ntiberius

I've got two Alien Bees, and I'm hoping to use a softbox over one of

them for fill. If I'm firiring the key light (either unmodified or

with an umbrella), in general will the slave trigger in the fill light

go off, even though it's covered by a softbox?

 

I suppose if the answer is no, I can just trigger the fill/softbox,

and be assured that the uncovered key light will trigger as well...

but I'm curious if this is a concern I need to think about. Thanks in

advance!

Are those eBay transmitters reliable? Would I be able to preserve my max 1/200 sync speed using them?

I'm referring to Harry Potter.

Sorry about the gif; apparently IMDB protects its photos from "Save As..." I'll try again:<div></div>

I'd like to replicate the dramatic, constrasty lighting of the latest

Harry Potter movie poster. I've got one strobe (plus umbrella and

softbox) and a reflector. Am I being vain to think that I could mimic

this image using just one light?

 

The poster appears to have used at least two--the key light to

illuminate the facial features, and another, brighter light behind to

highlight hair and jawlines. I'm thinking the difference in

brightness between the two lights is strong enough that I could

replace one with a reflector. My instinct is to crank up my one

strobe light and put to behind-and-to-the-left of the models (creating

the bright hair/jaw lighting), then use the reflector to illuminate

the face from the front.

 

I know the easiest way to determine if this will work would be to just

test it out. However, I'm traveling sans-setup at the moment... and

hopefully this will be a worthwhile discussion :) TIA!

So I was lucky enough to take a shot of a comedy team that they'd like

to blow up to epic proportions (3 feet by 4 feet). The shot was taken

at 12Mpx, so I think I can squeeze out an appropriate amount of detail

with some upsizing... however, once I've done that I have no idea

where to take the file. I'm in the Boston, MA area--does anybody know

of any local or internet services for printing big posters? Mpix only

goes up to 20"x30". Thanks in advance!

I've been learning black and white portraiture at home with three el

cheapo Smith-Victor lamps (500W tungsten bulbs). Now that it's summer

I realize how hot "hot lights" get, and it's about time for me to push

my learning curve anyway.

 

I'm thinking of buying a simple Alien Bee setup to learn the nuances

of strobes. However, I don't want to lose the functionality of having

three lights; I like hotlights for everything but the heat (and the

light output). I'd like to use my hotlights for fill, background

lighting, etc.

 

Much of what I've read in this forum advises against mixing light

types, for color balance reasons. But for somebody who shoots

exclusively B&W, and is only initially interested in learning how

light falls, how to meter, how to expose, etc... am I really

committing a fatal error? I hope to move to strobe-only in the

future, but I don't want to make a "leap" and discard what I've

learned from using the hotlights; I want to make a transition.

It went well! I haven't had a chance to process anything yet, but judging from the previews, they'll be perfectly usable. I showed the group directors some thumbnails and they were delighted. Here are the lessons I learned:

 

1) Two king-sized sheets are not enough backdrop for large group shots.

2) More storage = more peace of mind.

3) NiCD rechargeable batteries take FOREVER to recharge. I was flash-less for the last half hour of the shoot; shoulda brought spares.

4) Squeezing people together is key.

5) I really didn't need to bracket exposures. Better safe than sorry, I suppose.

 

I'll post some results after I churn through the 400 or so RAW files. Most of them will require moderate retouching, as the final shots will require the people to be on all-black or all-white backgrounds. I just didn't have enough light to wash out our white sheet backdrops. Next time!

I've used Adorama's online printing service countless times with great

success. On the recommendation of a friend, I sent a batch of

headshots to Mpix.com. I received the prints today, and although I

like the "true b&w" tones, the image quality is pretty terrible. I

uploaded an 8x10 jpeg (2400x3000, or whatever the appropriate

dimensions are--I forget off the top of my head) at 300dpi, and told

them no resizing/cropping necessary.

 

By "image quality" issues I mean blotchiness in areas of fine

detail--ie, hair, eyelashes, eyebrows, all look mottled with

occasional dark patches.

 

Am I overlooking something?

Thanks everybody... I'm officially psyched, and off to get set up. Cheers!

John, I appreciate your concern--but believe me, I'm not *worried* about this shoot, aside from normal anxiety before any "big thing." I've got the technical details down, I have a strategy and a plan of attack (and plenty of time to get set up before the shoot). But I still value the advice of more experienced photographers :)

Tomorrow I'm doing my first ever "big" shoot. It's for free, as a

portfolio building exercise, but the photos will be used in many forms

of publicity--fliers, website, posters, etc.

 

I'm photographing five or six theater ensembles in a row. They've

been asked to come in with costumes, ideas for poses, etc. Mostly

these will be group shots of 7-10 people. Environment is an all-white

room, with about five studio hot lights of varying brightness. They

come in, they get half an hour to do their thing, then the next group

gets ushered in.

 

If you were to give me ONE piece of advice for tomorrow--technical,

mental, preparatory--what would it be? :)

Interesting responses, but I'm still going to ask the question of the OP: Cokin filters? Any good? P system, X-Pro system, Resin filters or Gel? For those of us who do want to pursue this route, what are the caveats and recommendations?

Graduated ND filters have their place, even on a 20D. Not everybody wants to have to sandwich or overlay multiple exposures in post-production; it's much more satsifying, simpler, and just as flexible to have *one* image in which everything's properly exposed.

 

I've been using a Tiffen circular graduated ND, and it's been great, but I too am looking at the Cokin system, which would give more flexibility in my filters. It's a pain in the ass to stack a threaded graduated ND on a circ polarizer... so I'm curious about people's experiences with the Cokin P system, or more expensive options.

Are you shooting digital or film?

 

If digital, your 50mm is the perfect portrait lens, so you should get the 100mm for macros.

 

But the bigger question is, which would you rather shoot? Do you find people/pets more interesting than insects, flowers, and small things? Both require different skills; it's you who should decide which way to go.

I purchased a 17-40L two weeks ago, and it's near-silent. Zoom ring is a bit looser than the focus ring, but not by much. G'luck getting yours checked out.

If you're driving through NH up 93 North, take the scenic Kancamagus highway, which winds through the White Mountains. Mt. Washington is fabulous, but expect a fairly populated summit. Cannon Mountain was a huge attraction before the Old Man crumbled >:)

Here's a quick update... the expression isn't the best, but the framing is (IMHO) more interesting.<div></div>

... and by strike tape, I mean spike tape. Also, I do shoot in RAW, and I agree that the images I posted need lack contrast. I was afraid of blowing out the nose in the channel mixer, but after going back to the original RAW file, I think I can tweak things for better overall depth. Thanks!

Thanks for the comments. I've now gone through 4 or 5 hour-long shoots with different lighting configurations. In each session, I feel like I'm making progress with the technical stuff--the images are less flat, better exposed, and the shadows are less distracting--but I'm also finding that Brian's right; the expression is key. After screwing with the lights for half an hour, I'm in no mood to smile. ;)

 

What I did last night was use strike tape on my floor so that I can reconfigure the lights exactly as I had them, then just jump in sometime when I'm not tired, and shoot away. Shooting my friends is much more fun, and less tiring... but hey, I'm learning.

 

Also, I'm finding that for these shots, aesthetically, I almost always prefer the subject's head to be in the top third or half of the frame--any bigger is overwhelming. Of course, now that I'm framing them more loosely, I have to fuss over their collars, wrinkled clothes, and posture! Love it.

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Alright, here's my first stab at my self-headshot. All shots were at f/8. Key light at 45 degrees to the left of the camera (from the shooter's position), diffused light behind and a little to the right of the camera. These are the three "keepers" from 50 or so (stupid autofocus kept grabbing my shirt collar, and I couldn't get manual quite right remotely).

 

I haven't done much touching up yet (evening the beard, mostly). They feel a little flat to me, but before I get fancy with the lights, I want to make sure I've got some of the basics. Are any of the shadows particularly distracting? What about the shiny noses? How's the cropping [there's plenty of room on the originals for change]?

 

Advice greatly appreciated; be merciless.<div></div>

Alright, I've had my 300D for a few months now, but I've only just

tried using the RemoteCapture software. The camera is acceptably

responsive to the "Release" button on the computer, and still works

with the remote. But man does it take FOREVER to transfer a RAW

image! For some reason I thought the 300D had USB2.0 output, but

apparently not.

 

I just wanted to check that I'm not the only one who has to deal with

the insufferable slowness of the file tranfers. Any advice, aside

from shooting in JPEG?

Brian,

 

Thanks very much for the information! In your experience, do professional headshots typically have the actor's name "watermarked" in an unobtrusive corner? I've seen them with and without, bordered and borderless. I can see how having a white border would help to accomodate the name, and limit the amount of cropping necessary.

 

Also, your gallery is very helpful for examples--thanks! Do you happen to remember your lighting setup for 005? That guy's face is shaped almost exactly like mine, and I like how the shadow on his cheek "carves" a bit more jawline.