Lighting and Editing - Am I doing this right?

[ac12]

Therefore, our suggestion would be to zoom out, and step back away from your subject so that your lens is more level instead of pointing downward.

Fair point that the zoom affects the lens length. Did you mean to say "zoom IN and step back," though? Zooming in makes the lens longer - which is what people have been telling me to do - and allows me to step back while keeping the model the same size in the frame. Zooming out would require me to step forward to compensate.​

"IN, OUT" yes, I probably used the incorrect terminology on that one. Sorry for the confusion.​

No, not incorrect. You just used the focal length interpretation of zoom out, vs. the viewing image interpretation.

What is bad is I use BOTH focal length and view, and could do that in the same paragraph. So I need to be careful when I say zoom in/out.

 

[Derrel]

There is a lot of confusion about the term zooming in/out.

Some view in/out as it looks in the camera. You zoom in making the image angle tighter, longer focal length. You zoom out to make the image angle wider.
Some view in/out as the focal length. Zoom in is shorter/wider, out is longer/tighter.​

Neither is wrong, just a different interpretation of the phrase. Unfortunately it can get confusing.
So whenever you see zoom in/out, you have to study the sentence to see what they mean.

Some say "zoom out" meaning the lens gets longer. It literally zooms "outwardly" from the body. As was written by ac12,

"Some view in/out as the focal length. Zoom in is shorter/wider, out is longer/tighter.
Neither is wrong, just a different interpretation of the phrase."

 

[smoke665]

You said earlier when editing picture #1 that you were using the model's eyes to judge the white balance

No what I said was "the white of her eyes was a tad warm", what I didn't say was I set the WB using the WB adjustment tool in Lr which adjusted the color temperature cooler. Despite the fact that you claim to understand the basics, your comments throughout indicate deficiencies. Not sure you read the link I included, so in case you didn't "White Balance adjustment is the process of removing unrealistic color casts, so that objects which appear white in person are rendered white in your photo." Unlike the equipment and software I use, you are severely limited in post processing adjustment - not just for WB adjustment. That's why my responses earlier were tailored to give you work around solutions for your specific camera, to allow you to get mostly finished images straight out of camera, but if that's not what you wanted then my apologies. Throughout this thread you seem to be hung up on simple answers to complex questions, and when someone tries to give you a workable answer you blow it off as not simple enough. In any case that won't happen again, as I'm out of here, best of luck to you.

 

[ElNico]

I'm not going to respond directly to anything Smoke said above, since I'm assuming he's no longer reading this thread.

Rather than repeating myself again about what's been annoying me, I'm going to drop the subject for now. If it comes up again, I'm just going to try to restate and/or rephrase my question without getting mad.

One thing that would like to make clear is that I don't mind people giving me "extra" helpful information that I didn't ask about. I honestly appreciate that. Just please make sure that, wherever possible, it's in addition to answering the question that I asked, and not instead of it.


I've gotten many helpful comments and pieces of advice in this thread, and I thank you all for that. There are two specific things I'd still like to request feedback on:

1 - The edits I made to photo #1 earlier. Did I do enough? Too much? Too little? Which of the two edits is better?

2 - The colors in photo #2 (or #4, if you think that pose is better). In what direction, if at all, do the colors need to be corrected? I can change blue/orange balance, green/purple balance, and saturation. I will say that I've increased the saturation from the unedited image; knowing that, do you think I increased it too much? Do you think the colors need to be shifted away from orange, green, neither, or both?


A couple of other questions.

I raised the exposure in the Lr by just over 1/3 of a stop or .39.

In order to do this, do I just need more advanced software, or is this something that can only be done to .RAW files?

Reflectors

• Caution, a reflector is a sail. The bigger it is, the more wind it will catch, and the harder it will be to control it.
  With stands, you will NEED sandbags, to hold down the legs of the stand. But if the wind is strong enough, even the sandbags won't work.
  In certain situations, the best reflector stand is a person/friend holding the reflector.

• You will sooner or later end up with several reflectors and light modifiers; different sizes (big, medium and small) and different colors (gold, silver, white, blend), a light block (a black reflector to block the light), a diffuser (a translucent material to diffuse/soften the light).

• The size you use depends on the subject and image. Why use a BIG reflector for a head and shoulder portrait. But the BIG reflector is a larger source of light, so it can work well for H&S shots. If you are doing full length shots, you may indeed need a couple BIG reflectors. It all depends on the shoot, environment and lighting conditions.
  And remember the bigger the reflector the more wind it will catch.

• As for "smaller reflector taking less time to adjust." IMHO, size does not matter, they will all take time to adjust. The better you get at reading the light, and understanding how to use the reflector in that situation, the faster it will go.

That's all very informative, and I appreciate that it's ultimately good to have multiple of everything. But what should I get more of first?

Put it this way; assuming that I have between 3 and 4 reflectors, what's a good mix of small and large?

To clarify, what I actually have is a large disk that can be converted to gold, silver, white, black, or a diffuser. So I currently have access to all of those things, but only one at a time.

 

[ac12]

There is a lot of confusion about the term zooming in/out.

Some view in/out as it looks in the camera. You zoom in making the image angle tighter, longer focal length. You zoom out to make the image angle wider.
Some view in/out as the focal length. Zoom in is shorter/wider, out is longer/tighter.​

Neither is wrong, just a different interpretation of the phrase. Unfortunately it can get confusing.
So whenever you see zoom in/out, you have to study the sentence to see what they mean.

Some say "zoom out" meaning the lens gets longer. It literally zooms "outwardly" from the body. As was written by ac12,

"Some view in/out as the focal length. Zoom in is shorter/wider, out is longer/tighter.
Neither is wrong, just a different interpretation of the phrase."

Ha, YES.
The extending zooms, physically zooms OUT, when you zoom to the longer focal lengths.

 

[Derrel]

A bit of advice about gold reflectors is that they tend to cause whatever is being lit by the reflector to appear extremely warm in comparison to the background, which is often lit by natural or artificial light. As you might imagine, this can make it very difficult to remove excess warmth in the close part of the scene. I currently own a dual sided reflectorne side white the other side gold. I prefer a solid white reflector maybe 95% of the time the other time might be silver. I have umbrellas in white, shiny white, and metallic silver I seldom use the metallic silver, but it's really good when one is going to convert color to black-and-white.

 

[ac12]

Quote

smoke665 said: ↑
I raised the exposure in the Lr by just over 1/3 of a stop or .39.
In order to do this, do I just need more advanced software, or is this something that can only be done to .RAW files?​

At a certain point, you will need to upgrade your software. Because what you will want to do will exceed the capabilities of the basis software that you are now using, which I do not recall you saying what product it is.

ac12 said: ↑
Reflectors

• Caution, a reflector is a sail. The bigger it is, the more wind it will catch, and the harder it will be to control it.
  With stands, you will NEED sandbags, to hold down the legs of the stand. But if the wind is strong enough, even the sandbags won't work.
  In certain situations, the best reflector stand is a person/friend holding the reflector.

• You will sooner or later end up with several reflectors and light modifiers; different sizes (big, medium and small) and different colors (gold, silver, white, blend), a light block (a black reflector to block the light), a diffuser (a translucent material to diffuse/soften the light).

• The size you use depends on the subject and image. Why use a BIG reflector for a head and shoulder portrait. But the BIG reflector is a larger source of light, so it can work well for H&S shots. If you are doing full length shots, you may indeed need a couple BIG reflectors. It all depends on the shoot, environment and lighting conditions.
  And remember the bigger the reflector the more wind it will catch.

• As for "smaller reflector taking less time to adjust." IMHO, size does not matter, they will all take time to adjust. The better you get at reading the light, and understanding how to use the reflector in that situation, the faster it will go.

Click to expand...
That's all very informative, and I appreciate that it's ultimately good to have multiple of everything. But what should I get more of first?

Put it this way; assuming that I have between 3 and 4 reflectors, what's a good mix of small and large?
​

It depends. What are you going to shoot?
- Large will be too big if you are doing head and shoulder portrature.
- Small will be too small for full length portrature.
- You left out medium size, which could be too big or not big enough, depending on what type of portrature.

You seem somewhat familiar with portrait lighting, so that is your count.
You replace a light with a reflector of the appropriate size for the shot.

 

[ElNico]

At a certain point, you will need to upgrade your software. Because what you will want to do will exceed the capabilities of the basis software that you are now using, which I do not recall you saying what product it is.

I agree, but will upgrading my software allow me to do this particular thing (adjust exposure in terms of stop value), or would that also require upgrading my camera to one that can shoot in .RAW? I'm a lot less enthusiastic about upgrading my camera than I am about upgrading my software.

What I've been using to create the edits I've been showing you is the Windows 10 "Photos" application. I've also discovered that Paint 3D is capable of making unwanted objects disappear, to an extent.

You seem somewhat familiar with portrait lighting, so that is your count.
You replace a light with a reflector of the appropriate size for the shot.

So, one large and two small, by default?

How likely am I to want to use a large reflector and a diffuser at the same time? I feel like I may have asked that before, but if so I can't find it.

Also FYI, I don't have an assistant, so I don't have someone to hold a reflector for me. I'm aware that if I'm shooting above the shoulder I can have the model hold it themselves, but I don't usually shoot that close.

A bit of advice about gold reflectors is that they tend to cause whatever is being lit by the reflector to appear extremely warm in comparison to the background, which is often lit by natural or artificial light. As you might imagine, this can make it very difficult to remove excess warmth in the close part of the scene.

I was beginning to suspect as much. I also think that's especially the case here, since the model already has a somewhat golden skin tone.

I prefer a solid white reflector maybe 95% of the time the other time might be silver.

Is the main difference between white and silver that silver is less diffused? If so I can see why white should be the default.

I have umbrellas in white, shiny white, and metallic silver I seldom use the metallic silver, but it's really good when one is going to convert color to black-and-white.

Good to know. Does this apply only to a silver umbrella, or would a silver reflector also achieve this effect?
​

 

[Derrel]

Silver reflectors and silvered umbrellas tend to give more shine or specularity on the skin of people...which often models the face more in B&W than using dull, white reflectors or umbrellas. A couple years ago, I saw a mylar space blanket reflector, deigned to throw a little bit of hot, hard light. It was placed onside of a plastic-framed poster frame, and was used for many years by a professional fashion and catalog shooter, as his "secret weapon". He gave a very good written tutorial. He had a pet name for this: _________ board, as I recall.

Yes, silver reflectors and modifiers tend to be "hotter", or less-diffused than white. White is considered the default.

 

[Designer]

That's all very informative, and I appreciate that it's ultimately good to have multiple of everything. But what should I get more of first?

Flash.

You should get at least one good speedlight (for location shooting) and a way to fire it off the camera.

Speedlight
light stand
speedlight bracket for the light stand
umbrella (white shoot-through)
radio frequency remote trigger (transmitter and receiver set)

 

[Derrel]

A good speed light which has full manual control as well as some form of automatic or TTL Control is a very good thing to own,and can be used on many different types of Camera including some advanced point and shoot models.

About 20 years ago there was a website devoted to using external speed light flash units with what with what wetr then high end point and shoot digital cameras or "digicams", This was before digital single lens reflex cameras were priced at less than $1000, and the vast majority of hobbyist photographers were using point and shoot style digital cameras from Olympus, Canon, Sony, and Nikon.

Using just one speed light flash and one 43- inch umbrella, you can do some amazing work. Throw in a white reflector board, or a fabric reflector disc, and you can do some pretty amazing stuff.

In years past the 1 m long pigtail cord, like the Nikon SC17, was a valuable accessory which allowed you to position the flash off camera, but you had to stay within roughly 1 m. Today, we now have wireless trickery, and wireless flash triggers and receivers which are very inexpensive. The beauty of the pigtail cord is that you slide one end in to the hotshoe, and connect the other to the flash foot and boom! You are all ready to rock… No channels, no batteries, no misplaced receiver or transmitter.

when a speed light flash is paired with an umbrella and a light stand, One is immediately entered into the world of " The Strobist",which was a blog that really taught a lot of people about using flash off camera.

 

[The_Traveler]

Sorry to be late to this but IMO what has been said is pretty much on the point.
Let me add something that may be off track.
Most people look at a picture and are attracted to what is in the important parts, what is in focus and what is bright.

In the first version, there is essentially nothing at the normally strong positions (indicated by the lines), the face is close to the edge, a hint that it isn't important, and and darker than the tops of her breasts which are quite a bit brighter than anything else.

If her face is moved away from the margin and lightened and the top of her breasts are darkened, then her face becomes more of the center of interest. (Changing the color of her brassiere cuts down on the eye-attracting power, imo)