Portrait Lighting -- Learning Thread

Carl Zeiss 35mm ZF f/2.0 Distagon T

09/18/2006 02:52:58 PM · #351

WOW! Great job for only having the lights a week. Excellent light quality.

virtuamike

Nikon D2X

09/18/2006 03:32:30 PM · #352

Originally posted by albc28:

Can anyone give me tips on skin smoothing techniques?

Makeup helps to hide blemishes, but it can only go so far hiding texture. Temperature is a big thing. Too cold and too windy and you'll get bumpy. Too hot like when shooting flood lights and you'll get sweat and open pores.

Direction of your light helps. Don't rake the light in order to minimize texture. Diffusion works too.

Personally I'm not a fan of using gaussian blur during processing - leaves the skin looking plasticy. Noise reduction techniques work the same way. You're better off using clone stamp to get rid of blemishes individually and to maintain as much original skin detail as possible.

msdoubletrouble

Canon EOS-20D

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

09/18/2006 11:12:53 PM · #353

wow...just found this link and wanted to shoot a quick BIG thank you to Idnic for starting this thread and teaching me so much!!!! ty ty ty :-)

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

09/19/2006 12:23:24 AM · #354

Originally posted by idnic:

WOW! Great job for only having the lights a week. Excellent light quality.

thanks Cindi and well thanks for starting this thread. I learnt quiet a lot from this thread.

Dragonphenx

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

09/19/2006 01:36:30 AM · #355

Are these good examples of portraiture....I would like to know so that I can work on making better ones.

Maagic

Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT

Canon EF 28-105mm f/4-5.6

09/20/2006 08:16:16 PM · #356

Bump!

Thanks for this thread... I'm learning loads!

tmph

Pentax K20D

Pentax FA 50mm f/1.4 AF

09/20/2006 08:35:50 PM · #357

Nice thread! I'll be watching

09/20/2006 08:50:45 PM · #358

Originally posted by Dragonphenx:

Are these good examples of portraiture....I would like to know so that I can work on making better ones.

left you comments Dawn.

albc28

Canon EOS-50D

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

09/22/2006 08:22:26 AM · #359

I added a couple of photos from my first shoot and also changed the edit of a couple. Comments would be greatly appreciated as that i have another one on Sept. 30th (this one will probably be outside though). Thanks

Message edited by author 2006-09-22 08:24:03.

09/22/2006 09:54:22 AM · #360

Anthony, looks like you softened the skin a bit with the re-edit. I like it. Not too much, but enough to smooth a bit.

As for the next shoot - start a file with pages from magazines & such of poses you like and might want to try. You can show those to your model and let her choose looks that she likes. That way you & she both know what you're trying to accomplish. It will make her feel involved in the process, thus more comfortable and will give you one less thing to worry about. :)

09/22/2006 02:32:31 PM · #361

A question about the shutter speed. Since my 30D can do Xsync of 1/250s, I assume I can't have shutter speeds faster than 1/250s right ? Just wanted to confirm

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

09/22/2006 02:37:01 PM · #362

Originally posted by gaurawa:

A question about the shutter speed. Since my 30D can do Xsync of 1/250s, I assume I can't have shutter speeds faster than 1/250s right ? Just wanted to confirm

You are correct.

dwterry

Canon EOS-1D Mark III

09/22/2006 02:50:05 PM · #363

Originally posted by gaurawa:

A question about the shutter speed. Since my 30D can do Xsync of 1/250s, I assume I can't have shutter speeds faster than 1/250s right ? Just wanted to confirm

With strobes, correct. If you have the Canon 550EX or 580EX flashes, you can set them to high speed mode and then shoot above 1/250th.

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

09/22/2006 03:40:56 PM · #364

Thanks Cindi, David.
So if I want to shoot with a shallow dof ( using may be f2.8, 3.5) I need to just keep turning down my lights and avoid ambient light ? I can possibly keep the modelling lights a full power and reduce the flash power. Very low modelling lights are a pain I have seen

dwterry

Canon EOS-1D Mark III

09/22/2006 04:01:15 PM · #365

Originally posted by gaurawa:

Correct.

And just a tip... After I measure the light, I always take a test shot without the strobes firing to see what the ambient light is looking like. In most cases, I don't want ambient light so I keep my shutter speed up high. But slow it down if I'm in a setting where ambient lighting contributes to the portrait.

By the way, the sync speed on the 5D is only 1/200 which kinda hurts.

If f/2.8 is still letting in too much ambient light at 1/250th (and that's a good amount of light) then maybe switching to a longer lens so you can keep the shallow DOF but with a smaller aperture would work.

Nusbaum

Fujifilm X-T1

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

09/22/2006 04:03:09 PM · #366

Originally posted by Dragonphenx:

Are these good examples of portraiture....I would like to know so that I can work on making better ones.

I was going to make a joke about how bad these are, but then worried you wouldn't read on to find the compliment. These are not 'traditional' portraits, but they can still be described as portraits and they really are quite wonderful. If you cranked up the technique and lighting much more they would lose the character that makes them so enjoyable.

But, there is plenty of room to stretch yourself and many styles of portraiture to enjoy.

Message edited by author 2006-09-22 16:04:02.

tmph

Pentax K20D

Pentax FA 50mm f/1.4 AF

09/24/2006 11:04:14 PM · #367

I just bought a new flash unit and currently experimenting with the bounce flash technique.Basically I had 2 lightning source. Natural lightning coming from the window to the right side of her face and my flash that bounced on the wall and come on the left side of her face.
Here's my best shots

I would like to know your opinion concerning the lightning. Feel free to tell me what need to be improved.

Leok

Pentax K10D

Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 EX DG for Pentax

09/27/2006 03:35:38 AM · #368

Hi,
I had an entry in the leading lines challenge, it didn't do too well which I half expected. I'm curious as to people's opinions on the post processing - I was going for high key, did I overdo it? The image looks fine on my computer...

Here are a few more shots from the same shoot

Thanks a lot Cindi your comments have helped me so much with my studio lighting!

albc28

Canon EOS-50D

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

09/27/2006 08:46:39 AM · #369

Leok...I left you a couple of comments on two of your photos.

chunky

Canon EOS-20D

Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 EX DG for Pentax

09/27/2006 02:58:54 PM · #370

Hi all. I have been reading this thread, and after taking a local workshop using studio strobes, I am planning to purchase a set. I have everything picked out for the most part, but have a quick question.

What is a good versitile size for a soft box? I am looking at the Photoflex soft box to combine with a set of Alien Bees. I was thinking the 24x32 would fit my smallish studio space well and be versitile enough to shoot small groups (family stuff). Any thoughts?

Leok

Pentax K10D

09/27/2006 05:13:01 PM · #371

Originally posted by albc28:

Leok...I left you a couple of comments on two of your photos.

Thanks very much for your kind comments.

In this image

she is actually lying across a tall stool draped in white fabric which was very easy to remove in photoshop.

The original is similar to

except that the stool in this second shot is shorter...

virtuamike

Nikon D2X

Carl Zeiss 35mm ZF f/2.0 Distagon T

09/27/2006 05:15:51 PM · #372

Originally posted by chunky:

Good enough. Treat the softbox like a window. Eventually the more you shoot the more you'll gravitate to smaller modifiers for control purposes.

If you really need a lot of coverage for small groups, consider umbrellas. They're cheaper and I like them for sheer area.

Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 EX DG for Pentax

09/27/2006 05:16:01 PM · #373

Leo - there is some very nice work there. Your high-key setup is working very nicely.

Chunky - a 24X32 softbox should serve you very well for individual or group portraits if you also have another light or two for fill/hair/background.

Leok

Pentax K10D

09/27/2006 05:57:56 PM · #374

Originally posted by idnic:

Cool - praise from Cindi ;-) A couple of things you have said in this thread have taken my lighting to the next level and I really appreciate you taking the time to help us.