Learning to Light 3

I am looking for some constructive criticism, particularly of how this

is lit. This is one of a set of my first attempts at lighting control

so I wasn't trying to do any thing spectacular; just practicing the

basics. Anything positive or negative that I can learn from would be

appreciated.

Thanks!

The key light here was a bare bulb strobe (Godox AD360) shot through a

white 32" Westcott umbrella. Camera right, and slightly above the

subject.

A 42" silver reflector positioned just outside the left side of the

frame is the fill.

A small off-camera flash (Nissin i40) is directed on the white back

ground.

I think the lighting on her face looks great.  The only thing I would add is a hair light. She has beautiful dark hair which is perfect for an additional hair light.   

in post, I would clean up her loose hairs a little bit   If you want some tips how, email me and I will show you a really easy effective way to clean up stray hairs

You did a great job on this.    

I only have a remark to the color of the background and I think it would have been much better to use something yellowish, ocker maybe! Nice plastic lighting! I use black background and bounced flash in RAW (CR2) format which enables me to precisely adjust the background to be almost total black and to regulate the white balance exactly!

Cheers

PDE

1. Concerning the hair light... that is definitely something I agree is lacking. Right now, though, I have one key light and a small shoe mount flash and I pressed it into service to light the background. I think my next purchase will be a 3rd light so I can have a little more flexibility.

2. Concerning the back color. Personally, that is the thing that bothers me most about all my shots this weekend; in part because  I am disappointed it was not more neutral - in part because I knew this was a possibility and tried to avoid it.

We were actually shooting outside, in my carport, so there was some contribution from ambient light. It was an overcast day... so between that and being in hard shade, I would guess the ambient light was around 6500... The key light, though, was about 5700 when measured off a test frame of her color checker target; and that is what I used to set the white balance for the frame.

Now, in an attempt to control it, I took am ambient light reading and targeted my exposures a few stops higher.  What I overlooked, apparently, is that one needs to go a few stops further when using a white background. The little flash I was using to light the background just doesn't have the power to overcome the ambient light, especially at the top of the frame. I also wonder if I could have compensated for it by putting a 1/2 CTO on the back light... add that to the shopping list 8-)