Self-Portrait

[kdthomas]

Took this last night with my new speedo brown line strobes. Had the M3 head about 8 feet away to my right at half power, f/22 1/125th sec, ISO100. Used the 18-55 kit lens, around 25 mm I think

Comments welcome, many thanks in advance

--Kerry

 

[Derrel]

This is very harsh "split lighting". I've never been a big fan of split lighting, with the one side of the face lighted, the other side dark. I dunno...it's...split lighting, alright. Consider this a learning experience, and just keep on working. If you have any Brown Line questions, I have 28 years of Brown Line ownership and a lot of B.L. stuff, so feel free to PM me. I have a blog post from some years back (spring of 2008) on Brown Line stuff. Derrel's Photography Blog: My 99th Blog Post: Speedotron Overview 2008 and I have I think five Brown Line videos on my Derrelator channel on YouTube.

 

[sscarmack]

Work on pre focus, and as Derrel said split lighting is hit or miss.

Congrats on the new light.


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[kdthomas]

Well, the effect I was going for, was to be a bit harsh with it, and I wanted to split the face right in half. So, what I'm hearing is that the focus isn't quite sharp enough, but what about the split lighting itself? Is there a way I could do the split-lighting technique better?

I was thinking I could give the black wall behind the subject a bit of a glow.

 

[Bender]

Needs to be sharper and some catch light in the dark eye would have helped as well.

 

[kundalini]

I'd suggest to rethink your Main light placement. Split lighting should have the Main at ear level. The catch light is below 9:00 o'clock which means you are up-lighting. This is quite noticeable because your waist and right arm are brighter than your face. Remember, portraiture is all about the face.

Even with split lighting, some Fill light can enhance the effect by giving the viewer more to chew on with more visual interest on the shadow side.

The bright part of the left elbow is a bit off putting. Do some research on flagging your Main light.

As far as your settings, what was your thought process for them? Was there something in the combination of those numbers you were hoping to achieve?

 

[kdthomas]

OK, second attempt:



Used the 50 1.4 and an M90 at ear level, and the M3 behind me with several paper towels across the front (no model lights!) to dampen it

 

[D-B-J]

OK, second attempt:

View attachment 84441

Used the 50 1.4 and an M90 at ear level, and the M3 behind me with several paper towels across the front (no model lights!) to dampen it

Much better, but a bit more rim light would help. I'm not positive, but I think it'd be cool to have a rim light on your shadowed side, so we could still see the outline instead of blackity blackness.

Jake


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[kdthomas]

OK, this one is almost the same, except pointed the light in back up a tad more, and put some white paper towels on the wall to my left (hey, whatever works )

 

[mcap1972]

I would add one more kicker light to the right-back or just use a reflector to fill-in some of the shadows.