Working on Strobist Lighting Methods Please CC some of My Portrait Shots

Hi everyone,

I have been shooting for the last couple of weekends with off camera lighting and really working hard to start understanding lighting via the strobist method. In addition, I have been actively reading the forums and comments on here and other sites like flickr. I have made a lot of mistakes so far but I am slowly understanding the play between aperture, shutter speed, iso, and lighting with a single strobe. I would like to know your thoughts on the lighting for these portrait shots I did of some of my friends which represents a summation of my skills up to this point. I post processed each one in Lightroom 2, rented some pro glass, shot in manual, and my friends are wearing some makeup. My goal was to treat the shoot as if it was an actual paid portrait session. Any advice to make the portraits better and any critiques are more then welcome as I am learning and need honest feedback from those of you out there that are more experienced with lighting. Thanks again for checking these photos out.

The equipment used for these portraits is:
Nikon D300
Nikon 24-70 f2.8 lens I rented.
Sb600 triggered via commander mode at 1/8 power i think may have to check
Umbrella on Camera right
Silver Reflector on Camera left.
These were all shot about f4 with a shutter between 200 and 250.

























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http://www.flickr.com/photos/_davo_/

You're losing detail in their face. I can barely see their nose. Either the light is too close or your post-processing is too heavy.

Thank you for the feedback! This is the first time I have applied any type of skin softening to my photos and I may have overdid it now when I look at it, especially around the nose as you mention. The light source was close but I think the softening results is more of my post processing work which I still need to get a handle on. Thanks again!
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/_davo_/

all of them are over exposed 1/3 - 1/2 stop.

try foam core/board for fill, it's softer

try turning their body 45 degree to the light source, so they dont just stand there like taking ID photo.

try shooting eye level

hope that's help

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briand liong
http://www.PANDA-link.com
http://www.BriandLiong.com

Thank you for the feedback Kartika.

"all of them are over exposed 1/3 - 1/2 stop."

I was afraid of losing details so I have been trying to properly expose to the right. Will keep this in mind and pay more attention to my histogram as I shoot to not overexpose so much.

"try foam core/board for fill, it's softer"

Thats good to know, ill have to pick some of that up. I used a silver reflector here but will also try switching to the white side as well.

"try turning their body 45 degree to the light source, so they dont just stand there like taking ID photo."

Yea i think I have become so consumed with just getting the lighting decent from what I learned I was not thinking so much about their positions.

"try shooting eye level"

I will keep that in mind as well. I am trying to arrange another shoot with some of my other friends so I can practice more.

Thanks for the feedback and I will definitely keep these tips in mind and trying them out.

Anyone have good recommendations on learning more about angles, poses, facial structure etc for photos. and how that applies to lighting. Most of my photography has been candid in the moment kind of things and when stepping into a "studio" type environment directing the model was a whole new skill I realized.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/_davo_/

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Sam
http://www.samjsternphotography.com

A few things.

1. try to get the umbrella a bit higher.

2. The hot spots on the skin (skin flash) usually is caused by a slight overexposure.
Better to ever so slightly underexpose and bring it up later in pot processing
3. SIlver reflector is too strong. Or too close.

4. People are too square at the camera. Get them sitting and turning and leaning into the camera.



A few questions.

1. What size and what type of umbrella. If iit is silver, get rid of it. Use a white.

2, Are you reflecting off the umbrella, I assume, or shooting through

Just keep practicing and experimenting. None of us got it right at the beginning.

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Sam
http://www.samjsternphotography.com

looks to short for my taste- especially on the first, fifth, and sixth shots.

It makes the nose look to big. Stick to 70-90mm for models with a larger probiscus.
Wolfgang
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Old timer

Why did you vary the shutter between 1/200th and 1/250th? With the 24-70, you want to try and stay at the 70mm range for portraits. You don't have a enough contrast in the shots. Portrait 3 (the 5th shot) has the most and even that is like less than 2:1. 3:1 is usually the "money" shots. As motioned, most are over-exposed, how are you metering your light(s)? And as mentioned, posing need work. One tip, if it bends, bend it. The two questions you always have to ask yourself: 1) what am I taking a picture of? and 2) how do I want it to look? Then build your image. Let's just work with the first image named Portrait 2. A Headshot, but for what purpose? Let's just say the subject wanted a "general use" headshot. The subject has a round face square with the camera. This adds weight. Usually not good thing. So turn the face and/body. Do you turn it towards the light or away? I don't know, how do you want it to look? In terms of broad or short lighting I will pick on the 3rd image labeled Portrait 5. Notice how the shadow side actually gives her chest definition? By short lighting you could make mountains out of mole hills, and most women appreciate this. Should the first shot be short lit, again.... how do you want it to look. We can't answer that. I imagine that most of the specular highlights in the first shot are from simple over exposure. In general, to reduce specular highlights you want a larger light source and or feather your light. Strobist is a great site. The biggest problem with the Stobist technique for portraits is you simply don't have a modeling light with a speedlight type of strobe. This makes getting the lighting pattern, feathering the light, and more a trial and error proposition. In any event, you have a good starting point.

Hi samjstern,

Thanks for the tips and example photo. I will shoot next time with the umbrella higher then the model's face and switch out my silver circular reflector with the white one or move it back farther and see how that comes out. I have also read about the "clamshell" setup with the reflector underneath the models face instead of to the side like I had it and the umbrella much higher up pointed at a 45 degree angle. I will experiment with these adjustments on my next shoot.

In regards to your questions, the umbrella I have is a white shoot through 43 inch umbrella. In strobist he started off using the silver reflecting umbrellas and then mentioned using exclusively shoot through which is why I went down that route.

Anyways I will keep working on it and reading more and appreciate all the feedback!
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/_davo_/

yes, raise it hier.
Get out the silver reflector.
White reflector on opposite side.
Don't over expose.
Post your next sample.
Take care

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Sam
http://www.samjsternphotography.com