New Studio Setup. C&C!

[JackRabbit]

yes I've googled for these diagrams but they always require fancy equipment (eg. softboxes, umbrellas, beauty dishes, etc.) and all I have are two flashes and a couple of car window reflectors. So until I can put together a couple of DIY softboxes and beauty dishes, what can I do to improve my lighting in the mean time

 

[kkamin]

Reflectors work the same way as umbrellas and softboxes. Just angle the reflector towards the subject and shoot the flash into the reflector. If your reflector is silver, you'll need to cover one side with white paper or pick up a piece of white foam core, if you want a soft source. A hard light shooting onto a silver surface will make the surface act more like a mirror than a diffusor. White will diffuse the light and will even out the spread. The more board you light up the softer your light will be. I know you have the issue of needing one of the dedicated flashes mounted to your camera. So that will have to obviously be fill or simply used as a trigger to fire the other flash by powering it down and pointing it in an inconsequential direction. For the beauty lighting you just need one light and then place a reflector somewhere under her chin and angled slightly toward her in order to bounce some light into the shadows created by the main light. good luck.

 

[Derrel]

I looked at your two lighting diagrams, and immediately, I can suggest that you need to bump the main or "key" light's strength up to full power. You have been using two lights of equal power and from roughly the same distance, which is giving a 1:1 lighting ratio--flat, and almost totally shadow-free. If you move the main or key light up to full power and keep the on-camera fill light at half power, you'll get approximately a 3:1 lighting ratio, which will have one side, the main light side, that gets about one f/stop more light than the shadow side. That will create shadows,and will give shape and dimension to the faces of your subjects.

The above lighting ratio of 3:1 assumes that the main light and the key light are at equal distances from the subject. If the camera is much closer than the main light, you might have to use the on-camera fill at only 1/4 power with the main light a full power. I don't want to get too complicated with this right here,at this point, but just kep in mind that the MAIN light needs to be about one f/stop higher in power ON THE SUBJECT than the on-axis fill light's power is at the subject's position.

So, you can easily make this change! Hooray! I applaud your work ethic, and the fact that you're gettin' some shots done! Keep at it!

 

[JackRabbit]

yeah the drawing is a bit deceiving. the main light is easily a yard or so closer to the subject than the key light. however, I'm definitely going to try to move the key light closer and try the 3:1 ratio you suggested. Thank you all so much for your suggestions! I really appreciate you guys helping me out