Model Shot - Feedback?

reznap: did you mean, get a clamp work light to replicate the function of an external flash? because i don't have one, and due to having a ****ty budget, may not have one for a while unless some spectacular deal pops up on craigslist. in the meantime...clamp light?
 
It's all about the light.. So you are struggling indoors and little cash. I start outdoors in natural light. You can always use reflectors.
Personally I hate shooting in a studio.
 
Hey guys, I'm looking for some feedback on this picture I took of a friend...I really like it - but I think the lighting could be improved. I took this photo in her basement where the lighting was not great, and I don't have an external flash. I shot this in manual mode with my rebel XSi.

I played around with it in photoshop but I'm fairly new to photoshop as well, and don't have a lot of knowledge on creating good lighting setups.

Feel free to edit - how would you improve this shot?

Thanks!

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I like the way they are both looking at you as if you're intruding on their space.:lol:

I like the lighting, too. Nice, soft shadows. Maybe you could have brushed the hair away from her left eye, but that's minor, and it might even be better as is.

You could neutralize the color a bit, though leaving it on the warm side somewhat.

Experiment with the composition, even trying for a vertical. Don't worry about centering the models.
 
reznap: did you mean, get a clamp work light to replicate the function of an external flash? because i don't have one, and due to having a ****ty budget, may not have one for a while unless some spectacular deal pops up on craigslist. in the meantime...clamp light?

I had a few beers in me when I was writing that..

I only said clamp light because I heard it around here (I think one of the 'school of...' groups called for one, maybe Dominantly's).

What I meant was you can improvise with lighting - something as simple as a lamp with a white cloth draped over it.

I think other people left much more helpful advice here though, mainly the stuff about being aware of your light balance and when to shoot in portrait (vertical) vs landscape.

If you use an incandescent bulb you can adjust white balance in the camera for tungsten or tweak the colors on your computer afterwards... same goes for other types of lighting.
 
hmm ok, thanks for the feedback. i've started reading the strobist blog too...hope to learn a lot there :)
 
Here's my attempt at correcting the photo. Not a lot of detail left in the highlights on the face but I think this is reasonably acceptable. Correcting a jpeg requires a bit more finesse than working with raw. This was done rather quickly in Lightroom. If you gave it the full Photoshop treatment you might be able to balance it out a bit more.

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I don't care for the original shot. I agree with previous posts about the color balance but not the models. I like that both are looking at the camera. I feel from her expression the same emotion I get from the cat's expression. I think it was well done capturing those. As far as the manipulation - I like the second over the white balance. The second does look more like a graphic, gives a more intense feeling about the image. Well done on that one.
 
yeah my colour was no good on the original shot. great edits, and fun model/s to work with!
 

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