Wrap around studio light?

[andynrach]

Okay, so I am new to the whole studio world, and I am finding it maddening! To think this fool thought predictable light would be easier...I have so much to learn! I have a three light strobe set up, one softbox, and two white umbrellas. I have one boom stand and the other two are just, well, light stands. I'm looking for the best set up for a newborn/child. I'm looking for that nice white wraparound light, but I'm having a hard time. Right now, I have the softbox almost overhead and a little behind subject, one strobe on the white background to blow it out, and one camera left, through an umbrella and pointed at the white ceiling/wall angled to bounce back on the subject. I'm thinking I have wwwaaayyyy too much light going on. Should I replace the strobe on the left side of the camera with a reflector? Or perhaps eliminate the strobe on the background and just use the strobe on the left to hit the background and subject by using a reflector? Do I need another softbox or perhaps a panel diffuser? Help is GREATLY appreciated as I feel as though I'm losing my mind on this one. Thanks in advance!!

 

[RockstarPhotography]

post pics of your setup and your results thus far. we may be able to help you better that way.

 

[tirediron]

^^ What he said!!

-How are you determining exposure? Do you have a good flash meter?

 

[andynrach]

Thanks guys, will do! I was getting ready to just after I posted when my husband decided he finally wanted to do the taxes online. Silly husband.....

 

[andynrach]

Ok, so here are some examples of my lighting. I think I may have a better set up for the dark backgrounds, but I included some to get some areas for improvement. I am completely aware that there is something wrong with the light on all of these, so I'm hoping you will help me figure out how to do it the right way. To answer you on the meter question, I have a shepherd polaris meter. My camera syncs at 250, and my meter almost ALWAYS reads f5.6...which is what I use 99% of the time. I realize meters can be thrown sometimes, so I do a few tests shots to be sure I'm getting what looks right. I do not shoot tethered, but I wish I could. My lights are two 400w strobes, with umbrellas, with a 205/63 ft/m guide number, and one 100 w/s with softbox with a guide number of 30.

1. My niece and her husband allowed me to use them as models for this. This has been autoleveled, autocontrasted, and sharpened.
5012editpp by andynrach, on Flickr

2. Same couple, autoleveled, autosharpened, and then I upped the contrast/level a little bit because her black shirt was showing some skin underneath and it was distracting. I tried cloning it out, but it never looked right no matter my opacity, etc.
4961editbw_pphigh_edited-1 by andynrach, on Flickr

3. This is my nephew (yes, I married into a HUGE family....FREE MODELS!!) THis is completely untouched. He looks a little hot on the right to me, but again....completely untouched.
_DSC3600 by andynrach, on Flickr

4. Another untouched sample of my dark background lighting. For this shot I had two lights on, vs. one light in the baby in carriage shot. These are my daughters, will work for cookies.
_DSC0740 by andynrach, on Flickr

5. Last, another niece, and her fiance. I should have taken one step to the right and gotten her whole face, but what I am looking for is what is wrong with my light? It just looks off to me!! Perhaps I've been looking at this too long.
2216edit by andynrach, on Flickr



Thank you all for your help. I know I'm not supposed to compare myself to others, but I really respect what you all do and want to improve my work. I shoot daily in an effort to improve, but I've reached a brick wall on this studio stuff!! Anyway, have a great Monday! Thanks in advance!

 

[Big Mike]

I've had a look at the photos, and they're not too bad...they way you were 'talking', I expected much worse.

Besides saying that you're looking for "that nice white wraparound light" (what do you mean by that, anyway?), you don't really mention what you're trying to do...and then your photos seem to be a random sampling of different scenarios.

To make things easier for you & us, I'd suggest sticking to one scenario at a time. Tell us what you were trying to do, what your set up was and show us the image. Then we can try to diagnose the issues and find a solution.

A common approach to learning (and using) lighting, is to start with one light. See what you can do with that one light and only add more when you have a definite need for them.

If you want a uniformly white background, then you'll likely need to light is separately, and especially if you are using fabric as a backdrop, you'll likely need to cross light it with two lights. That only leaves you with one light for your subject, so you could use a reflector as fill.

 

[KmH]

How much light 'wraps' is determined by the apparent size of your light source. The bigger the apparent size of the light, the more it will wrap.

'Wrap' also affects the softness of shadows. A lot of wrap produced by an apparently large light source makes very soft edged shaows.

What are the sizes of your light modifiers? (umbrellas and softbox)

You can use different light setups to help make people look better. For instance the pregnant girls face could be made to look less puffy if you used short lighting with a touch of broad side fill, rather than lighting her so there are few shadows on her face.

In the color photo of her and her husband, your light is to high and to bright. The shadows under her cheeks make her cheeks very promenent and their dark left eye sockets unbalance their facial masks.

 

[andynrach]

Gotcha KmH!!...cheeky faces= short lighting broad fill......now to find some cheeky friends to pose for me!! My softbox is 23" square, should I get bigger because I'm probably going to invest in a second soon and if so, I'll just get two.

Thanks BigMike! I thought I was a total loss! It is hard to tell you what kind of light I'm talking about without showing you and since I haven't quite gotten there yet I have no images of my own to show you So, the best I can describe it is that soft, white, window light that is used with newborn photography..baby is usually in a basket with something on it's head. I'm definitely trying the two light on the background and reflector light set up to see what that gets me. I like the look of seamless paper, but I thought the fabric may be more versatile. I hate ironing, though

Thank you so much for the feedback. You all might just make a photographer of me yet!

 

[Big Mike]

I like the look of seamless paper, but I thought the fabric may be more versatile. I hate ironing, though

If you want that clean white look that seamless gives you, you can do that with fabric, as long as it's relatively flat. Using two lights is the key. If you use one light from the side, you will have shadows from every wrinkle & crease, but if you light it evenly from both sides, you can probably even out all the shadows and get a clean look. This does get tough if you have the backdrop coming down and then under/around your subject though.
But the general idea is that you put more light on the backdrop, to make it white...because using only the key light, the backdrop would just be grey.

 

[andynrach]

Thank you! It makes sense to use two on the background to keep wrinkles from showing. You guys are the best!

 

[Big Mike]

Not only wrinkles, but even lighting.

Anything white (especially fabric or paper) has the property of diffuse reflection, which is subject to the inverse square law. In other words, the farther it is from the light, the darker it gets. So if you use one light, on the side....the side of the backdrop that is closest to the light, will be brighter than the far side. The difference will depend on the difference in the distance from each side to the light.

So rather than have your backdrop go from white to grey across it...if you light from both sides, evenly, you can get a nice clean what background.