Trying to improve my lighting technique

[Aloicious]

So I've been working on my lighting technique lately, I'm helping a family member with some portrait work (I say "work" generally, this is not paid, just helping my brother out) in a few weeks, and I don't really shoot people very much, and never do for my business work...actually, I don't really like doing portraits...but my brother and his family spent their money on a...how shall I put this..."less than ideal"...."photographer"....that probably makes it sound worse than it was....but nevertheless, I'm helping them by taking some more family images and I want them to be happy with the results, so I've been practicing my lighting technique a little since portrait lighting is a bit different than what I usually do...

anyways, my cat is my only model that I have to work with tonight. so bear with the fact that its not a human portrait...but I'm not trying to work on skin tones, etc...just mainly my lighting setup right now (and I was working on getting my PW's auto-relay setup fixed)...so C&C, especially, on the lighting setup is appreciated...

this one I setup a 3 point soft lighting setup that is similar to what I'm thinking about doing...basically I've got 2x einsteins, and one SB700 in this shot...the main light is an einstein about 30 degrees camera right with a 60" shoot through umbrella above the subject angled about 45 degrees downward with about 4.5 feet distance between the umbrella and subject, fill light was about 45 degrees camera left with a 51" shoot through umbrella just slightly above the subject angled maybe 20 degrees downward, the SB700 was used as a hair light approx 75 degrees camara left, shooting about level with the subject and "kindof" snooted (all I had was a piece of printer paper to make the snoot out of, so alot of light spill out the paper on the snoot...you can't see much of the hair light other than the very top of his head, most was blocked by his ear...but I can't really position him too well, and he didn't stay around long enough for me to try different setups...

I can't remember the exact power settings off the top of my head, but the main light was the highest with the fill light ~1 to 1.5 stops lower power, and the hair light was probably ~.5-1 stop lower than the fill light...

D800, Sigma 150mm macro lens, f4, 1/200s, ISO100

so what I'm thinking here is that I should probably lower the fill light power a little more, use something that will REALLY snoot the hair light with something that won't spill light out the sides, and also raise the hair light up alot more (I only had room to set it on the table for this shot)...I'm also thinking I should stop down a little more, and perhaps lower the shutter speed, his nose is JUST BARELY out of the plane of focus, and the lower shutter speed will compensate for the exposure difference...

this one is a hard lighting, just one SB700 set on the floor about 20-30 degrees camera left and shooting upward at a 45 degree angle (so that the flash power isn't concentrated on him) and I'm laying on the floor with the camera next to me...not really a setup I'd have with a family, but perhaps an individual for something more dramatic....and its good learning either way...

D800, Sigma 150mm macro lens, f3.2, 1/200s, ISO100

I'd probably stop down a little more (not too much on this one, I like the shallow DOF), and lower the shutter speed a good amount (this one was underexposed as is before processing anyways)...

anyways, let me know if you have any C&C, or even things that are just good practice (other than getting real people to practice with....I'm well aware of that )...let me know...

 

[pgriz]

#1 - I've seen THAT look before. "Look I'm doing you a favor, and I expect a lot of kitty treats after we're done, preferably in the next five seconds or so!"
Lighting on face is good, but catchlights (left eye) need some help. Background is too bright and some of the blurry detail at left is distracting.

#2 - I think the DOF is too shallow. I see what you were going for, but a little bit more DOF (at least to catch the right eye) would make this a stronger image. Also in this one, the background is too dark, blending in with the tones on top of the head.

 

[Designer]

"so what I'm thinking here is that I should probably lower the fill light power a little more, use something that will REALLY snoot the hair light with something that won't spill light out the sides, and also raise the hair light up alot more"

Yes to all that. I think you are on the right track with your thinking and the setup as it starts to work itself out.

The second one has promise, and if I may suggest a rim light on the cat's ears would be what this shot needs. As for humans, I'd like to see it tried, but I have no idea how it would look, so go ahead and try it when you get a model.

 

[Aloicious]

#1 - I've seen THAT look before. "Look I'm doing you a favor, and I expect a lot of kitty treats after we're done, preferably in the next five seconds or so!"
Lighting on face is good, but catchlights (left eye) need some help. Background is too bright and some of the blurry detail at left is distracting.

#2 - I think the DOF is too shallow. I see what you were going for, but a little bit more DOF (at least to catch the right eye) would make this a stronger image. Also in this one, the background is too dark, blending in with the tones on top of the head.

Thanks! so when you are talking about the catchlight needing help, you're refering to making them more equal in each eye, right? perhaps bringing the key light (which is the one causing the catchlight in this instance) down lower, and probably closer to the camera a little, making it a little more square with the face? the background being bright is likely partially due to the poor 'snoot' I was using letting too much light spill out back there. I'll definitely make something better for my next practice attempt.

on #2 I was actually wanting a darker background, but I agree that it's blending too much, I think you're on the same track as what designer is thinking as well with a rim light to separate the tones of the ears/head from the background..

"so what I'm thinking here is that I should probably lower the fill light power a little more, use something that will REALLY snoot the hair light with something that won't spill light out the sides, and also raise the hair light up alot more"

Yes to all that. I think you are on the right track with your thinking and the setup as it starts to work itself out.

The second one has promise, and if I may suggest a rim light on the cat's ears would be what this shot needs. As for humans, I'd like to see it tried, but I have no idea how it would look, so go ahead and try it when you get a model.

A rim light is a great idea. I'll definitely give it a shot when I get a human test model.

Thanks for the suggestions, they're helping out alot.