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09/13/2011 11:00:28 AM · #1 |
I did my first formal portraits on Saturday night and I would greatly appreciate feedback about what I did right and, more importantly, what I could have done better.
Here's a description of my lighting setup using three alienbees and one speedlight.:
1 AB800 45 degrees up and left of camera as the main light with a large rectangular softbox,
1 AB800 just to the right and level with the camera for fill light with reflector umbrella with white fabric,
1 AB1600 (low setting) on the right to act as a backdrop spot with a 30 degree honeycomb grid,
Speed light above the backdrop pointed down and towards the subjects to provide slight rim light.
One thing that I had difficulty with was the slightly wrinkled canvas backdrop. I don't think that there is much of a solution for storing these without creases from folding, so I live with the irregular wrinkles (preferable) that come with simply balling it up for storage. I intended to rely on it going out of focus but that wasn't possible shooting at f/8 which I believe that I needed to do to keep the ambient light balanced with the flash. In hindsight, I think that I would have cranked up the flash output to allow me to reduce my aperture. Would that have worked? What I ended up doing was softening the backdrop in post processing.
So, what about the rest of the factors? Please let me know what I could have done better.
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09/13/2011 01:01:56 PM · #2 |
I think you did great! I won't presume to tell you what needs to be better, but I'll share what I would do differently.
Reduce the bg light - to reduce the glow on it around the edge of the couple
Use a grid or smaller softbox - to narrow the scope of the lighting and have it focus more on their upper body, and not light the entire image.
Have them stand farther from the bg - to have more room to play with lights, and a better chance to blur the bg
Use a more neutral white balance - to reduce orange/yellow cast
Try a low power fill from the right to get a little texture in their clothing, or adjust that in RAW
ETA
Although muslin is convenient because it folds, you can also store it by rolling it around a long pole (which you can then use to hang it on your stands). I actually use PVC backdrops (one black, one white) and they're fantastic!
Message edited by author 2011-09-13 13:03:56. |
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09/13/2011 02:41:52 PM · #3 |
It looks good to me. The biggest thing is that there is no rim effect that I can see. A little bit on the hair, but that's about it. IMO, you don't really need it. You've got the separation by lighting the background.
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