People practice

[Ernicus]

You need enough ambient light to be able to focus properly... but only for that purpose. Trust me... using constant light for portraiture sucks big time.... there are many threads here on it. Constant lights are rated in Watts PER SECOND.... so a 100 watt bulb is 100 watts in one second! What if you are shooting at 1/100 of a second??? C'mon.. do the math.. how much light do you have from that bulb?

Can you see where this would SUCK big time!

If you are serious about wanting to learn this.. pick up an inexpensive monolight... like the Flashpoint 320 from Adorama $99. It even has a modeling light (to help you focus.. and see what the light is doing!)

I never even thought of that....since you pointed that out, it makes perfect sense and I kinda feel dumb. Thanks for making me see the light. Bad pun intended

 

[Ernicus]

Ernicus... what bugs me the most about this (ignoring the background), is that the light is not soft! Look at the shadows... they are intense, and hard. What size umbrellas are you using? I saw about you said the light was about five feet away?

Remember.. the larger the light source, the softer the light.

The closer the light source, the softer the light.

It looks to me like your light source is too small for a single light shot. or it was too far away. Either increase the size of the light source, use a reflector... or use two lights. I highly recommend using a reflector anytime you are using a single light source.

I have two 36" reflective umbrellas. In that shot, I was using one umbrella on a stand (about 8 feet away) with an old sb-27 strobe, I believe I had it on full power, if not, it was on half, pretty sure full though.

 

[cgipson1]

Ernicus... what bugs me the most about this (ignoring the background), is that the light is not soft! Look at the shadows... they are intense, and hard. What size umbrellas are you using? I saw about you said the light was about five feet away?

Remember.. the larger the light source, the softer the light.

The closer the light source, the softer the light.

It looks to me like your light source is too small for a single light shot. or it was too far away. Either increase the size of the light source, use a reflector... or use two lights. I highly recommend using a reflector anytime you are using a single light source.

I have two 36" reflective umbrellas. In that shot, I was using one umbrella on a stand (about 8 feet away) with an old sb-27 strobe, I believe I had it on full power, if not, it was on half, pretty sure full though.

36" is small! And 8' is too far for a 36" (in this instance)....try doing a similar shot with it about 4'. Check out the difference!

 

[Ernicus]

I like the information in this thread, and I think it might be useful for others reading and lurking. Thanks to all who are chiming in, and I'll post updates in here to keep information flow.

Here is one more from tonight, again...I am going to guess that I had the light pointed in the wrong direction as the foreground (her legs) are lit well and her head shoulders are not. I tried to balance it out layering exposure, but I don't think it made that much of a difference as it's still off.

Taking into consideration things charlie just wrote about...that explains a lot of what's going on too.

I'll definitely look into that monolight wed as I am serious about learning this. I love my flowers and landscapes...but if I want to make money at this to buy new lenses no one it going to buy flowers. lol. Plus I think it will be cool to be able to help people capture memories.


On this one, I don't think the shadows on her face or body are drastic like the other one, but the obvious shadow cast from her body as a whole on the futon is icky. No reflector or stronger light to slave on the other side though. Could this have been a case where a black background would have benefited...?

Yeah, I know I missed focus a bit, but its still kinda cute and one of the better ones of the night.

 

[Ernicus]

Ernicus... what bugs me the most about this (ignoring the background), is that the light is not soft! Look at the shadows... they are intense, and hard. What size umbrellas are you using? I saw about you said the light was about five feet away?

Remember.. the larger the light source, the softer the light.

The closer the light source, the softer the light.

It looks to me like your light source is too small for a single light shot. or it was too far away. Either increase the size of the light source, use a reflector... or use two lights. I highly recommend using a reflector anytime you are using a single light source.

I have two 36" reflective umbrellas. In that shot, I was using one umbrella on a stand (about 8 feet away) with an old sb-27 strobe, I believe I had it on full power, if not, it was on half, pretty sure full though.

36" is small! And 8' is too far for a 36" (in this instance)....try doing a similar shot with it about 4'. Check out the difference!

will do, thanks for the heads up. It's an easily enough repeatable setup, so I will definitely reshoot and compare. Thank you.

 

[Ernicus]

I have two 36" reflective umbrellas. In that shot, I was using one umbrella on a stand (about 8 feet away) with an old sb-27 strobe, I believe I had it on full power, if not, it was on half, pretty sure full though.

36" is small! And 8' is too far for a 36" (in this instance)....try doing a similar shot with it about 4'. Check out the difference!

will do, thanks for the heads up. It's an easily enough repeatable setup, so I will definitely reshoot and compare. Thank you.

dumb question, and I'll find out when I redo it, but putting the reflector that close won't make her too bright?

 

[cgipson1]

On this one, I don't think the shadows on her face or body are drastic like the other one, but the obvious shadow cast from her body as a whole on the futon is icky. No reflector or stronger light to slave on the other side though. Could this have been a case where a black background would have benefited...?

She's cute! You are a lucky guy!

Better lighting.. that is the answer! Not a black background... that would just hide the shadows that shouldn't be there in the first place! (am I picking on you??? Maybe!!!! lol!)

 

[cgipson1]

36" is small! And 8' is too far for a 36" (in this instance)....try doing a similar shot with it about 4'. Check out the difference!

will do, thanks for the heads up. It's an easily enough repeatable setup, so I will definitely reshoot and compare. Thank you.

dumb question, and I'll find out when I redo it, but putting the reflector that close won't make her too bright?

Depends on the reflector, the subject, reflector location, and the light source you are reflecting.... play with it, and learn! Reflected light will seldom ever be as bright as the light source it is reflecting.... that is why reflectors are so nice! They provide fill.. rather than key....

 

[Ernicus]

good stuff.

This a good buy instead of just the lamp?

Flashpoint II FP320SB1 Monolight Kit, 150 Watt Second FP320SB1

 

[Ernicus]

will do, thanks for the heads up. It's an easily enough repeatable setup, so I will definitely reshoot and compare. Thank you.

dumb question, and I'll find out when I redo it, but putting the reflector that close won't make her too bright?

Depends on the reflector, the subject, reflector location, and the light source you are reflecting.... play with it, and learn! Reflected light will seldom ever be as bright as the light source it is reflecting.... that is why reflectors are so nice! They provide fill.. rather than key....

So a good reflector placed correctly on that side would have killed those full body shadows?

 

[Jaemie]

Now you're just teasing us. :3



No, I have nothing serious to add. Everyone else knows way more about this stuff than I.

 

[Tony S]

Give getting your light closer to her a try. Like just out of the view that you see through the viewfinder, do the same thing with what you use to reflect light in on the opposite side. A simple piece of white poster board works great as a reflector.

From the looks of the last shot I would say you are learning from your mistakes, that one looks pretty good except for the shadow that falls behind her.

 

[kundalini]

^^^^ Yes to to this.

Pic #2: Since she parts her hair on the right side, I would be tempted to place the main light on that side, camera left. This will help to alleviate the shadow on her forehead caused by the raised hair.

Pic #3: Be mindful of how she is posed like this. Having the thigh cut a horizontal line across the frame will make it appear larger than it is.

 

[cgipson1]

dumb question, and I'll find out when I redo it, but putting the reflector that close won't make her too bright?

Depends on the reflector, the subject, reflector location, and the light source you are reflecting.... play with it, and learn! Reflected light will seldom ever be as bright as the light source it is reflecting.... that is why reflectors are so nice! They provide fill.. rather than key....

So a good reflector placed correctly on that side would have killed those full body shadows?

It would have lightened them significantly.. not removed them!

 

[cgipson1]

good stuff.

This a good buy instead of just the lamp?

Flashpoint II FP320SB1 Monolight Kit, 150 Watt Second FP320SB1

Sure.. if you want to go with the softbox (nothing wrong with a good softbox!).. that is a rocking deal! However.. if you are going to work with a single light, sometimes a larger modifier is easier to work with. I actually like this even better (especially for full body shots), but many people complain that is it TOO big! lol! Photek SL6000 Softliter 60in Diffused Umbrella SL6000 (I actually have one 90" parabolic umbrella... and love it!)

This is a smaller option... Photek SL5000 Softlighter II, Umbrella with Diffuser SL5000