Studio lighting issues...

[erphoto]

Okay so I cracked open the box on a new D60 today thinking that most of the problem the D30 had with shooting using strobes would be at least better. So far from what I have seen I am not all that happy.

I am running all White Lightening strobes and have been for years. I get great results using film but so far my entry into the digital studio world has not been all that great. I am getting very poor color and flat images.

Any tips as to how I should be shooting or settings that I am not thinking of would be great.

Wuestions for me as to what else I might be doing that would help anyone with answers for me please ask away.

Thanks!!!!!

[lazoj]

What type of problems are you having? Under exposure? I am shooting with a 60, connected via PC-sync to two paterson strobes. Using a Sekonic L358 meter for readings, with good results. More details, on your problems.

[Kevin Connery]

Bad color and flat are most likely related.

What white balance are you using? Auto (AWB on the display) is fine when doing outdoors work, but when you are working in the studio with--probably--a large area of specific color for the background, you're going to confuse the camera, and it's going to try to make that a 'neutral' image overall. That's not what you want.

Set the camera to either Flash or Daylight WB, and see if that clears things up. If it doesn't, run through the custom WB sequence and make a custom WB for your lighting setup. That should take care of any color problems, and may correct the 'flat' issue as a side-effect.

Flat could also be due to how you are working your images digitally. Are you bringing them in with a good profile, or just taking the default and converting as-is to your normal working space? If that's not set suitably (and there are many good choices, but even more that "don't play well with other children"), your contrast is not going to be what you expect.

[erphoto]

I have shot a white card and a grey card hoping that would help out using custom WB. The grey card seemed to help out almost perfeclty on a white background. My problem lies when I use back drops. The images I am getting are very poor. The color looks just plain sick. If I bring them into photoshop and adjust the contrast and other levels it helps but still not an acurate color.

I am so used to shooting film and have been doing so for many years. While digital is not new to me this has me a bit perplexed.

The equipment I use to print them out is a Noristu 2901 pro mini lab. I have had it for a year and have had little issues when printing any media. Print film of digital. For some reason though my studio is just not working right with a digital camera.

Any other tips would be great????

[LisaLisa]

I understand your issues. The shot of the moon is pretty good (without a tripod). What was your exposure?