New Studio set! Would like some helpful criticism?

First time using our new portable studio set! We had some trouble getting the background to be completely white without any shadows.. but we only had one soft box on the back drop..and one softbox in front of the subject...along with a gold umbrella about 6 feet away (majority of the time).. Any lighting/other tips anyone can provide would be much appreciated!

























-Lauren, Spry-Media

Good first attempt. In most images, the hair is very dark. Lots of shadow there. You may want to use one of your lights as a hair light, or at least use a reflector overhead to bounce some light back at the hair.

not a bad attempt at all. check out http://www.zarias.com/?p=71 for a good tutorial and some great photoshop yips to fix what you have there and make it true white.

I know that you've already gotten some kudos for your first attempt, so I'll go against the grain. With a first attempt, I believe what we should be seeing is an effort at fundamental and recognizable portrait lighting techniques. What I see here is randomness; lights thrown around without any thought or insight other than getting the lights off camera axis. Some shots have no shadows at all and those that do aren't good. Lighting arbitrarily CAN produce some good shots. Then again, it's statistically possible for a blind person to solve a Rubik's cube, given enough time. Learn the rules. Learn established techniques. Know what you're doing. Are rules meant to be broken? Sure. But only after you know what the rules are.

The good news is that you obviously interact very well with your subjects. I've seen portraits which had a far greater command of lighting technique that positively sucked because the photographer had positively no connection with the people his pictures. Build on that with good lighting technique and you'll really have something.

By the way, I see you've used lots of soft light. Soft light is easier than hard light because it's more forgiving. It's created a complete misconception that hard light can't create flattering portraiture.That's why everybody and their brother around here only use the soft stuff. That is so wrong! Learn solid positioning techniques with hard light and then use the soft modifiers as EFFECTS.

lhurst said:

First time using our new portable studio set! We had some trouble getting the background to be completely white without any shadows.. but we only had one soft box on the back drop..and one softbox in front of the subject...along with a gold umbrella about 6 feet away (majority of the time).. Any lighting/other tips anyone can provide would be much appreciated!

























-Lauren, Spry-Media

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Michael Thomas Mitchell

The light is hot and a bit flat. Learn ratios and light positions (and use a meter). Posing and framing is awesome, good job there.

With 3 lights, you need a main, fill and a hair or at least a kicker for seperation.

First attempt? Not bad, but you will amaze yourself if you keep working it and learning what's good light and what's not. I got a large book of Vanity Fair portraits, mostly famous people. I looked at all the styles of lighting and try to figure out where the lighting is and how the sets were set up.

Read up on lighting ratios, setups, etc. You can get very interesting portraits with 1 light but for the text book portrait you would use a 5 light setup. Remember, a piece of white foam board can count as a light if it reflects what you need/want.

Check out my portfolio @ http://www.worlandphotography.com I have some low and high key portraits in there. They range from 3:1 to 9:1 ratios. Keep shooting and keep your first attempt shots to look back on. You will see yourself grow light years if you explore and learn.

Good luck.
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http://www.worland.net