About a year in - need help

Hi everyone!

I'll start off by saying, I'm sorry for adding to one of the innumerable 'critique my beginner's photography' posts. However, I have been using my DSLR for the past year and I don't see enough improvement, and so I think I may need some help.

My main goal for my photography is to one day be able to take stunning, full body portraits that highlight the garments I sell in my shop. I am working with a small space, a limited budget, and a Nikon D3200 (so, not pro camera).

I have just recently caved in and bought a monolight (this one ) and see instant improvements but I know there is still much, much room for improvement.

I am attaching 2 photos I have taken since I bought the aforementioned monolight: one cropped and edited for publishing on my website, and the other, a photo taken without any bells and whistles, no editing, straight from my camera (and yes, I know the subject is a big problem I just wanted to play with different lighting schemes).


monolight is on my right side at 9 o clock - my two continuous lights are switched to the left side at same height as other photo

[ATTACH alt="monolight is on my left side at a 45 degree angle pointing slightly down, and about 63" off the ground, and about 1.5 metres away (tip of umbrella visible at top right corner)"]2437288[/ATTACH]
monolight is on my left side at a 45 degree angle pointing slightly down, and about 63" off the ground, and about 1.5 metres away (tip of umbrella visible at top right corner)

Any and all help, links to products, and tips appreciated !

For starters, mixing continuous and flash is difficult, particularly as a beginner.

Second, open your aperture to about f/8, and increase your shutter speed by a stop to a stop and a half. The continuous lights are a bit bright, and 1/40 of a seconds is rather slow, leading to motion blur. All else being equal, I would thing ISO 800 and 1/160s shutter speed would be better than this. However, I think ISO 200 - 400 and 1/80-1/160 would be fine.

If you are looking to emphasize texture, use a smaller light source (modifier), to create shadow. Use the continuous lights (or better, another flash) to lighten the depth of the shadow.

Small speedlights are super cheap, and can be easily put into play to a better effect than the continuous lights by allowing for a lower ISO and faster shutter speed. You can also back them off more to clear room for a wider field of view without them getting in the shot.

I would start by foregoing the continuous lights and replace them with a DIY V flat. I would also see about shooting tethered so you can view images as you shoot on a large display. This will allow you to make adjustments quickly both on the model and the images.

Hopeful_Beginner said:

Hi everyone!

I'll start off by saying, I'm sorry for adding to one of the innumerable 'critique my beginner's photography' posts. However, I have been using my DSLR for the past year and I don't see enough improvement, and so I think I may need some help.

My main goal for my photography is to one day be able to take stunning, full body portraits that highlight the garments I sell in my shop. I am working with a small space, a limited budget, and a Nikon D3200 (so, not pro camera).

I have just recently caved in and bought a monolight (this one ) and see instant improvements but I know there is still much, much room for improvement.

I am attaching 2 photos I have taken since I bought the aforementioned monolight: one cropped and edited for publishing on my website, and the other, a photo taken without any bells and whistles, no editing, straight from my camera (and yes, I know the subject is a big problem I just wanted to play with different lighting schemes).


monolight is on my right side at 9 o clock - my two continuous lights are switched to the left side at same height as other photo

[ATTACH alt="monolight is on my left side at a 45 degree angle pointing slightly down, and about 63" off the ground, and about 1.5 metres away (tip of umbrella visible at top right corner)"]2437288[/ATTACH]
monolight is on my left side at a 45 degree angle pointing slightly down, and about 63" off the ground, and about 1.5 metres away (tip of umbrella visible at top right corner)

Any and all help, links to products, and tips appreciated !

Click to expand...

Dont forget post processing counts too... Edit a bit. Shadows, colors, eyes. Dodge and burn.

Also, don't point the light straight at her. Have it about one or two feet in front of her pointing directly across her to the other wall. Same downward angle. Just shifted towards camera 2 feet.

For fashion work and individual clothing shots, I've found a beauty dish works wonders.

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Nikons, Rolleiflexes, Elinchroms

I think you're doing pretty well.

You don't need the continuous lights - for the type of image you're trying to create, one light source is fine.

You're in a white room, so instead of using the umbrella, experiment with bouncing your flash into different areas of the walls and ceiling. You'll get a softer, more natural looking light. (The distance between the model and the wall to her side will dictate the amount of fill.)

Get some white background paper so you can do full-length shots.

"My main goal for my photography is to one day be able to take stunning, full body portraits that highlight the garments I sell in my shop"

What is you lighting plan? Looks like you have a vaguely defined destination but no roadmap. And a better vehicle (camera) won't make any difference in getting you there.

Stunning how? Dramatic low key? Ethereal high key? And even if you figure that out, what about posing? You may be better off with mannequins.

My guess is, you really want to improve the sale of clothing in your shop and became convinced ( no thanks to the pitches on pallets of boxes of DSLRs and kit lenses at Costco and Sams Club) you could do it yourself. You can, but the real investment of your time in learning may outweigh the benefit to your business.

You may be able to save a lot of time and trial by hiring some who knows what they are doing that can design a lighting scheme that works for you. A one time cost that will pay you back exponentially.

Or you can decide to learn lighting principles and how to execute them. That will take awhile. And the missteps could be wasted expense. Which you've already experienced. And the frustration.

Did an intervention for an ex coworker's jewelry business. Two afternoons, a P&S she already had, Christmas present tripod out of her closet, "studio" from a liquor store cardboard box cutout for tissue paper diffusion panels, some colored poster board sweeps, a precut matte board with small A clamps and some mono filament fishing line. Voila!

If you understand lighting principles, you can light anything without being rich. Hire someone who knows or choose to learn. Your choice. No silver bullets here.

C'est la photographie.

You have confused left and right. In the first image the monolight strobe is likely camera left, not right. In the second image the monolight strobe with the umbrella is on camera right, not left.

KISIS - Keeping It Simple Is Smart.

Either shoot with continuous lights or with flash/strobe lights. Don't try to mix the two.

Start with the strobe with umbrella at a distance from the subject about 2 diameters. At 2 diameters the umbrella will give you some softness, with the light quickly becoming harder and harder as you go to 3 diameters.

For fashion you want harder light than for portraits since the harder light emphasize the shape and drape of the fashion and the fabric used. Using the umbrella between 2 and 3 diameters is good for fashion.

Start with the umbrella 30° to 45° to one side or the other and set the height so that the bottom 1/3 of the umbrella is below the subject's eye level. This will give you nice directional lighting and a nice catchlight.

Using the umbrella in reflection mode with a black backing vs shoot through mode will give you less stray light, which means greater control over subject lighting and reduced background lighting. I would use shoot through mode if I wanted to add lots of light to the background but not otherwise.

With harder light you want to lighten the dark shadows that will be cast on the opposite sides of the model, folds in the fabric, or even in the weave of the fabric. You can use a reflector to do this. A large cheap sheet of white foam core board works fine. Adjust the distance and aim to suit the need. Crumple, flatten, and glue aluminum foil to one side (spray on contact cement) and you have two different reflectors in one.

A second strobe as a fill light is even better at controlling the depth of shadows since you can change its brightness at will.

Feathering the light so that the the diffuser is aimed in front of the subject, which puts most of the face of the diffuser in front of the subject, will also throw more light on the far side of the subject.

Feathering works well with rectangular softboxes but doesn't work well with umbrellas because of the rounder vs square/rectangular shape of the light from the diffuser.


Round light source aimed in front of or to one side of subject. Partial lighting of subject.


Rectangular or square light source aimed in front of or to one side of subject. Complete lighting of subject.

Posing.

Your subject in the first image is turned too far from the main light in my opinion. I would turn her more toward the light so that it raked across her in order to emphasize how the blouse drapes around the bosom. As it is you are emphasizing the back of the blouse, which is actually overexposed.

Let's not even discuss the pose in the second image.

I strongly recommend you watch these two videos. Clay Blackmore is one of the USA's premier photographers and he shows you how to pose a subject, specifically how to position the body and feet for a standing portrait. His information on lighting is spot on for portraits but not for fashion where you want harder light.

Clay Blackmore - YouTube - Pose Light Love 2015 08 11

Clay Blackmore - YouTube - Techniques For Posing and Lighting

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Living and loving it in Pattaya, Thailand. Canon 5DS R & 7D - See the gear list for the rest.

Sailor Blue said:

You have confused left and right.

Click to expand...

I don't think that she has.

OP, no need to apologize for your post. To be honest it's a refreshing change of pace to see a thoughtful, well-constructed question from someone who is making an effort to learn.

You've gotten good advice regarding the use of strobes and reflective surfaces (walls and v-flats). In terms of lighting techniques, if you haven't already, check out Daniel Norton's videos on Youtube. There are about a million of them. The OnSet series from Adorama is particularly good.

have the model smile with a more active pose eg. hands not straight down at sides.. this falls under composition.

Ok, so I am working on fixing the issues addressed in the first couple replies to my post.



Today, I shot these, here are two samples, with identical camera settings but simply playing with flash intensity. I used my speedlight attached to the hotshoe on my camera, with a diffuser attached, and bounced off the wall to my (model) right (camera's left). I simply can't seem to find the right balance between the mono light flash and the speedlight flash - the left side of picture (right of model) is darker than the right, but if I increase the intensity of the speedlight hitting my right side, I blow out the highlights...any advice to fix this?








this is after editing, it seems like the flash was not intense enough. Also, what do I do about lighting the bottom?



I also plan on fabricating my own v flat as suggested above, but I may have to wait as those gatorfoam boards are pretty pricy.



Working on further suggestions.

So, referring to the 12 hour lighting clock diagram, if 12 o clock is behind model, 6 is camera, the mono light would be at 6? behind the camera or beside it ?

I will work on that, I have already decided to ditch the continuous lighting - thank you

Yes, I don't plan on buying a better camera until I have a better grasp on lighting and composition.

As I am delving deeper into my product photography, I am finding that I might not want to limit myself to product photography for my shop and want to branch out, maybe offering my services to others. Although, I know the road ahead is really long, I am willing to work at it.

Thank you for your honest advice

Thank you, I will have to refer back to your post, i will try all of your suggestions!

About the second photo - i have to play with lighting techniques at night when my girls are asleep, hence my sloppy pose and stylish pyjamas. lol.

Hopeful_Beginner said:

Today, I shot these, here are two samples, with identical camera settings but simply playing with flash intensity. I used my speedlight attached to the hotshoe on my camera, with a diffuser attached, and bounced off the wall to my (model) right (camera's left). I simply can't seem to find the right balance between the mono light flash and the speedlight flash - the left side of picture (right of model) is darker than the right, but if I increase the intensity of the speedlight hitting my right side, I blow out the highlights...any advice to fix this?

Click to expand...

It would be useful to see one of the shots with (a) just the key light (i.e. the monolight with the umbrella), and (b) just the fill light (i.e. the speedlight).

The speedlight isn't doing what you think it's doing. It's not bouncing off the wall and filling the left side of the picture. Instead it's illuminating the scene directly from the camera hotshoe position — what's known as 'on-axis fill'.

There's no right or wrong in lighting, so it's hard to advise. There's nothing wrong with the lighting set-up you've got — except that it seems you don't like it! Could you post some samples of the kind of image you want to make?

As I said before, if there's a white wall directly behind the camera, experiment bouncing your monolight into that. You probably don't need a second light.

There is no better way to improve than by being honest with yourself and taking to heart the advice of those more skilled than you are! That's why I don't take the criticism negatively!

Thanks for the video suggestion, whenever time permits, I will check out his channel.

Aha! I think I took the term 'bounce' a little too literally and thought that the light is actually bouncing off the surface the initial light beam hits. I will research 'on axis' lighting.

Tonight, I will take a photo with just the monolight (no speedlight).

I also wonder what the appropriate distance is for the umbrella placement with relation to the strobe.

For example, I really like this shot . I like how the background is lit evenly but there is dramatic lighting on the model (with no shadows created by flash)

Hopeful_Beginner said:

Aha! I think I took the term 'bounce' a little too literally and thought that the light is actually bouncing off the surface the initial light beam hits. I will research 'on axis' lighting.

Click to expand...

What you were trying to do — bounce the speedlight off the wall — was not a bad idea, but the way you executed it failed. To do it properly, from the hotshoe position, remove the diffuser from the speedlight, point the speedlight at the wall, and use a thick piece of card to stop any direct light from the speedlight hitting the model. You can use a postcard-sized piece of card, and tape it directly to the speedlight. The idea is that from the model's position you should not be able to see the face of the speedlight.

Hopeful_Beginner said:

For example, I really like this shot . I like how the background is lit evenly but there is dramatic lighting on the model (with no shadows created by flash)

Click to expand...

That's created by a large soft light source on a boom, high above the model. The closest you'll get to that is bouncing your monolight off the ceiling (if it's white). There's also some on-axis fill in that shot (well, slightly off-axis).

Hopeful_Beginner said:

Aha! I think I took the term 'bounce' a little too literally and thought that the light is actually bouncing off the surface the initial light beam hits. I will research 'on axis' lighting.

Tonight, I will take a photo with just the monolight (no speedlight).

I also wonder what the appropriate distance is for the umbrella placement with relation to the strobe.

For example, I really like this shot . I like how the background is lit evenly but there is dramatic lighting on the model (with no shadows created by flash)

Click to expand...

If you're after shots like this then there is both good news and bad news. The good news is that it's pretty easy to achieve with a couple of lights. The bad news is that it will require a pretty high ceiling, a large softbox or reflective umbrella, and a way to boom it over the subject. An umbrella will be considerably lighter. A 1.5 meter softbox or umbrella should be sufficient; the larger the better, though. You can experiment with different placement of the boomed light. I would start with it pointed nearly straight down and offset from the model. Maybe have it just camera left or right of the model and angled somewhere between 15 and 25 degrees towards the model. This alone can give you very nice portrait lighting and nearly get you there for this shot. But for a shot like this, you will need some fill.

Another good news aspect is the fact that for a fill light, you could probably get away with using a speedlight in a medium sized softbox/brolly. It would not need much power at all. Like another poster stated, it's nearly on axis.

A third light for the BG would be nice.