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07/19/2004 10:13:43 PM · #1 |
My niece came to visit last week and she allowed me to experiment on her with my new strobes. I have had the Alien Bees for months but I have never put them to use. In a dark room, I used one strobe to light the backdrop and her hair and the second as the key light. I had much difficulty composing the shots because, although the Bees have modeling lights, it was still too dark to see my subject through the viewfinder unless I turned on the room light. I am also one to depend on the autofocus because my aged eyes aren't as good as they used to be but the autofocus couldn't find the subject without being able to see it so I set the manual focus and filled took 75 photos. If patience is a virtue, my niece is very virtuous! Anyway, I would love some critiques and your questions are welcome. Thanks!
   
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07/19/2004 10:22:37 PM · #2 |
I think the lighting looks best in the 3rd shot. The 3rd looks like professional lighting. Very even and perfectly exposed IMO. All of the other look a bit dark to me.
I really like the backdrop color by the way.
Thanks for sharing!!!
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07/19/2004 10:26:01 PM · #3 |
Thanks Wacky. Believe it or not, the third shot came from the camera like this -- I was so pleasantly surprised at the lighting. The other three I had underexposed adjusted in PS. Thanks for the kind words. :)
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07/19/2004 10:49:20 PM · #4 |
I also think you nailed the third one. Right down to the catchlights. There are only two things that are minor concerns; the bright spot on her left shoulder, and (IMO) the deep red background has a tendency to make her complexion look pale.
I think a gentle touch of soft focus would be the icing on the cake.
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07/19/2004 11:25:07 PM · #5 |
I'm not sure why you had the room so dark. The strobe lights will fill the room and wash out any tungsten or flourecent that you may be using. WB to flash, and fire away. I imagine that with those lights you had to be at 1/200 of a sec or so in order to keep from being blown out on the highlights. With that fast a shutter speed ambient light should not play much of a part in your portrait shots. With a brighter room light, your AF should allow you to lock on her eyes easier and give you a 'pro' look everytime.
I too like the 3rd shot the most. Good work.
-danny
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07/20/2004 02:00:49 AM · #6 |
Originally posted by crabappl3:
I'm not sure why you had the room so dark. The strobe lights will fill the room and wash out any tungsten or flourecent that you may be using. WB to flash, and fire away. I imagine that with those lights you had to be at 1/200 of a sec or so in order to keep from being blown out on the highlights. With that fast a shutter speed ambient light should not play much of a part in your portrait shots. With a brighter room light, your AF should allow you to lock on her eyes easier and give you a 'pro' look everytime.
I too like the 3rd shot the most. Good work.
-danny |
Danny, I didn't even think about having other lights on while doing this. I'm so used to the way I set up for my stills usually with only one light and a very long exposure. Thanks for mentioning it. All of the photos turned out much darker than they appeared in the camera, this number 3 photo looked like a lost cause after viewing it in camera, it appeared to be completely without detail, over exposed, so I corrected - 20/20 hindsight :) Thanks again.
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