Shot a Friend This Week

musicaleCA · Jul 19, 2009

Went about playing with my umbrellas and reflectors. What fun.

My friend needed some "nice shots" for her parents and I was more than happy to oblige. She wasn't expecting me to bring all the lighting gear though; as she put it, she just thought of "nicer camera kind of nicer shots." :lmao:

C&C would be appreciated on how I could improve these shots, particularly lighting. (Don't ask me what power the flashes were set at. I can't remember. I know I didn't fire them at 1/1 at any point though.) All shot with my 50mm f/1.4, so that's effectively 80mm.

ISO 200, f/3.5, 1/100

Shot at sunset. One 580EXII (key light) on a stand with white shoot-though umbrella camera left, 45º down on the subject, relatively high. One 580EXII on a stand camera left and behind the subject with white umbrella, also relatively high. Soft gold reflector to the (camera) right of the subject, angled to reflect light from the sun (behind) and first flash.

ISO 200, f/2.0, 1/125

Shot as sunset. One 580EXII (key light) on a stand, with white-shoot through umbrella camera left, close to subject, 45º (ish) down, again high. Soft gold reflector behind the tree, angled to reflect some light from behind from a bare 580EXII on a stand behind the subject and camera left (the flash pointing directly at the reflector, zoomed to 105mm). 550EX with pop-out diffuser on the ground, pointing up toward the subject from about...er...I think it as about 2 metres away. (I know, I cut the fingers, bah. Then again, I don't think it hurts it that much, because the eyes suck me right in. May be quite different for others though.)

ISO 800, f/3.2, 1/15

Shot at night. One 580EXII (key light) on a stand camera left, with white shoot-through umbrella, again relatively high and pointing down. Silver reflector camera right angled to reflect light from the flash back toward the subject's right side, a little from behind. 580EXII on the ground for fill.

Misfitlimp · Jul 19, 2009

i like the 3rd one. the first 2 where kinda thrown off by the dress but the 3rds onsamble matches her style

HeY iTs ScOTtY · Jul 19, 2009

i think the third need a little brighter background just to contrast her clothes/hair.

musicaleCA · Jul 19, 2009

HeY iTs ScOTtY said:
i think the third need a little brighter background just to contrast her clothes/hair.

Yeah, I pretty much agree. I was already at 1/15 on a non-IS lens though. >.< Guess I could've thrown another flash+brella toward the background. The light fall-off might get messy though.

Baaaark · Jul 19, 2009

Is there any way to keep her legs in the first one, or is this a full crop?

Bad Andy · Jul 19, 2009

Nice shots. I like the skin tone on the second one the best. It also helps that the model seams to be smiling a little more.

musicaleCA · Jul 19, 2009

Baaaark said:
Is there any way to keep her legs in the first one, or is this a full crop?

Unfortunately, it's a full. I've been meaning to get a small step ladder to give me a foot or two of extra height so that I can still shoot down to get the legs with my 50mm (I really didn't want to sacrifice IQ by swapping to my 17-85, which I did for a few shots but pretty quickly went back; definitely meaning to get that 24-70 f/2.8 L soonish). That was as much as I could get while not putting her head at the centre of the frame, so I compromised and took it. In the end, she liked that one better than the ones I took with the 17-85 (no, she doesn't know about the particulars of my lenses).

As for smiles, ah well, she's actually extremely uncomfortable being in-front of a camera. She really doesn't like having pictures taken. If I wasn't her friend, I bet she'd be a fair bit more uncomfortable looking. (She also thinks her natural smile looks awkward, so she didn't want to smile, naturally or otherwise).

c.cloudwalker · Jul 19, 2009

In all 3 shots she has shadows under her eyes but they don't seem to be a lighting problem. Was she tired? Or... could it be a shadow of her mascaraed eyelashes? I keep looking at the rest of the shadows but I can't figure it out. Maybe I'm just too tired.

Anyway, I like #1 best. Love the dress. Sure, it's not going to appeal to everybody but that's not the point, is it? It seems to fit her while in #3 she seems to try and fit in with more "normal" clothes.

I don't mind her legs being cut off a bit. To me it works nicely enough in this shot and I think it would work even better if you cropped the top down as close to the bandana as possible without cutting it.

The main problem with #1 is the light. Her legs are almost white and then you go up her arm and it keeps getting darker. You can see it in the dress also. The white squares closest to the bottom of the dress are the lightest while the ones on her chest are somewhat darker

#2 I don't find the pose very interesting

#3 Again, I don't like the clothes as much and I do not like what she's doing with her hands. My eyes keep going back down there and that is not what we want to look at.

Beautiful girl. Hope she's not your girlfriend because I'm on my way to Vancouver. I want a date :lmao:

three_eyed_otter · Jul 19, 2009

I like the 2nd one, but think that the leaf that is pokin' her hairline is in the way and the left arm bicep leaf is stinky as well...

have a good one
3Eo

musicaleCA · Jul 19, 2009

c.cloudwalker said:
In all 3 shots she has shadows under her eyes but they don't seem to be a lighting problem. Was she tired? Or... could it be a shadow of her mascaraed eyelashes? I keep looking at the rest of the shadows but I can't figure it out. Maybe I'm just too tired.

Anyway, I like #1 best. Love the dress. Sure, it's not going to appeal to everybody but that's not the point, is it? It seems to fit her while in #3 she seems to try and fit in with more "normal" clothes. I don't mind her legs being cut off a bit. To me it works nicely enough in this shot and I think it would work even better if you cropped the top down as close to the bandana as possible without cutting it.

The main problem with #1 is the light. Her legs are almost white and then you go up her arm and it keeps getting darker. You can see it in the dress also. The white squares closest to the bottom of the dress are the lightest while the ones on her chest are somewhat darker

#2 I don't find the pose very interesting

#3 Again, I don't like the clothes as much and I do not like what she's doing with her hands. My eyes keep going back down there and that is not what we want to look at.

Beautiful girl. Hope she's not your girlfriend because I'm on my way to Vancouver. I want a date :lmao:

Eee. Thanks for the thoughtful critique. She already has a boyfriend. :greenpbl: (No, it's not me.)

Especially thanks for #1. I need to think about light fall-off more. That and putting light exactly where I want it. I was a little caught-up, I think, just trying to get her skin tones in the face a bit more "normal" looking. (She's quite pale.) <edit: excuse me while I go turn my brain on> Eh, well...*goes off to try fixing it up*.

Big · Jul 19, 2009

Isn't it funny how the thread's title would normally be a terrible thing but in photography, it has a whole new meaning? :lol:

redtippmann · Jul 19, 2009

If you have an extra strobe I'd get some lighting on the background. Its common to just think of lighting the subject but with low light like here the background is just as important (well sorta).

musicaleCA · Jul 20, 2009

Better? I threw a gradient adjustment layer (black to transparent) on her, turned the opacity way down, and masked it so it was only on her, but completely removed from the background and her face/upper body. Then blurred it a little to get a smoother transition than what my quick-and-dirty brushing did.

Oh, and yes, the eyes are a little dark underneath. We tried to lighten that up with some makeup, I tried to get more light under the eyes, and I PP'd it a little too (clonestamp from brighter skin tones on a new layer, lower opacity to suit). I don't think she was tired; just something about her eyes. Makeup or PP suggestions for fixing that would be much appreciated.