Home studio C&C please: Part 1, high key

[Desi]

Hi TPF,

I've been off the forum and obsessing over lighting recently. I wonder if you would be kind enough to give me some critique on my lighting (though I'l take any critique).

I've been trying to get the settings down for high-key photos. I'm using two speedlights on a shoot-through about 4 feet from the subject at 45 degrees and one speedlight for the background. White seamless with gel for color.

I'm going to be doing a "breakfast with Santa" shoot for our local twins club. The previous photographer's kids have outgrown the club. The club members know my photography and I am not charging. I've been practicing a lot with my lighting and giving direction on posing. I've had a few friends bring their families over for portrait's to practice with.

I'm planning on sticking with a white background for the Santa shoot, but I am receptive to suggestions if you feel otherwise.

I'll start another thread with shots using a single shoot through.

Desi

1. Riley

DSC_0858.jpg by Javier Descalzi, on Flickr

2. Dawn

DSC_0884.jpg by Javier Descalzi, on Flickr

3. Tim's family

DSC_0782.jpg by Javier Descalzi, on Flickr

 

[John27]

Well I'm a total noob but your shots look great to me! Really inspirational as I'm about to start getting into some off-camera speedlight shooting. I don't have anything constructive to add (Since I don't know what I'm doing myself) but I thought I'd drop in to say "I Like 'em!" and to wish you luck on the Santa shoot.

 

[Desi]

Thanks John27.


I should mention, I'm shooting at f9, ISO 200 to knock out the ambient light.

 

[KmH]

Pro secret - a light dusting of foundation powder helps diminish the shiny hot spots (cheeks, end of nose, etc.)

I'm not a fan of horizontal portraits of a single person, and while #2 leaves little other choice I would crop some off the left side.

#3 turned out nice. I would edit the hot spots.

 

[JAC526]

I like the horizontal on number 2 b/c of her hair.

 

[DannyLewis]

The first two are really nice. The last is also but need more to the background than a white board

 

[Derrel]

Not too shabby. "Some" specularity on faces helps to show shape and dimension. The first shot of the girl is the best of the bunch I think. Dawn's eye kind of drops into heavy shadow there when her hair is whipped or blown off to the side like that...not sure I like that. I do like the powder blue in the background of the girl, but I do not like the way it drops in saturation at the top of the frame...that drop-off makes the blue look a bit dirty and gray. The exact placement of the background light makes quite a bit of difference in how the background actually "takes" the gel coloration...for example, using a speedlight on the background, in a small space, there is not a lot of beam spread, and it tends to be wide than it is tall, so, one thought is to turn the flash "tall-ways" when shooting talls...

I'm not a fan of horizontal portraits in head-and-shoulders crop on single persons when the background is non-environmental, as it is here.

 

[Desi]

Thanks everyone.

Derrel and KmH, I do favor the traditional vertical orientation as well, but I am intrigued by the aesthetic of horizontal orientation in portraiture. Sometimes it seems more dynamic to me. I do try to do most of these in vertical orientation so that I can master the traditional form. Sometimes, though, I sneak in a few horizontals. In #1, I happened to catch "the look" only in the horizontal format.

Here's one of my verticals. I definitely have a harder time making these look good, which is a clear sign that I have a lot more to learn.

Desi


DSC_0844.jpg by Javier Descalzi, on Flickr