valerieterranova

Hi All, I had a session for business headshots on a misty day, which resulted in a speckled/frosty look in some of the clients' hair. I'm sure I can Photoshop this the long way with the clone and healing tools, but I'm wondering if anyone knows some more sophisticated Photoshop wizardry for something like this. I've attached a sample...hopefully large enough for you to see what I'm talking about! Thanks for any help!

Hi All, Me again. I had the chance to get in a studio and work with some strobes and a larger space yesterday, and I have mixed feelings about the results. I feel like there is a weird swirling and/or gradient effect happening on the background of all of the images that I really dislike, and I'm honestly a bit confused about why it's happening (it looks round or amorphous, even though I was using strip boxes). Any ideas? Is it something I can get rid of in post? How can I avoid it in my setup? I'd also love if anyone has thoughts about the lighting and images in general.

Thank you Jochen and Michael for the evaluation and tips! Everyone has been so helpful so far, and I am so appreciative. And yes, William Michael...that's exactly the breakdown of my camera set up. How were you able to assess that? I ended up getting a friend to model, and feel like I have made progress, though I definitely still have work to do. I do have to say for the time being I'm probably going to have to continue playing around with speedlights/reflectors, and the softbox I have until I can get a firmer grasp on some concepts and spend a little more money on renting/trying out gear that will help me achieve the look I'd like, or something that at least has a similar pop to it. That being said, I've attached another image, and would love if anyone has thoughts. Given that I'm working with a much smaller lightsource than Michael identified, I played around and thought this was the best look I could achieve. I've moved my softbox fully center (still w/a parallel reflector to avoie too many shadows), removed the middle diffuser and turned up the output a bit. I (obviously) have a hairlight coming diagonally from behind. The look is better I think, but I'm curious what others think. I think I may need a third light to separate the backdrop and a softbox over the current hairlight, as it seems harsh. Any thoughts? PS, Michael Mowery, did you take that shot? From the eyes it looks like the "clamshell" lighting I'm using, but with larger lightsources, and a softbox instead of reflector. Awesome shot!

Thanks William...doing self portraits is really just something I’ve been messing around with in my own time/space when I haven’t been able to coordinate with friends as subjects. But soon! And thank you for the tethering suggestion, will use that next time.

Thank you both! Helpful stuff for when I have a chance to experiment with this again.

Thanks William. I guess since I am currently working with a dark background I'm mostly trying to asses what I see there of subjects on dark backgrounds. What I'm observing that seems to be a theme that I like is that all the subjects seem to have both a soft, even glow, whilst having some nice specular highlights or subtle shadows creating some definition in their bone structure. So it feels soft but not "flat". The catchlights feel more present than in my photo as well. And, contrary to my photo, there is a nice separation from the background. I'm not certain what you mean by using a device to focus the key light. Would that be similar to changing the speedlight zoom? I also feel the lighting of my photo feels a little flat, but I'm having trouble figuring out why. Thanks again for your response!

Hello all, I'm very very new to portrait photography and have been playing around myself with trying to figure out headshot setups, but I feel like I'm getting this very wrong right now. The look I'd like to achieve is at DavidNoles.com. I've attached a file what I've been getting. Barring the not so great framing and slightly off focus (they're self portraits with no assistance...though help on achieving that is welcome as well I guess...though a secondary at the moment. And please no feedback on my doofy no-makeup look), I'm wondering what's so off about my shots. I'm using a 20" softbox (with speedlight) slightly above head angled down and a silver reflector at about chest high angled slightly towards subject. Fill light is a speedlight angled slightly toward backdrop. Any thoughts? Do I need a larger softbox for the key light? Am I totally off with my setup? I know speedlights likely won't achieve exactly what I'm going for but I'm hoping to inch closer to the principles of what I'm going for.