My litle studio! First attempt.

[Trever1t]

ok, don't laugh too hard, yes my home is small but it's paid for! lol.

My first try with multiple OCF. Seems like I have too much gear and not enough space.

My gear: Silver bounce umbrella left. Silver reflector far left. Shoot though umbrellas at right. SB-800s. I need a backdrop.


_POR6576 by Trever1t, on Flickr

This shot with silver bounce camera left and white shoot through camera right.


_POR6585-Edit by Trever1t, on Flickr

Manual settings Camera and Flashes.

 

[Vtec44]

Yeah the ceiling is a little low but hey it's paid for! lol I'd get a bit of hair light in there.

 

[bazooka]

Agreed, her hair is kind of a black hole.

 

[Derrel]

You're kind of lighting this, well, a bit oddly. First, the two shoot-throughs on the right hand side, backed up next to that white wall...that is creating not really a fill light, but a "dueling main light". Your ostensible main light on the left hand side, the reflecting umbrella, is only one flash unit I assume....on the other side, you have two flash units, but as dark as her hair is on that side, I think the majority of the light is blasting right in FRONT of her, and NOT hitting her much...

You have the "fill lights" much too far off to the right hand side. And there are two of them...also, looking at the angle of the black reflecting umbrella and then her picture, it looks to me like the main light's main thrust is NOT hitting her face, but is instead hitting her shoulder pretty hard and hot, and thus her hair on the "main light side" is inky-black. The main light is not aimed right. Same on the other side with the fill lights--their aim is off, and the position is unorthodox [ie. wrong]. To me, I would say that the main light's aiming problem is caused mostly because the ceiling is too low, and the main light umbrella is too big for the room, so you cannot get it high enought to "rain the light downward" onto her face with her standing. Having her seated would alleviate the issue with the ceiling height and umbrella size,and allow you to aim it a bit differently than with her standing.

As to the main and dual-fill situation: why not try having one main light, and then put just one,single fill light RIGHT NEXT TO the camera,at the exact height of the camera, and aimed straight ahead, right AT HER. Not from off to the side. Right next to the camera! You want some shadowing to give shape to the face, so set the main 30 to 40 degrees off to the side, as you have it now. With the third flash freed up, you can use that to provide some hair lighting. Maybe bounce one flash off the ceiling, at 1/4 power or so.

You could also try using a shoot-through as a main light/hair light COMBO.... BY that I mean, do you see in the pic how there is some "raw" light hitting the ceiling from the right hand side umbrellas? Well...can you figure out a way to maybe get that light to come from the MAIN light, by using a shoot-through a a main light, and counting on the ambient spill to hit the ceiling, then bounce downward at hit her hair a bit?

This test session is a good example of why learning to light without modeling lights is so difficult for beginners...you cannot actually "see" what the lights are doing without shooting photos, AND without some amount of experience and training in how they actually do their lighting. Just based on experience, and looking at the scene, I can tell you that the shoot through umbrella on the right hand side, the one closest to the camera, is not doing much of anything helpful, at all. Anyway, keep at it. And get rid of that second "fill light", and move the fill back to the CAMERA position,aimed straight at her.

 

[Trever1t]

First of all, thank you Derrel for taking the time and effort to respond and give such thorough critique, I greatly appreciate it.

I should have clarified with a diagram [smacks forehead] but only 2 lights were used in this shot. A silver main left, correct. SB-800 at 1/8 power and the shoot through right 45* for fill at 1/64 power.

The top picture with all the lights is just a view of the total of my gear, sorry about the confusion.

OK back to business. Yes, my ceilings are too small and I completely understand my error with the 'focus' of the lights in this shot with her standing. To be fair I have to say I did shoot with many different combinations of light including having the main at pretty much camera axis and her sitting. I'll post one up here in a minute. In this shot I was attempting to create a contrast between the main and fill but missed my mark because the angle of my main light.

 

[shootermcgavin]

I noticed that too, because in the top picture she actually looks better lit than in the actual picture you took of her. Although Derrel critique was very informative, probably the most I learned about studio lighting from this site. I don't know if this is a rule with studio lighting, but to me if you just turned her 180 I would've liked the shot more. I would prefer to feel like the light source is coming from in front instead of behind her. What is a sort of rule is putting where the person parts their hair towards you which isn't done here either. Maybe it doesn't really matter, the shadows are a bit much too for me personally. I like seeing the whole set up and the finished product I look forward to seeing more posts, thanks!

 

[Derrel]

Here is the way I would light this scene, using a speedlight bounced up off the ceiling right over her head, and with the silver disc reflector close to her and angled as shown, to catch a bit of the bounce from the ceiling to light her hair on the fill light side. In this case, the umbrellas, both main and fill are set to output IDENTICAL f/stop levels, no matter what the power levels would be, but the MAIN light is closer to the subject, and the fill light is farther back. That will produce a 3:1 lighting ratio,more or less. Distances would be like, MAIN light 5.6 feet from her nose, fill light 8 feet from her nose. (Notice the correlation between the distances I am suggesting and the f/stop world's numbering system!!! there's that crazy mathematics coming back to work its magic!) Take note of the closeness of the reflector,and its angle--it is going to send some of the main light, the fill light, and maybe a bit of the bounced ceiling speedlight light to lighting the dark side of the hair. Notice that my MAIN light and my FILL light are not "crossing" and making an "X" with their light paths.

 

[Trever1t]

Excellent advice, thank you. I'll give that a try tonight if I can get my model to cooperate

 

[mwcfarms]

And Im going to try it tonight as well because I have been told my lighting is flat lol so I need lighting help.

 

[dots]

Good thread. Thanks a lot.

 

[Trever1t]

Ok, this is a lot harder than it would seem. Especially in my tiny low ceiling home but it's what I must deal with.

Derrel's suggestion as close as I could get it.



setup 2 by Trever1t, on Flickr

and one of the 60 shots before she quit on me.



Purrr by Trever1t, on Flickr

 

[Trever1t]

Inspiration by Trever1t, on Flickr

 

[Derrel]

Okay, NOW you're getting some sheen on that black hair!!!

 

[Trever1t]

I bumped ISO up to 400 in this second shot. Thanks Derrel!

 

[Derrel]

You are not still setting the flash units at "SB-800 at 1/8 power and the shoot through right 45* for fill at 1/64 power", as per the post #5 above, are you??? There's no problem using ISO 400 with flash lighting on a modrn d-slr...just wondering what power levels you have the flash units at, that's all...