Highly Detailed Portraits

fonsolo · Oct 16, 2012

Hello all!
I will apologize in advance as I am rather new to photography, as this room would imply. I use a Nikon D5100 and I was woundering what the best set up would be(lens, lights, settings, accesories, etc.) to take highly detailed portrait photographs. So far I only have the kit lens(18mm-55mm) and one that I barrow, a 55mm-200mm, and I also use a cheap 3 strobe light set up which I purchased from Cowboy Studio. I usually shoot with the full 16mp and crop to around 2400x1600. All of the photographs are for digital use only. So is this possible? Will I need to upgrade to a better camera? I do have a little money to invest, but I certainly am running on a smaller budget so pricing info would be appreciated also.
Thanks in advance!
FonSolo

fonsolo · Oct 16, 2012

I should probably divulge that the photos will be nudes so the focus will be on the entirety of the body, and not just the face or torso.

.SimO. · Oct 16, 2012

First, are your cowboy studio lights really strobes or just continuous lights? Your camera nor gear is really the issue. I honestly think you should save the money and do some serious reading and understanding of basic photography and the style you are trying to shoot. And if you are shooting nude models, don't you want them to shine as much as possible? Just some thoughts.

Bram · Oct 16, 2012

First off, this is my $0.02. You're brand new to photography or don't know much about it, so I hope the d5100 was donated or gifted to you since that's a hard camera to learn on. Second, as mentioned above are you sure their strobes and not continuous lighting? I would recommend looking at Paul C. Buff Alienbee lights, yeah they're a bit more pricey but they are the best money can buy. I use my AB1600 everywhere I go, well I try to at least. As much detail as possible huh? If you have a three strobe setup you will have 0 issues with detail and lighting. I would use the triangle setup of 2 lights at the models 11 and 2 o'clock and then another one at the models 6 o'clock. This will be a good start, play around with it. I use AB1600 and an SB600, not the greatest of lighting equipment. However nicely detailed and nicely lit photos can be created even without strobes. GOOD LUCK!

2WheelPhoto · Oct 16, 2012

Cambridge has the answers you seek, check out the tutorials: Digital Photography Tutorials

Designer · Oct 16, 2012

fonsolo said:
I also use a cheap 3 strobe light set up

I also am wondering what kind of "cheap strobes" these are. I am not aware of any "cheap strobes" that are actually any good.

The camera is adequate, IMO, especially for a beginner. Your experience level, lenses, and lights will be the determining factors.

2WheelPhoto · Oct 16, 2012

Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.

Warren Buffet by way of Benjamin Graham

Some lighting has zero value.

KmH · Oct 16, 2012

I don't get why a D5100 would be hard to learn on, since it's an entry-level DSLR, includes a User's Manual, and works like all other DSLR cameras.

Alien Bee lights are not the best money can buy, but are decent, inexpensive, entry-level mono lights. Alien Bees have a color temperature drift when the power level is changed, and they are about the only strobe light that the flash duration gets longer, rather than shorter, when the power level is turned down.
The light quality ABs produce is quirky in other hard to define ways too, again making the statement "they are the best money can buy" a case of confirmation bias.
For most Alien Bee buyers the price counts for more than the technical deficiencies in their performance.

High quality monolights are made by Profoto, Elinchrom, Hensel, Broncolor.

For the OP - If you shoot at 16 MP and then crop to 3.84 MP (2400x1600, 3:2 aspect ratio), do you resize and resample the pixels before you crop?

Or are you just resizing from the D5100's native 4928 x 3254 (3:2 aspect ratio) pixel resolution.

Detail is a function of resolution. Resolution is about having as many pixels as possible, which is why pro grade portrait cameras have lots of pixels. (Nikon D3x, Nikon D800, Canon 1DX.

If you want "Highly Detailed Portraits" you need every pixel your camera has available for you to use. If you're going to crop, I recommend you crop in the camera viewfinder before you release the shutter.

Designer · Oct 16, 2012

bump for Keith's reply

Vautrin · Oct 16, 2012

The lens you use is super important more so than the body of the camera. just by upgrading lenses youll see a huge jump

in addition before you muck about with resizing try to get it right

Also lenses have different degrees of sharpness at different aperetures. a lens may be for instance sharpest at f8 you gotta do some research

also it sounds silly but shutter speed. at 1/15 a sec you might lose sharpness due to vibration from just holding the camera

on top of that its worth pointing out most pros use software to sharpen images. this makes a huge diffence

fonsolo · Oct 16, 2012

Thank you everyone for the replies. The lights are certainly strobes, two softboxes and one barn door. Thank you @WheelPhoto, I'll check that out later on today when I have more time. @Vautrin, I was somewhat suspecting that the lens might be an issue. Any recommendations? And I do use Photoshop religiously for sharpening and other post processing, as my background is actually in graphic design.

Vautrin · Oct 16, 2012

the more i think about it, you should check out my websites section models

Theyre not nude, and i havent updated it in a while but i think thats what makes my website a great example.

one of the models photos are all black and white. that was shot with a d3100 with the kit lens. more to see what i could do than anything else. and photos are basically out of camera as is (although i did convert to b&w and adjust the contrast in lightroom)

in case youre wondering, a d3100 is a step down from the 5100

the other shots in color are with a d700 with a much
better lens (sigma 50mm f1.4 or sigma 20-70mm f2.8). this is a pro or almost pro camera and lens combo

is that what you mean by sharp or do you want something more?

to really really get sharp images i shoot in raw and sharpen using photoshop or niks pro sharpener software

this makes a huge difference

out of camera images (esp in jog) will tend towards the soft side

also if you are shooting nudes what is the point of super sharp? sharpen too much and youll just see all the skin blemishes in excrutiating detail

Vautrin · Oct 16, 2012

also how much do you know about photography? do you understand depth of field and apereture?

if not youll need to start there

Derrel · Oct 16, 2012

Highly-detailed??? Shoot at f/8, with flash, using a good lens. The secret is that, at f/8 almost any modern Nikkor lens, prime or zoom, qualifies as "a good lens", and with today's higher-MP count sensors, like 16 million pixels, there is PLENTY of detail as long as the depth of field is adequate and the focusing is done very carefully, and the image is not blurred from camera shake or subject movement. SHooting hand-held in anything but good,bright light is asking for slight degrees of blur. USing electronic flash freezes most movement dead in its tracks. Flash is kind of tricky to use for low-key,subtle lighting, unless the user is skilled in flash, so, indoors using window light or continuous lights, a tripod and a still subject is needed.