Halloween portrait

adamhiram

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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
 
@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 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).
 
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.
 
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.
 
The lighting looks great. I like the angle of this shot. Were you even with his eyes or slightly lower?
 
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!
 
Very Nice!
 
He looks very happy which is great to see in the current climate. Great lighting and exposure.
 
@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.
 

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