my first studio shots

[zoe08]

I am in a photo II class this semester and it mostly deals with lighting. We have a studio at school that we sign up to use and check out the lights etc. These are using a dyna-lite kit with umbrellas and softboxes. This was my first time ever to use the studio and the strobes.


We are supposed to be kind of creative, and I had a really hard time with that this first time. I have done one other shoot, I will post in a separate thread. And I have the studio for 2 hours on friday in which I have 2 guy models and I am trying to come up with something to do. It seems harder for me to think of things for guys than girls.

Also I would like to ask if it would be better to use a 70-300mm lens for this kind of photography instead of the 18-70mm i have been using. I plan to buy a 70-300mm lens soon and I just wondered if I should go ahead and get it for my friday shoot.

 

[df3photo]

The lighting isnt too bad. I would probably blow out the background (so its more white) or toss some color on it using a filter over a light.
the poses could be alittle more flattering (arched back, pull shoulders back)
and just a quick tip, if your going to have people walking on the back ground with shoes (exp. white) you can duct tape the bottoms and cut them around so they dont track dirt across it or have them take off the shoes, or clean them good and dont let them on the regular floor with them durring a shoot.
Good work though, keep it up!

 

[zoe08]

I dont think we have any filters for the lights, we havent talked about that in class. How could I blow out the background without overexposing the subject?

and the background is just paper so it can be torn off.

Thanks for the suggestions!! I really appreciate the feedback!!

 

[markc]

What kind of camera are you using? That will have an impact on the lens. For digitals with a 1.5 or 1.6 crop factor, I'd recommend 50mm to 90mm. For film, 80mm to 130mm.

One thing I notice is that your histograms are a bit compressed. This will give you a flat grey look. If you are shooting digital, did you try a custom white balance? If film, set your white and black points when scanning. In either case, you can adjust the histogram in PS with a levels adjustment, but it's good to get close before hand, so you don't lose data.

 

[zoe08]

I have a nikon D70.

I set the white balance to flash. Everything else I tried made the background look a little blueish.

 

[markc]

You could try a custom white balance, making sure to trigger the stobe when taking the white balance shot. Other than that, you'll probably just have to edit.

 

[Big Mike]

I dont think we have any filters for the lights, we havent talked about that in class. How could I blow out the background without overexposing the subject?

Shine some lights directly on the background.