Hey Charlie, over here. Oh and others with c&c if you like.

[ronlane]

Charlie, here is my weekend testing results. Too cold to go outside today, so I took a few inside. I have mixed lighting causing the background to be yellow, but I used flash through the umbrella camera left and a white card to reflect on camera right for these two. I believe I have the wb correct and the lighting was soft. I could have used a better fill on the camera right. I cropped a little too tight.

What else am I missing.

 

[rexbobcat]

In order you balance the WB you would probably need a full CTO gel if you want the background to be the truest color possible. However, I kind of like the yellow - it may be a bit too yellow, but I still think that generally it works somewhat with these portraits because his hair is blonde. If his had had been black, then it might have looked a bit weird.

The expression in the first photo is gold (pun intended)

 

[ronlane]

Thanks Rex. I see what you mean about the gels, (I need to get some.)

Yeah, his expression makes that whole photo. That's why I had to add it on here.

 

[Lmphotos]

I think there is way to much light on top his head I wish there was some more on his face

 

[pixmedic]

the mixed lighting is really tough.
i did a quick LR edit, just a few seconds worth.
exposure wise it wasn't bad. fixing the WB made it a little cooler than I like, so i warmed it up a hair, and bumped the exposure up just a hair too.

View attachment 38596

 

[ronlane]

Thanks Jason. I see what you mean about the cool part. I knew that the mixed light was tough on this, I was doing an exercise on fill lighting. Making sure that the face was lite properly without blowing out or being too harsh. His hair makes it tough for me because it is so fine and light.

The skin tone on your edit is something for me to get use to. It seems "blueish" where most of mine have a little more red in them. (I may be biased to that look from seeing it so much.)

 

[pixmedic]

Thanks Jason. I see what you mean about the cool part. I knew that the mixed light was tough on this, I was doing an exercise on fill lighting. Making sure that the face was lite properly without blowing out or being too harsh. His hair makes it tough for me because it is so fine and light.

The skin tone on your edit is something for me to get use to. It seems "blueish" where most of mine have a little more red in them. (I may be biased to that look from seeing it so much.)

sometimes its just a matter of taste. some people like a "warmer" look, some like a "cooler" look. warmed up much more and it started getting red again.

 

[cgipson1]

Hey Ron..

Looks better lighting / shadow wise. Need to watch the mixed lighting as mentioned. Still have some glare on the subject right forehead that needs to be toned down. How far away from the subject was the umbrella setup? With the umbrellas you have, I would put them as close as possible.. just outside the frame of the camera...

 

[ronlane]

Hey Ron..

Looks better lighting / shadow wise. Need to watch the mixed lighting as mentioned. Still have some glare on the subject right forehead that needs to be toned down. How far away from the subject was the umbrella setup? With the umbrellas you have, I would put them as close as possible.. just outside the frame of the camera...

Charlie, Thanks, I was about 18-24" on these shots. I was almost touching the umbrellas with the camera when taking this at 85mm. I see the forehead where you are talking about. This boy is killing me, surely he's not that hard to shoot correctly.

 

[kundalini]

........ I could have used a better fill on the camera right. ......

What do you mean by this statement?

 

[ronlane]

........ I could have used a better fill on the camera right. ......

What do you mean by this statement?

I could have went got my big reflector instead of the little white card that I was using to reflect light with. Just a bigger reflector, from the 8x10 page to a 45" round one. I was being lazy and used what I had close to me.

 

[cgipson1]

........ I could have used a better fill on the camera right. ......

What do you mean by this statement?

I could have went got my big reflector instead of the little white card that I was using to reflect light with. Just a bigger reflector, from the 8x10 page to a 45" round one. I was being lazy and used what I had close to me.

Bigger is almost always better, except in Blind Dates!

 

[jake337]

Try turning off the lights and using a flashlight to focus or make sure to use the highest syncing shutter speed your camera will allow to kill the ambient light. No gels needed then. At least for snapshots like these.

 

[ronlane]

What do you mean by this statement?

I could have went got my big reflector instead of the little white card that I was using to reflect light with. Just a bigger reflector, from the 8x10 page to a 45" round one. I was being lazy and used what I had close to me.

Bigger is almost always better, except in Blind Dates!

True, teacher, true. I did go get it later when I was shooting my daughter but I really didn't like how her's turned out.

 

[ronlane]

Try turning off the lights and using a flashlight to focus or make sure to use the highest syncing shutter speed your camera will allow to kill the ambient light. No gels needed then. At least for snapshots like these.

I like the flashlight idea, I'll have to try that.