First portraits with strobes- how'd I do?

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

12/02/2004 12:36:18 AM · #1

I shot a group of portraits with a pair of Alien Bees strobe lights a few weeks ago as a favor. The object was to get some before and after shots to sell makeup, and I also took some photos of two younger girls (with and without the makeup) just for fun.

This is my first try at portraiture with studio lighting, and I'm just sort of bumbling through (the last two shots were taken outdoors with 420ex flash). I was pretty happy with the results, but I know zilch about lighting, so I'd like to hear what others with more experience think. How'd I do?

kyebosh

Canon EOS-20D

Canon EF 80-200mm f/2.8L

12/02/2004 12:49:59 AM · #2

look pretty good to me! what were the lights? I just got a flash similar to the 420 made by promaster and was hoping to use it inside. Did you use the flash inside? Also along with this topic, does anybody have tips on backrounds?

Edit: the black shirt kinda blends with the backround which is why i was thinking of backrounds.

Message edited by author 2004-12-02 00:52:42.

Prof_Fate

12/02/2004 02:20:27 AM · #3

Not too bad. Better than my first attempt will be!
You might want to add a hair light (a stobe behind the model pointing forward to light the back of their head (hair) to help seperate it from the background)

Mick

Canon EOS-5D

12/02/2004 02:40:29 AM · #4

Pretty good Shannon. The first one looks a tad underexposed though.

I bought some AlienBees a while back and I'm still trying to learn how to use them. One thing I realized is that I need to get a light meter and learn how to use that too. I shot several photos of my son and his girlfriend yesterday and many of them came out underexposed, and a couple had blown highlights. You just can't go by the little LCD preview image on the back of the camera, and histograms don't tell the whole story either.

You might want to have a look at this thread: Interesting Portrait processing technique.

Curious

Canon EOS-600D/T3i Rebel

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

12/02/2004 02:49:51 AM · #5

Personally my first impression is that numbers 1 & 2 and the last two images stand out above the rest. The others to be honest seem to lack a bit of "drama" in the lighting. They're good images: well exposed etc but the lighting does not create much impact. I've recently bought a 420ex myself and am learning to use it so I'm no expert. I can't offer technical advice but the above is an honest impression of the images. I hope you post more in the future.

cbeller

Nikon D300

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 16-85 f/3.5-5.6G ED VR

12/02/2004 08:08:22 AM · #6

The lighting looks good. As mentioned, I would look at getting a hair lamp. You might also look at lighting the background as well.

12/02/2004 08:33:04 AM · #7

Thanks, everybody! A hair light would have been great, but I was limited to the two B800 strobes on hand. I didn't know if there was a better way to position two lights. The 420ex flash was only used on the two outdoor shots of the woman on the orange jacket (who happens to be my mother). Thanks for your PM Doctornick- yeah, the makeup is a little heavy, but that IS the product we're selling. ;-)

kyebosh

Canon EOS-20D

Canon EF 80-200mm f/2.8L

12/02/2004 11:20:46 AM · #8

would it be possible to use the 420ex as the hair light? Just a thought.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

12/02/2004 11:26:36 AM · #9

Oooh... maybe as a slave. Good idea. I don't know if it's strong enough to be seen over the powerful strobes, but worth a try.

Mick

Canon EOS-5D

12/02/2004 11:41:31 AM · #10

When I viewed your photos yesterday my eyes were a tired from editing photos all day, so I went back this morning and took another look. I was right, the first shot is underexposed a bit. You can tell by looking at this histogram of the face (notice the gap on the right):

I opened it in Photoshop and ran autolevels. Now the histogram looks like this:

And here is the result:

I also noticed that the skin tones in some of the shots appear to be off. There is too much magenta in the mix and not enough yellow. Normal caucasian skin tones will have something in the range of 5-20% more yellow than magenta. Cyan is usually between 25% to 50% of the magenta value. Lately I've started adjusting skin tones in my own portraits using the Curves dialog in CMYK color mode.