First session went very well... just a few questions on images and lighting placement

[jackie_boldt]

I had a few sessions this weekend and for my first official studio sessions, I

think it went very well. I ended up with some amazing pictures! I think I just

ended up getting those images by pure dumb luck!

 

Here is the equipment I used:

-Canon 5D & 24-70 f/2.8 and 85 1.8 lenses

-5' Octodome

-Alienbees B800s

-48" Brolly Box

 

Here are my questions... I have tried both putting the Octodome at a 45 degree

angle to my subject & directly in front of my subject. If I put it directly in

front, I shouldn't need much of a fill light, correct? And, when I do put it in

front of my subject, it's sometimes hard to get my shot since I put the light

close to my subject. Is this typical, or am I missing something?

 

Finally, I found this happened with quite a few of my group pictures this

weekend. The light was not evenly distributed between all of the faces. The

faces closer to the light were brighter than those in the back. It's not

horrible, but it is noticeable. See the photo I posted below for an example.

Any advice as to what I can do in the future to remedy this?

 

Any feedback on my other pictures is greatly appreciated!! Thank you!

 

http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=776510<div></div>

[jeffrey_blake_adams]

oh my goodness. the intensity of your lights is inversely proportional to the distance of the lights to your subject.

 

You need a hand held light meter, now once you have that, keep in mind all subjects need to be on the same plane of light, or the same distance from the lights.

 

Hit www.montezucker.com for some great lessons, free. J

[mark_sirota1]

And if your faces can't be the same distance from the lights, you need to move your lights much further back, so that the difference in the distances is small compared to the overall distance. Then you'll need larger umbrellas/softboxes and more power to achieve the same look.

[jackie_boldt]

Thanks for the tips!

 

Mark, won't moving the light source back create more direct/harsher lighting? Or, is that my only option. I think I did move it back, however it must not have been back far enough.

[Wayne Melia]

Jackie; I'm more of a learner than a teacher about light, so take my free comment for what it's worth, but:<br>yes, moving the light back will create more direct harsher lighting because the size of the light in relation to the subject will be reduced, but it may not be your only option.<br>Take a look at <A Href="http://www.photo.net/photo/1654873&size=lg">this</A> photo where it appears the photographer has used balanced lighting from each side. I could be wrong, but ask the photographer.

[guy ronkar]

That's why Mark correctly pointed out that you need larger umbrellas/softboxes to achieve the same look then, which means increasing the relative size of the lightsource, and thus getting softer light.

[stwrtertbsratbs5]

Nice shot, except for the varying light intensity.

 

Excellent advice has already been given - move the light back.

[jackie_boldt]

Thank you! Yes, this all make sense!

 

I will try this out and see what I can do. Did anyone by chance look at the other pictures in my gallery and have any advice/feedback for me?

[nathan_stiles]

Yeah, what Mark said. B/c of the inverse square rule, you'll need to move the light source farther away for more depth of light. Also, from what you described, the the light directly in front normally is the fill, and the light from the side the key. That's a simple set up you might want to start w/ and master first. No use over complicating things.

[mel_unruh]

Another option is to put the parents close to the light and have the kids on the far side. They are more sun-tanned and are wearing darker clothes that their fair skinned kids. The kids will get the benefit of the light fall-off. So, maybe just re-arranging the players may be all thats needed.

 

Mel Unruh

[mrstubbs]

Hi Jackie. Your images are good...better than average if that helps. But don't worry about what others think...you can already see what your problem is...the sometimes uneveness.

 

You could try putting a brolly off to the side of the subjects a few feet more than the fill and just slightly hotter than the fill. This will give an even light accross the heads of the whole group. The fill/effect from the front can be moved a little farther back without the light becoming too harsh. A reflector from opposite the brolly fills the shadow side and keeps the colour even.

 

In the frame above the front light could have been a little higher to bring the eyelight up above the pupils. Nice frames.

[davemoss]

did you feather the key light as much as possible. i know you don't want to move the light back too far, so the axis of your key should have been somewhere near mom's nose to right ear. you can get a lot of what you were looking for by doing that, before backing the light off.

[jackie_boldt]

Thanks to everyone for all of their helpful advice!! I definitely have some experimentation to do on my set...

[fotogen]

Jackie, It is great that you are aware of the problem and seeking help. This image in my opinion has the red's over-exposed on almost everyone except the father. Do you look at the histogram of an image either on the back of the camera or in DPP? If you do, look at the RGB histogram. I would assume that the yellow tint on almost everone's face is due to RED being over-exposed. Caucasian skin reflects more red than other colors. I have seen this in my own images. So you don't really have correct exposure here. You are probably off by about 1/2 a stop.

About the uneven lighting, I totally agree with everyone's opinions on moving the light further back and more toward the center.

If the light source is pretty large and is high pointing down slightly, you can sit in front of it where only you head might cover some of the light, but you have to have someone else do the light reading at the subject to compensate for the amount of light you are covering. Look at the catch light of lots of fashion photographs. You can see the photographer (his shape) in the catch light in the eye of the model.

 

 

I looked at your other images and first of all, I like you arrangement of groups. This is something that some photographers, I included, are not good at.