Need full-length portrait lighting advice...

[tara mauldin]

Good evening everyone! I wanted to seek the advice of others more

experienced than myself so I come to you with some questions. I

will be doing a portrait session with a young lady tomorrow that

needs some full length portraits done in a pageant dress. I

currently shoot with a 20d, have 2 AB800, 2 AB400, 2 medium sized

softboxes, various size honeycomb grids, sekonic l358. I have been

practicing and none of my lighting variations seem to be doing the

trick. I would like to make a nice soft full length portrait. I

have so far tried setting up my lights this way: key to camera

right, fill to camera left, with the fill being half the power of my

main (I haven't quite gotten the hang of using ratios yet-still

studying). I'm metering f8-f11, but my pictures seem to be turing

out a bit overexposed, and just too harsh for my liking. Has anyone

had any experience here with full-length portraits that could give

me some great advice? I took my pictures of my husband who would

absolutely kill me if I uploaded them onto the site, so I'm afraid I

can't show you any examples of my mistakes... Any and all help

would sure be appreciated!!!

[phototogomanny]

Hi Tara,

Seems you have tried the right light placing. Is the meter reading accurate ? Are you placing under the chin with the dome? Calibrated lately ? Using it on Flash mode or Ambient ? Is your ISO set equal on all Parameters? Is your camera on Manual setting ? It could be the settings on the Alien Bees ! You are missing a lot of main details this will be a long Forum..

Manny D.

[michael_madio]

The general idea is to make a light source that is has a larger apparent size than the subject. The simplest method is to use natural light by shooting near a large window or open garage and using a reflector for fill.

 

If natural light is not an option, I prefer to use a large diffusion panel as the key light. This essentially emulates the large window. For the softest light, position the panel as close to the subject as possible without it being in the frame. Place your AB800's behind the panel (one high and one low) at sufficient distance for complete panel coverage. Use a reflector for fill just outside the camera frame, opposite the key light.

 

This will get you close to the basic 3:1 lighting ratio and the large light source will be low contrast. If you want to take things a step further, you can proceed to add background/hair lights.

 

Regarding the over-exposure, set the camera's ISO to 100 to reduce sensitivity, reduce power settings on the flash, and reduce the aperture as necessary. Use the histogram as a guide to verify your meter readings.

[wallacereidportraiture]

Until I got in my 54x72 softboxes, I would stack two medium boxes vertically to get the needed size. Placing a diffusion panel between the stacked boxes and the subject also helps blend and soften the two sources. If the overexposure is on the subject's side nearest the boxes (shoulder, etc.) try feathering the boxes toward the subject's front. It should reduce light on the near shoulder while increasing light-wrap to the shadow side.

[phototogomanny]

I thought the problem was over exposure? Are you metering F8 to F11 turning the Power up and down on the AB'S ? Do you turn the power up or down on the AB and then take a meter reading ? 4 stop difference and still overexposed? You can put a 74 inch Octabox on your AB If they are not set right you will still overexpose. Is it the AB or the meter ? You can use 6 flashes set at different levels but the meter will still average all 6 flashes and give you a pretty accurate F stop ? Over exposed a bit, turn down your main and shoot again.

Manny

 

Manny<div></div>

[phototogomanny]

Hi Tara,

See if this will help you...

Manny

 

http://www.studiolighting.net/lighting-ratios-for-portrait-photography/