Studio Model Portrait with Lighting Diagram

[DanOstergren]

Shot this one yesterday of my friend's son. I used a constant ring light with a diffusing sock for the lighting.

Instead of making a lighting diagram, I have a BTS shot that shows the light positioning.

 

[zulu42]

Honestly, your lighting always seems far too simple for the way your portraits turn out. They're always world-class, and I don't expect to ever fully understand the magic behind it. It's okay. It is a privilege just to view them. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Derrel]

Nice lighting and processing. I've always liked that round light + black dot in the middle catchlight effect. 40-inch umbrella boxes with an 8-inch Speedo reflector (from an M90 light unit) inside them give the same type of effect...I think it adds a really interesting touch to the catchlights, to have that "black dot" in the middle of them.

The actual photo is so,so much better than any on-line generated lighting diagram! Thanks for showing us the BTS shot.

 

[jcdeboever]

Amazing and magical.

 

[smoke665]

Very nice. I particularly like the skin texture, eyes and color. Was there much post work here? I'm struggling with photographing some children with similar features, and very dark brown eyes. If i get sufficient light into the eyes to illuminate the color, the pebble texture gives off specular highlights. Drop the exposure down and the eyes go dark. Any suggestions?

 

[SoulfulRecover]

Not sure why your work isn't constantly in print. Another wonderful photo

 

[DanOstergren]

Honestly, your lighting always seems far too simple for the way your portraits turn out. They're always world-class, and I don't expect to ever fully understand the magic behind it. It's okay. It is a privilege just to view them. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you! I think it's the case with many crafts that the best results are achieved with simple and straightforward techniques.

 

[DanOstergren]

Nice lighting and processing. I've always liked that round light + black dot in the middle catchlight effect. 40-inch umbrella boxes with an 8-inch Speedo reflector (from an M90 light unit) inside them give the same type of effect...I think it adds a really interesting touch to the catchlights, to have that "black dot" in the middle of them.

The actual photo is so,so much better than any on-line generated lighting diagram! Thanks for showing us the BTS shot.

Thanks Derrel! Yeah, it definitely has a look of it's own. I haven't decided if I'm partial to a particular type of catch-light. I may edit the catch light just to see how it looks.

 

[DanOstergren]

Amazing and magical.

Thank you.

 

[DanOstergren]

Very nice. I particularly like the skin texture, eyes and color. Was there much post work here? I'm struggling with photographing some children with similar features, and very dark brown eyes. If i get sufficient light into the eyes to illuminate the color, the pebble texture gives off specular highlights. Drop the exposure down and the eyes go dark. Any suggestions?

Thank you. The editing was subtle, but it was actually enough work to take over an hour. Perhaps your light source is too small, or not close enough to the subject. Light has a softer effect the closer it is to the subject. It's possible that it's not properly diffused as well.

 

[smoke665]

@DanOstergren have more than enough light with large octabox. I think it may your use of a larger aperture.

 

[DanOstergren]

@DanOstergren have more than enough light with large octabox. I think it may your use of a larger aperture.

I think I initially misunderstood your question. I have the light low enough to illuminate the eyes but still high enough to sculpt the facial features, and to bring more detail out in the eyes I do some dodging.