count to three then open their eyes when say open. My grandkids all get my lazy eye from me, doing it this way I found will get both eyes open equally for the second you need to snap the shutter, and tends to be a more relaxed smile.

 

[adamhiram]

@adamhiram Man you have grown by leaps and bounds in your lighting skills. Very sound job on this. Having a subject with a killer smile doesn't hurt either.LOL

Only suggestion I might make for next time is to add a white reflector under your key, close to the floor angled up, to bring a little more soft light under the chin. The other thing I've started doing with good success on the eyes, is have them close their eyes and smile while I count to three then open their eyes when say open. My grandkids all get my lazy eye from me, doing it this way I found will get both eyes open equally for the second you need to snap the shutter, and tends to be a more relaxed smile.

Thank you very much! I agree with the white reflector on the floor for fill from beneath, I'll have to keep that in mind for future shoots. As usual I only got about 3-5 minutes of cooperation before half the costume was off, so I got what I got. There's not much I can do about the right eye, but I'm happy I got a catchlight in it at least. Side note, binder clips on the back of the costume were very helpful in creating a more tailored look, which worked great as long as he didn't turn sideways and reveal the shiny metal binder clips (which was about 50% of the shots).

 

[Designer]

I like this shot a lot, and I congratulate you!

For the boy wearing his costume, the lighting being quite even seems to work very well.

Someday, you might want to light more for "modeling". What I mean by that is don't try to make your lighting so even across your model. Something to think about.

 

[smoke665]

binder clips on the back of the costume were very helpful in creating a more tailored look

Gotta remember this, could have used it on the Senior portrait shoot.

 

[CherylL]

The lighting looks great. I like the angle of this shot. Were you even with his eyes or slightly lower?

 

[adamhiram]

The lighting looks great. I like the angle of this shot. Were you even with his eyes or slightly lower?

Thanks! I typically like to get down on their level when taking photos of kids. In this case, I wanted more of a larger-than-life hero shot, so I shot from below eye level looking slightly up. Good observation!

 

[enezdez]

Very Nice!

 

[Space Face]

He looks very happy which is great to see in the current climate. Great lighting and exposure.

 

[Braineack]

@adamhiram You've come such a long way!!!

 

[adamhiram]

@adamhiram You've come such a long way!!!

Thanks, Scott! I've been moving my butterfly/beauty lighting slightly off-axis most of the time since you made that suggestion about 2 1/2 years ago and it's made a big difference.

 

[Jeff15]

Good shot