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07/04/2006 09:56:19 AM · #76 |
Originally posted by elru21:
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Liza, I really love the lighting in this one. The little guy's expression is priceless too. I don't mind the porch column as it helps to put him in a position of 'thirds', but I'm not fond of the OOF shrub in the foreground as its a bit distracting. Perhaps a closer crop would work better. Still overall its a lovely portrait and you handled the sunlight very well. Bet that would look great in B/W too. :) |
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07/04/2006 10:08:40 AM · #77 |
Hiya Margie!
To answer a few of your questions -
You can definitely work with multiple windows as long as the "main" source of light is evident (be sure your subject is closer to one window so that it becomes the dominant light).
In your case, if you wanted to get a more dramatic look with the available window light, you might need to cover the other windows in the room. The subject's distance from the window depends on the amount of light coming in and the amount of light you want on your subject. Tip: Squint your eyes a bit to better see where the light is falling across the face.
As for catchlights and the subject's orientation to the window, that is a matter of choice as well, look closely at your subject when you pose them and see where the catchlights fall, move the subject as needed until you get the catchlights where you want them.
Your examples show a nice directional light, but as you said it's a very soft light because of the amount of daylight in the room. There is nothing wrong with soft light. It works great for children and brides, a more dramatic directional light works better for more serious portraits like corporate headshots, men, etc. (these are generalizations and there are exceptions to every rule. YOU decide what kind of lighting will work best for your image) |
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07/04/2006 10:12:15 AM · #78 |
This is a great thread. I for one have no studio and no studio lighting. All my portraits are naturally lit (usually in overcast skys or diffused by being in the shade). I wanted to post a few of my favorites to show that keeping it simple works well.
This photo is natural sweet light (under a porch, with bounced flash on the ceiling of that porch)
Natural light under a porch (no flash used)
Under a canopy of trees in the shade
Natural light under an old bridge with overcast sky. (silver reflector used)
At some point during your photography journey, you will be able to spot sweet light and gravitate towards it. What you are really looking for is diffusion of light for flattering portraits.
Message edited by author 2006-07-04 10:43:39. |
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07/04/2006 10:20:41 AM · #79 |
[quote=carisakD70]     
Hi Carissa :)
Of the first 3 images you posted, the first one best shows the directional lighting we've been talking about so far. One side of the face is slightly brighter and the light wraps softly around the face (because its bouncing off the wall) and gives the face dimension. The second shot shows nice directional light on the man, but the woman seems to be facing almost directly into the light causing her face to get 'flat light'. A solution would have been to have them both turn slightly to your right so that the available light falls across the face rather than hitting it straight on.
The last shot has the lighting completely behind your subjects, leaving them in shadow and losing much of the detail of their faces. Again, simply turning more toward the light or using a reflector to brighten the faces would improve the shot overall.
All three portraits are nice, but could use some slight adjusting to make them even more lovely.
I like the way kitty's eyes are brightened by the window light :)
I hope this is helpful. |
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07/04/2006 10:21:58 AM · #80 |
Excellent examples, Kel!! Thanks so much for sharing! :D |
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07/04/2006 10:25:53 AM · #81 |
Someone asked earlier if it was okay to comment / critique each others' images in this thread....
ABSOLUTELY YES INDEED YOU BETCHA!!
I would like this thread to be a conversation, not be all one-way. As I stated at the beginning of this thread, I am no expert, only a photographer who is willing to share what I've learned so far and hopefully to continue learning through the conversations here. So yes, please do comment and critique each other's work, post examples of lighting styles you have questions about, etc....
Cindi |
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07/04/2006 11:37:21 AM · #82 |
I'm having fun following this thread....and learning all the time. Here's my humble submission. Once I get my safe sync, I'll be happy to sync to my strobe flash, without slaving via the on-camera flash, and that will open up a whole new aspect of portraiture to me. Can't wait.
Thanks a lot for your input Cindi. |
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07/04/2006 10:40:01 PM · #83 |
Ok, I haven't had an oppurtunity to get out in the sun, but I did go our Friday with some friends. I had to use flash on all of these, which I softened by putting 4 layers of scotch tape over the onboard flash. These are really more candids than posed portraits. I'd still really like to hear what everyone thinks thinks.
Thanks
 Joy was one of the birthday girls.
 Kerry doing his best to impress the ladies.
 Sara was the other birthday girl.
 I really liked the expression on Tony, but I would really like some help with a more effective crop.
Message edited by author 2006-07-04 22:45:19. |
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07/05/2006 04:32:54 PM · #84 |
Kelly, these are lovely portraits. If you have the time, I'd love to know what sort of post processing you've done on them. I'm just starting to figure out how to use Photoshop. |
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07/06/2006 10:53:45 AM · #85 |
The processing done on each of these was very different. I would say the first 2 and last one had the least amount of editing. Contrast adjustments and some dodging of the eyes and a little cloning tool (for skin blemishes). The black n white obviously has the most editing. I converted to b&w and did a texture overlay (Joeys Tutorial) and some dodging and burning.
Hope that helps. |
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07/06/2006 11:13:04 AM · #86 |
Thanks Kelly!
I played around with this shot of Ari a bit in photoshop. Is there anyway to get rid of the green cast to parts of her face/hands? I realized, after looking at it, that the window she was sitting in front of is about 15 feet from a solid wall of foilage, so I assume that was reflecting a lot of green in the window (something my naked eye has never noticed). I think I got the face a little too red, trying to get rid of the green cast.
original:
edited:
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07/06/2006 11:34:05 AM · #87 |
Have you tried going to IMAGE/Adjust/Selective Color?
Select the green and move those sliders around.
I'll fiddle with it some too. |
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07/06/2006 11:39:55 AM · #88 |
| nope... that's a command I hadn't discovered yet. I've only had photoshop for a week. Thanks! I'll try playing with that. |
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07/06/2006 12:22:16 PM · #89 |
Well I gave up and did a B&W conversion on it. Some pics just look better in b&w. LOL |
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07/06/2006 04:29:44 PM · #90 |
| Hi I just found this site and this thread. I took some photos yesterday and would like to show them to you. I am very interested in learning more about lighting for taking senior portraits. I don't see a way to insert an image from my computer, does that mean it has to be put in the internet somewhere first so that I can show you? |
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07/06/2006 04:37:31 PM · #91 |
Originally posted by cabshutterbug:
Hi I just found this site and this thread. I took some photos yesterday and would like to show them to you. I am very interested in learning more about lighting for taking senior portraits. I don't see a way to insert an image from my computer, does that mean it has to be put in the internet somewhere first so that I can show you? |
Yes, it must be online somewhere and linked to DPC unless you are a DPC member and have portfolio space here.
Update for the thread watchers:
I am working on the next assignment and beginning of the studio lighting section, it should be ready tomorrow or so. |
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07/06/2006 04:38:32 PM · #92 |
Originally posted by cabshutterbug:
Hi I just found this site and this thread. I took some photos yesterday and would like to show them to you. I am very interested in learning more about lighting for taking senior portraits. I don't see a way to insert an image from my computer, does that mean it has to be put in the internet somewhere first so that I can show you? |
Yes, unless you are a member, you will have to use the forum code to insert photo links from other places.
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07/07/2006 09:10:40 AM · #93 |
Note: I am NOT this brilliant - the following is pulled together from several sources and I think it covers the basics very thoroughly - so .......
Why go into the studio?
Studio photography is easy because you can get exactly what you want. Studio photography is hard because you can get exactly what you want.
Soft light, hard light, hair light, background. Everything is under your control. If you are a tremendously creative person who knows how to use studio equipment, you'll get wonderful results. If you are uncreative, you'll have very flat and boring results. If anything is wrong with the lighting balance or exposure, you'll have nobody to blame but yourself.
Rent or buy?
Most big cities have good rental studios that come complete with lights, backgrounds, and often assistants. This is the way to go if you have a big budget and know exactly when you want to shoot. Having your own studio, especially at home, is great for spontaneous work and also because you can take some of your equipment on location.
Ceiling or floor?
Decide whether you want your studio to be floor-based or ceiling-based. A floor-based studio means that you have lightstands for the lights and background supports for the background. All of these supports are very lightweight because they are designed to be portable. You'll be treading very carefully and/or you'll be knocking things over.
In a ceiling-based studio, you mount background rollers on the ceiling and a rail system that allow flexible positioning of lights anywhere within a rectangular area. A ceiling-based studio costs about $1000 more than a floor-based one but is a much nicer place to work in my opinion (remember that I'm 6' tall, 200 lbs, and move with the grace of... an MIT student). Also, you'll still need at least some of the floor-based stuff for location work.
The Lights
Decide what format camera you'll be using. Bigger cameras require smaller apertures to get adequate depth of field and hence more light. Decide how big your subjects are going to be. Head-and-shoulders portraits require much less light than automobiles.
I don't have enough experience with hot lights to tell you how much light you need, but there are many good books for cinematographers on the subject. With flashes, 500 watt-seconds is sufficient for 35mm photography of people at full-length or 4x5 photography of tabletop subjects. Most serious studio photographers start with about 2000 watts-seconds, which is adequate for 4x5 photography of large subjects.
Sunlight
If you have any windows in your studio, you might be able to use the sunlight coming in. The color temperature of sunlight varies from about 2000K at sunrise to 4300K in the early morning to 5800K at high noon in midsummer. [Note: the sun streaming into a window is different from what you get if you take your subject out into the open. "Daylight" is a combination of sunlight (around 5500K) and skylight (approx 9500K), averaging to around 6500K in the summer. Clouds or shade push the color temperature much bluer, up towards 9000K, though an overall overcast is usually 6000K.]
Hot Lights
Once you know how much light you need, decide whether to go hot or cold. "Hot lights" are tungsten or Metal Halide Iodide (HMI) lights that burn continuously. The big advantages of hot lights are
you can always see what you're going to get, even if you mix with ambient light. You don't need Polaroid tests, fancy meters, and a good imagination.
You can use hot lights with movie, video, and scanning digital cameras
Not too many still photographers use hot lights, though, because they have the following disadvantages:
heat. Thousands of watts of heat that make the photographer sweat, the models sweat, and the props melt.
tungsten color balance.
limited accessories. It is much easier to control a light source that isn't hot enough to light paper on fire. You can experiment with electronic flash without burning your house down. With hot lights, you must make sure that your diffusers, soft boxes, umbrellas, etc. can handle the heat.
HMI lights are mercury medium-arc iodide lights that burn at a color temperature of between 5600K and 6000K. They produce about 4X the light of a tungsten bulb with the same wattage because less energy is wasted as heat. Also, you don't have to waste energy and light filtering to daylight color balance. That said, if you get yourself a 36,000 watt Ultra Dino, you won't exactly be shivering in the studio. The smallest HMI lights seem to be about 200 watts.
Cold Lights
"Cold lights" are electronic flashes, much more powerful than the ones on your camera but basically the same idea. Studio strobes come in two flavors: monolights and powerpack/head systems. The business end of both is the same, a flash tube surrounding an incandescent bulb. The incandescent bulb, usually around 100 watts, is the "modeling light," used by the photographer to judge lighting effects and ratios. These aren't very effective if the ambient light in the studio, e.g., from windows, is high. Most photographers burn a few Polaroids to make sure that the lights are properly set.
A monolight has a wall outlet on one end, a flash tube on the other, and a big block of capacitors in between. These are nice for location work because you don't have have a lot of cables running around. Using several monolights together isn't as much of a problem as you'd think because (1) good monolights have a 4 or 5 f-stop output adjustment control, and (2) most monolights have a built-in slave so that when one fires, they will all fire.
In a powerpack/head system, you have one big heavy capacitor-filled power pack and a bunch of relatively lightweight heads connected by high-voltage cables to the powerpack. You can adjust the lighting power among the heads and also the overall light output. These are the most flexible and most commonly used studio flash systems. Flash power is specified in watt-seconds (joules), somewhat confusingly abbreviated as "w/s".
Choosing a brand of studio strobes is a similar process to choosing an SLR camera system. If you buy the wrong brand, you may have to scrap your entire investment as your ambitions grow.
Note for high speed photography: Studio flash systems generally take between 1/200th and 1/1500th of a second to dump out their light. This is fast enough to freeze much motion but won't stop a bullet or give you a perfectly sharp splash. Studio strobes are designed for relatively long illumination times because color film actually suffers some reciprocity failure at the very short exposure times of on-camera flashes that aren't working hard. In other words, Kodak and Fuji don't guarantee that you'll get correct color balance at 1/50,000 of a second because the red, green, and blue layers of the film respond differently to being illuminated for so short a time. If you want to do high-speed photography, your options are (1) use an on-camera flash set for 1/32nd power, or (2) get a studio strobe system specifically designed for stop-motion capability.
Light Control
Whatever lighting system you get, make sure that it is reasonably popular. Otherwise, you won't be able to get any accessories to fit. You need to be able to control whether the light is hard or soft. Hard light is generated by a small and/or far-away light and results in strong shadows. Examples of hard lights are the sun (not small but quite far away) and bare bulbs. Soft light is generated by a large diffuse light and results in shadow-free images because there are many paths from the light source to the object. Examples of soft light are an overcast sky, a north-facing window close to the subject, a bulb reflected off an umbrella placed close to the subject.
Another dimension to control is diffuse/specular. A diffuse source contains light on many different angles whereas specular light is organized in parallel rays. Specular light doesn't bounce around the studio filling in shadows and lowering contrast, spilling onto the background, etc.
Old-time photographers relied on silver umbrellas to get a somewhat softer light source. With white translucent umbrellas, you can use them like a silver umbrella and bounce off them (losing about 1/2 the light, which will go through and away from your subject) or shoot through them, which results in slightly harder light with the same 1-stop loss. However you use an umbrella, you'll generally get a diffuse light source.
The modern religion is the softbox, a reflector-lined cavity covered with a white diffusion fabric. The best of these, e.g., the PhotoFlex MultiDome, allow you to remove the front fabric to get a "sort of hard" light, to place or remove an interior baffle to get a "slightly less soft" light, and to warm up the color of the light with a gold reflector. Because softboxes surround the light head, you lose much less light than you would using white umbrellas. Note: the M&M's image at the top of this page was done with a softbox.
Some photographers put a big grid over the softbox to create a large specular source. Louvers create the same effect but only on one axis. An inexpensive honeycomb grid will turn a strobe head into a specular light source, albeit not a very large one. Photographers who use these tend to use many, "painting a scene" precisely with pools of light. Strobe head grids are $50-75 each or sold in sets with different light angles for about $200.
Snoots sit over a light head and turn it into a very small light source. These are usually used for hair lights. You can stick a small honeycomb grid over the snoot to tighten up the cone of light thrown by the snoot and also make the light more specular.
Barn Doors are black metal flaps that sit around a strobe head and keep the light from going where you don't want it to go. This is Hollywood technology from the 1920's. If you really want to control the angle of the light cone thrown by your head, you should probably get a zoom head or a bunch of grids.
Reflectors are really too general purpose to be called "studio equipment" but they are essential studio items and, if cleverly used, can eliminate the need for additional strobe heads. A favorite of mine is the PhotoFlex Litepanel, which is a huge sheet of gold/silver reflector, white diffusion fabric, or black light absorber in a plastic frame. You can light through this and turn it into a huge softbox, bounce off of it to bring the contrast ratio closer to that magic Kodak 3:1, or take it outside and have an assistant hold it to filter the sun. Another essential item is the disk reflector (e.g., Photoflex Lightdisc) which stores compactly but springs open to a large round reflector with a steel frame. I usually buy them white on one side, gold on the other.
The most important word in studio light control is "gobo". Hardly anyone knows what it means, but you can't beat the mysterious sound. It actually is short for "go between" and refers to anything that you stick in between the light and the subject to cast a shadow, diffuse the light, or whatever.
More: see the Photoflex Web site for a wide range of standard professional products and/or the Calumet catalog. If you really want to understand the art of lighting, read books written for film makers and also look at old black & white movies (before they had color, they used lots of interesting gobos to add shadow patterns on white walls and other boring surfaces).
Flash Triggering
If you have hot lights, you don't have to worry about this; they're on all the time. If you have strobes, the camera has to tell the strobes when to fire. This is traditionally done with a sync cord. Sync cords come in many lengths and are available coiled or uncoiled. The one thing in common that they all share is that they suck and you will trip over them and probably break something very expensive. It is much better to use a wireless trigger of some kind. Personally, I use a Wein Infrared SSR kit (about $200), which consists of a small on-camera hotshoe-connected flash with a filter over the front that only passes IR light. The other half of the kit plugs into your strobe powerpack and waits for the IR pulse from the on-camera unit, then triggers the flash. There are various radio slaves (e.g., Quantum) that also perform this function, possibly better in a large studio or outdoors.
I'm so high on a fully wireless studio that I also bought a Wein slave trigger for my flashmeter (see below).
Flash Metering
Unless you have a very unusual camera (e.g., certain Rolleis and Contaxes), you will not be able to meter flash exposure with a through-the-lens in-camera meter. Virtually every professional carries a handheld flashmeter. This is a $500 device that measures ambient light, light ratios, how many pops of a studio strobe system you'll need to shoot at f/64 with your view camera.
Almost everyone uses a flash meter in incident mode. You stick a white diffusion dome over the meter and hold the meter in front of the subject's face, with the dome pointing back at the camera. Then you push a button on the meter and it triggers the flash (assuming you have it connected via a sync cord or Wein system). The meter then reports the appropriate f-stop to use. This gives you a reading that is independent of the subject's reflectance. In other words, if the subject is white the meter doesn't get fooled into thinking that it is a brighter light and if the subject is black the meter doesn't recommend opening up two more f-stops until the subject is rendered as though it were 18% gray.
The Background
The basic professional background is seamless paper. This comes in rolls 53", 107", and 140" wide. I find the 53" size is too confining and leads to stiff poses and nasty little slipups where a corner of the frame is not covered by the background. On the other hand, the 140" size is not really necessary most of the time, which is why it is only available in a handful of colors. The 107" width is about 9 feet and that's a good size for most people. A roll costs about $30 and you should have white, "studio gray", and black for starters.
For location work, Photek's Background-in-a-Bag system is kind of nice. These are big sheets of what looks like crushed velvet that you just duct tape up against a wall. They cost about $130 and fit into a included gym-bag.
Camera Support
This is where most readers would say "duh, use a tripod." First of all, if you're doing 35mm or medium format work with strobes, you don't need a camera support because the flash freezes motion. But if you're using hot lights or big cameras or doing something creative, you probably need some kind of camera support.
Okay - that should answer, or begin to answer all of the technical questions and get basic terms defined. Now lets chat. Questions?
Assignment #2: Reproduce the same directional light we got outdoors with your studio lighting. (Note: this can be done with one light, reflectors, 25 lights, however you can and want to go about it.)
Message edited by author 2006-07-07 10:24:35.
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07/07/2006 10:33:11 AM · #94 |
My own studio space:
I have been collecting studio equipment for a few years now and my studio shows the evidence of my collecting. The space changes constantly depending on what or who I am shooting, but you can get a good idea of the space here:
  
Yes, the realtor called it a garage, but she was mistaken ;0
I have a changing area in one corner curtained off with some extra fabric, a shelf with toys and games for those unruly kids, a few props - but not many really (I mostly steal things from inside my house when I need props). I use 3 Alien Bees strobes, 2 AB400s and one AB800. The 800 has a 36" softbox, my fill light uses a reflective umbrella and I usually have a gel holder or a background light modifier on the bg light. I use white, blue and black seamless paper and have a couple of muslins as well that I use ocassionally. Since everything is "done by me" my method of hanging paper rolls (on airline cable) makes changing rolls kinda tough, so I tend to stick with one for a while before changing to another if I can. My favorite studio toy? My 5 foot tall 5-in-1 reflector! It hangs on an old hospital IV pole for ease of movement and positioning in a hurry. :D
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07/07/2006 10:52:56 AM · #95 |
Cindi... this has been a most informative thread thus far. I really appreciate you taking the time to do this. I am trying to branch into studio photography and am watching this thread very closely. I do not have much time to participate, but I did want to pop in and say thank you thank you thank you!
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07/07/2006 11:22:02 AM · #96 |
I'm really glad so many people are finding this thread helpful, informative, or useful in whatever way.
As I stated before, I'm no expert, but I am determined to excel in portrait photography, so I have been doing a lot of this research for some time now. I have about a zillion websites bookmarked and books on my shelves to grab info from.
I'm sure I won't think to post everything that is relevant, so please keep asking questions. I would like to eventually lead this thread toward each of us shooting atleast one masterpiece portrait :)
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07/07/2006 11:35:35 AM · #97 |
Here is a brilliant link..... with diagrams!! :D
Click this... read this.... good stuff
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07/07/2006 05:16:45 PM · #98 |
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07/07/2006 06:10:56 PM · #99 |
wow, that's a long post, reading it now. maybe I can get myself to model for me later ;-)
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07/08/2006 08:39:46 PM · #100 |
Saturday bump. I'm assuming by all the views that we have many silent lurkers?
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