New here! I need help with lighting... CC a couple pics please

[k.tremblay1]

hello all! My name is kristen, I have been into photography all my life, but purchased my first dslr in 2009. It was a canon rebel xs and I LOVED it. Last year, I decided to upgrade to the canon 50d. I shoot in full manual and I try to use natural light whenever possible. I mainly photography my own children and a few friends' children. For a while, I was just pinning a sheet to a wall and bouncing my flash from the ceiling. It seemed to do the trick but I really want to learn more and eventually make a real business out of it. So I just purchased a backdrop stand with 3 muslin backdrops. The backdrops are horrible! They wrinkle pretty badly.. so i have decided to order a couple rolls of seamless paper. The kit also came with 2 light stands, 2 umbrellas and 2 continuous bulbs, 85 watts. Well, the lighting seems to do NOTHING. I set up the lights, 1 at 45 degrees and 1 directly next to the subject. With an iso of 400 and f/4, my ss can't be any faster than 1/25 for proper exposure. I am so frustrated. So i decided to still use my bounce flash combined with these lights. But it seems like when i shut the lights off and only use the bounce flash, the pic looks exactly the same! Are these lights just useless?? I know I should go with strobes but i can't afford them right now... i am trying to make do with what I have. Can you all take a look at the pics I took this morning and let me know how the exposure/lighting looks? I'm not worried about composition right now, hence why my son is acting like a goof in his pajamas.... lol thanks!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/6780351784/

IMG_4935 by k.tremblay1, on Flickr


IMG_5000 by k.tremblay1, on Flickr


IMG_4991 by k.tremblay1, on Flickr


IMG_4954 by k.tremblay1, on Flickr

 

[RebeccaAPhotography]

Well I gotta say..... I love the funny expressions on 1 and 2. I really laughed when I saw these.

 

[Nanw]

I am in the exact same boat! However, you are having better results than me. I hope to learn from your replies.

 

[jonathon94]

There seems to be some white artifacts on the second photo but when I tried to open it up on flickr to see a larger view I was told it was a private photo and I couldn't view it. You might wanna fix that so people can give honest critique

 

[o hey tyler]

It's because your constant lights, the one that you expose for ISO 400 f/4 1/25s are drowned out by your flash exposure.

See, the issue with constant lights in portraiture is that you need either:

A. Really FRICKEN bright lights. HOT constant lights.

or

B. An f/2.8 lens, singular subject, at a semi-wide-ish focal length with ISO 400 1/60s (Possibly a higher ISO/Shutterspeed combo if your subject is a child and fidgets a lot)

If you use flash, you can expose for the flash at f/4 ISO 400 @ 1/200s if you want to. If you have the capabilities, like HSS (High Speed Sync) you can go even higher. But as it is right now, you are only exposing for your flash, and not your constant lights.

I would work on getting your speedlight off camera more than I'd worry about your hot lights if you're looking to do portraiture.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

There's nothing wrong with continuous lights, just take a look at Kinoflo's. The problem is that your aperture is too small, and your lights have less wattage than what I use in my house. 85W is NOTHING.

Go to home depot, get some 300w equiv. CFL's (about $15 each), white balance for them, and shoot with a ultra wide aperture like f/1.4. Than at least you can shoot at somewhat reasonable ISO's, and the wrinkles in the muslin won't be so distracting because they'll be so out of focus.

 

[o hey tyler]

and the wrinkles in the muslin won't be so distracting because they'll be so out of focus.

At f/1.4, her subjects probably will be as well. :lmao:

 

[Sw1tchFX]

and the wrinkles in the muslin won't be so distracting because they'll be so out of focus.

At f/1.4, her subjects probably will be as well. :lmao:

Well i'm sure if you don't know what you're doing......

 

[WesVFX]

I'm at work so I don't have access to my Photoshop, but this image is soooooooo asking to turn his skin green and add an Incredible Hulk caption!

 

[k.tremblay1]

There seems to be some white artifacts on the second photo but when I tried to open it up on flickr to see a larger view I was told it was a private photo and I couldn't view it. You might wanna fix that so people can give honest critique

The white dots on his arm? He was playing with the boxes and packaging before I took the pic so I think it's just the snow from the boxes! I'll fix the privacy settings, thanks

 

[k.tremblay1]

Thanks so much! That exposure I am getting is before I turn on the flash. I added the flash because they were to dark, which brought my ss to 1/200. And my iso to 200. I have a macro lens which allows me to use f/2.8 aperture but this is the only lens I have that opens that wide. The other 2 lenses I have are a wide angle and a zoom lens. Problem with the macro lens is that the auto focus is broken and it's sooo hard to manually focus while photographing children. :-/

It's because your constant lights, the one that you expose for ISO 400 f/4 1/25s are drowned out by your flash exposure. See, the issue with constant lights in portraiture is that you need either: A. Really FRICKEN bright lights. HOT constant lights. or B. An f/2.8 lens, singular subject, at a semi-wide-ish focal length with ISO 400 1/60s (Possibly a higher ISO/Shutterspeed combo if your subject is a child and fidgets a lot)If you use flash, you can expose for the flash at f/4 ISO 400 @ 1/200s if you want to. If you have the capabilities, like HSS (High Speed Sync) you can go even higher. But as it is right now, you are only exposing for your flash, and not your constant lights. I would work on getting your speedlight off camera more than I'd worry about your hot lights if you're looking to do portraiture.

 

[k.tremblay1]

Thanks! I don't have a lens that opens that wide, but I have a macro 2.8 lens do u think that will work? I need to get the auto focus fixed though... I'll definitely check out the bulbs at home depot, thanks!!

There's nothing wrong with continuous lights, just take a look at Kinoflo's. The problem is that your aperture is too small, and your lights have less wattage than what I use in my house. 85W is NOTHING. Go to home depot, get some 300w equiv. CFL's (about $15 each), white balance for them, and shoot with a ultra wide aperture like f/1.4. Than at least you can shoot at somewhat reasonable ISO's, and the wrinkles in the muslin won't be so distracting because they'll be so out of focus.

 

[KmH]

First, there is a Lighting forum section:

Lighting and Hardware
General Discussions for all camera Lighting and Hardware.

Second put some carriage returns in you posts so they aren't big blocks of text. The additional white space makes them easier to read.

Third, some notes concerning continuous lighting.

Your 85 watt lights deliver that 85 watts in increments over a time period of 1 second (1 watt = 1 joule per second). At a shutter speed of 1/2 second, only 42.5 of the 85 watts are available to make your exposure. At 1/60 only 1.42 of the 85 watts are available to make an exposure, and at 1/100 only 0.85 watts are available to make an exposure.

Continuous lights work well when you can use shutter speeds that are 1 second or longer, though 85 watts isn't enough light power for a decent table lamp, but at a shutter speed of 2 seconds delivers 170 watts of light.

Consequently, continuous lights are a poor choice for shooting people, because people move and shutter speeds need to be much shorter than 1 second to stop motion.

 

[MLeeK]

Get rid of the continuous bulbs. They're worthless. In those sockets place a couple of these ACMS Adorama AC Master Slave with PC Connection, Guide Number of 90 at ISO 100. and one of these Blazzeo Wireless Slave Trigger Set for Studio Flash 4-Channel | Photography | Linkdelight.com.

 

[k.tremblay1]

Thanks but I would have no idea what I was doing with this slave trigger thing... how does it work?

Get rid of the continuous bulbs. They're worthless. In those sockets place a couple of these ACMS Adorama AC Master Slave with PC Connection, Guide Number of 90 at ISO 100. and one of these Blazzeo Wireless Slave Trigger Set for Studio Flash 4-Channel | Photography | Linkdelight.com.