Which of the two and some advice

Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D

03/29/2011 11:14:26 PM · #1

Which of the two do you prefer (mainly talking about the backgrounds)...

Feel free to critique anything else if you'd like as well.

Also...I'm shooting kids with this same pose/setup tomorrow for a martial arts competition team for profile pictures for a website. What's your opinion on the background choice? There's not much to work with in the studio...I didn't want it to be a boring wall.

rlee-029 by kevingeary, on Flickr

rlee-013 by kevingeary, on Flickr

Louis

Nikon D800

03/29/2011 11:22:41 PM · #2

There's a difference between "boring" and "understated". A simple backdrop like a paper background or plain wall is much preferred over what you have here, in my opinion. It's much too busy. Not only that, you have lights int the background, the ultimate eyetrap, leading the viewers attention completely away from your subject almost immediately. Consider a plain wall, perhaps a cinder brick wall, appropriately lit or worked in post. In my view, your photos will be much more successful.

sjhuls

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

03/29/2011 11:37:46 PM · #3

I don't mind most of the background, but the lights have to go. They are really distracting. You have done a good job on the main subject though. I like the back wall with the figures and lettering on it, is there a way to get that behind them with out the lights? Also keep the background fairly blurred so you can see it but it doesn't compete.

Louis

Nikon D800

Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D

03/29/2011 11:43:16 PM · #4

Yes, sorry, your light and your model's pose, and the shot itself, is otherwise very good. :-)

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II

03/30/2011 12:08:33 AM · #5

I can easily turn the lights off. But I'm not sure how that will affect the shot. I wasn't able to test to see if the background was lit somewhat by the ambient or if it was flash falloff.

I was shooting at 2.8 and 200th ISO100. I assume it was a little of both. If I turn the lights off it might go mostly black. I'll have to quickly experiment tomorrow.

MattO

Nikon D4

03/30/2011 01:02:25 AM · #6

If you have a second flash, meter it about a half a stop lower than the one on your subject and have it illuminate the wall in the background. Assuming you are shooting with off camera flash. rotate the subject around so the wall is directly behind me, but at about the same distance it is now, so that the light is just off the frame. I think it would work well.

03/31/2011 11:16:56 AM · #7

I went with just having a wall in the background.

But some of the kids were taller and there were stripes at the top of the wall that started to come into some of the shots. I only had 20 minutes to shoot 8 or so kids so I couldn't move the lights around to get everyone perfect.

Here's what came of it:

//kevingeary.smugmug.com/Other/competitionteam/16413952_yETVg#1234655926_Euc4m

pw = teamkusa

I wanted the style to match what you see on like ufc.com or a sin city type feel.

Message edited by author 2011-03-31 11:17:31.

MinsoPhoto

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

03/31/2011 11:57:17 AM · #8

password doesn't work

03/31/2011 01:08:01 PM · #9

Originally posted by MinsoPhoto:

password doesn't work

Yeah it does.

MinsoPhoto

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

03/31/2011 01:44:55 PM · #10

I think they are pretty good for the most part but you have quite a bit of highlight clipping(I am referring to a few of the kids faces). How did you meter your shots?

Message edited by author 2011-03-31 13:47:18.

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

03/31/2011 03:50:07 PM · #11

Originally posted by MinsoPhoto:

I think they are pretty good for the most part but you have quite a bit of highlight clipping(I am referring to a few of the kids faces). How did you meter your shots?

I did that on purpose in post and specifically used harder lighting. I was replicating www.ufc.com style athlete bio shots. I wanted an edgier look.

Message edited by author 2011-03-31 15:51:17.

citymars

Nikon D700

03/31/2011 04:18:03 PM · #12

I don't mind the blown highlights at all, and I like the fluorescent lights in the background. Just one opinion.

MinsoPhoto

Leica 50mm f/1.4 Summilux M MF - Chrome

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

03/31/2011 04:26:57 PM · #13

Originally posted by kgeary:

Originally posted by MinsoPhoto:
I think they are pretty good for the most part but you have quite a bit of highlight clipping(I am referring to a few of the kids faces). How did you meter your shots?

I did that on purpose in post and specifically used harder lighting. I was replicating www.ufc.com style athlete bio shots. I wanted an edgier look.

I gotchya. You usually don't want to have clipped highlights on faces though, even the ones at ufc.com still have detail in their faces. But that is just my opinion. I like most everything else though.

signal2noise

Leica M9

03/31/2011 04:33:10 PM · #14

Yeah, I'm with Larry (

citymars), I like them just the way they are - tone, lights, bg, etc.

vikas

Apple iPhone 13

Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G

03/31/2011 04:34:03 PM · #15

Originally posted by Louis:

Yes, sorry, your light and your model's pose, and the shot itself, is otherwise very good. :-)

+1

Backgrounds and especially because its not uniform for all the kids isn't working imo. It might not be too difficult to remove it in post processing!

ETA : I am referring to the kids gallery in your smugmug page

Message edited by author 2011-03-31 16:36:26.

03/31/2011 04:58:41 PM · #16

Originally posted by vikas:

Originally posted by Louis:
Yes, sorry, your light and your model's pose, and the shot itself, is otherwise very good. :-)

+1

Backgrounds and especially because its not uniform for all the kids isn't working imo. It might not be too difficult to remove it in post processing!

ETA : I am referring to the kids gallery in your smugmug page

It's actually for a website and the crop is only 300px high, so most of the shots are very similar. Only the taller kids have stripes. It kinda sucks cause I only had 20 minutes and we didn't have time to adjust the lighting for the varying height of the students (moving the lights forward and backward to align them so the stripes weren't in view). I basically had only a couple min with each one.

Message edited by author 2011-03-31 16:59:03.

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

03/31/2011 05:01:00 PM · #17

Originally posted by MinsoPhoto:

Originally posted by kgeary:

Originally posted by MinsoPhoto:
I think they are pretty good for the most part but you have quite a bit of highlight clipping(I am referring to a few of the kids faces). How did you meter your shots?

I did that on purpose in post and specifically used harder lighting. I was replicating www.ufc.com style athlete bio shots. I wanted an edgier look.

I gotchya. You usually don't want to have clipped highlights on faces though, even the ones at ufc.com still have detail in their faces. But that is just my opinion. I like most everything else though.

I tried lowering the contrast and exposure, but the pictures just wouldn't pop the same. It only dulled them out (compared to where they are now). Sometimes edgy goes over the edge... :)

BrennanOB

Canon EOS-1D Mark II

03/31/2011 05:17:53 PM · #18

I think the UFC stuff is done with a partial cross process plug in. You get lower reds and a curve bend that brings up the highlights while preserving detail, and darkens the shadows without blocking them up. Your basic bad ass grunge in the headlights look. The only thing I see blown there is a bit of rim lighting on some guys.

Its interesting in the matchup images they always seem to light one guy to have lighter skin than his opponent.

yanko