Tested some new equipment over the weekend...

xzyragon · Dec 15, 2014

Got my second strobe and a couple continuous softboxes over the weekend, and put them to some good use testing out / learning about light. Here's a couple serious and not so serious ones from the session

1

Wearing darkness by christophercoxphoto, on Flickr

2

IMG_9143 by christophercoxphoto, on Flickr

3

IMG_9139 by christophercoxphoto, on Flickr

4

IMG_9140 by christophercoxphoto, on Flickr

5

IMG_9121 by christophercoxphoto, on Flickr

Luckily when you're shooting roommates they can come back whenever, so I'll get to re-shoot and fill in the background better. I'm still figuring out how to really accentuate his jawline with lighting, and to get his hair to pop against a dark background. Anyways, tips, comments, critiques. All is welcome.

qleak · Dec 15, 2014

Is that blue steel in #2? It looks like you 2 had fun!

xzyragon · Dec 15, 2014

qleak said:
Is that blue steel in #2? It looks like you 2 had fun!

It definitely was

kundalini · Dec 15, 2014

Your light sources are at 10:00 and 4:00 o'clock judging by the catch lights. This virtually stops any modeling effect from the lights << read shadowing>>. The result produces a rather flat 2D and boring result. In portraiture, shadows are our friends.

Two lights does not equal two Main light sources. It means you can now have a Main light and a Fill light. An open window gives you a third and a reflector offers a fourth light source.

Have a look at this site and the related links at the bottom of the page.
Tutorial: Facial Analysis In Fine Portraiture

Keep nice with the model. He is very expressive.

Keep practicing and thanks for sharing.

xzyragon · Dec 16, 2014

kundalini said:
Your light sources are at 10:00 and 4:00 o'clock judging by the catch lights. This virtually stops any modeling effect from the lights << read shadowing>>. The result produces a rather flat 2D and boring result. In portraiture, shadows are our friends.

Two lights does not equal two Main light sources. It means you can now have a Main light and a Fill light. An open window gives you a third and a reflector offers a fourth light source.

Have a look at this site and the related links at the bottom of the page.
Tutorial: Facial Analysis In Fine Portraiture

Keep nice with the model. He is very expressive.

Keep practicing and thanks for sharing.

Yup I'm learning about this as I go. He's my roommate and is down for any pictures I make. Plus he films, so we're learning about lighting together.

Took this as a joke of my other roommate

Raw by christophercoxphoto, on Flickr

And retouched another hood picture

Andre 2.0 by christophercoxphoto, on Flickr