testing lighting

[Lmphotos]

Just wanting help and critique on lighting. Does the flash look to hot to you?

 

[tirediron]

The exposure on the skin looks pretty good; perhaps very slightly over, but you've got a hot spot on the dress right in the middle of her right breast. I would also suggest getting the light a little higher (and keep the ambient lighting brighter). You're definitely on the right track.

 

[kundalini]

Could you give the position of your lighting setup and subject using the camera as the base point? Please include distances, angles and heights You don't need to be specific to the inch, but a reasonable guess if you didn't record the info while shooting.

 

[Lmphotos]

I had a speedlight on a white shoot through umbrella about 9ft in the air angled 45 degree at camera left. I had a reflector on the right side as well as another speedlight on top my camera pointed and bounce on the right wall. They were all approx 3-4 feet away from her

 

[kundalini]

I had a speedlight on a white shoot through umbrella about 9ft in the air angled 45 degree at camera left. I had a reflector on the right side as well as another speedlight on top my camera pointed and bounce on the right wall. They were all approx 3-4 feet away from her

I would expect the catchlights to be in a different position and the nose shadow to be longer if the Main light was at 9' A.F.F. The catchlights are at ~9:00 o'clock. The combination of the reflector and bounced light is likely canceling any harsh shadow from the Main. I kinda suspected an umbrella because of the reflected sequins. A couple of ways to avoid that is to feather your Main light towards the camera rather than pointed directly at your subject and/or place a flag below the Main to keep it from striking the subject full-on with the highly reflective material. You have a nice lighting ratio on her face and is giving a more dimensional look.

One thing that is seen all too often is the square-to-camera look. A nice pose could be to have her turn so that her shoulders are at ~30° (front to back). To further add to a more dynamic look, have your model place forward foot (this happens naturally with the turn of the shoulders) in line with her rearward foot and then shift her weight on her rearward heel while lifting her forward heel off the floor slightly. This may sound ackward, but try it yourself in front of a full mirror. All standing poses begin with the feet and all others benefit from having the feet sorted first.

 

[cenote]

The left side(her right) looks to bright to me compared to her other side. Is that from bad bounce, or the way the light is angled on her? Probualy a little post could correct this quickly I would think.

 

[Lmphotos]

Not looking for any critique on the posing this was merely a shot for lighting and this photo is not even being given to her because of the pose. It's just the one I felt reflected the lighting I had the best. I did notice her catch lights we very small but ue stage umbrella is to the right side. Honestly when I do beauty I try to do very soft flat light. Yes I said it Flat....lol so this one was after dark and I couldn't use window light and was messing with strobes just trying to see what other people feel about it. I am not a big fan of this lighting. I really like my large window with reflectors everywhere. I am even thinking of bouncing all flashes and get rid of the hoot through Bella for these types of shoots

 

[hirejn]

It looks like a Rembrandt pattern, not very flattering on most women usually, and neither is the broad lighting. Subject is too close to the background. Exposure is subjective so if you don't like it, change it. Getting correct exposure is not an issue if you use a flash meter.