Self-portrait with Genesis Lights

[turbo212003]

Got two 200w lights and alienbee cybersyncs.

This is my 2nd day using strobes. I noticed the harsh shadow on my neck.

What do you think?



http://www.grantwphoto.com/images/G1.jpg

[cdifoto]

That's not a harsh shadow, IMHO. But are those sensor turds over on the right? Musta been a huge pixel monkey if they are...

[turbo212003]

Not much love tonight I guess.

[cdifoto]

Everybody's busy bashing the 5D II.

[turbo212003]

Everybody's busy bashing the 5D II.

That got old after the TWENTIETH bashing comment.

[cdifoto]

I think you meant "thread" :D

[turbo212003]

I think you meant "thread" :D



That too.

[Hermes]

The neck shadow isn't at all harsh. If I were you I'd be more worried about the flare coming from the overexposed white BG.

[tim]

Background is too bright, you're underexposed. Overall not too bad for your 2nd day.

[turbo212003]

Anybody else?

[TMR Design]

I agree that the shadows are not harsh. It's not bad for your 2nd day or first shot with strobes. Doing a self portrait makes it that much tougher.

You need to learn the basics and get an understanding of light placement and modeling the subject.

The concept should always be to 1. Create the highlights with your main light, and 2. Control the shadows with the fill source.

'Control' should not be confused with the word 'eliminate'. You don't want to eliminate shadows because shadows add depth,dimension and contrast to an image. With no shadows there is no depth or dimension. Look through the Photo Sharing forums for portraits and do some Google searches for portraits, and look at the various styles and methods used. Other than high fashion and glamour shots you'll always see nice contrast between highlights and shadows but Control is the key. You don't want to be at the mercy of the lights. You want to control and know how to control those highlights and shadows to create the types of images that are pleasing to you and your clients.

Learn the basic rules of portraiture and then explore to find instances where intelligently breaking the rules yields pleasing images.

[convergent]

If you don't have a good meter, you might want to pick up one and a great book is the Master Lighting Guide for Portrait Photographers by Amherst Press... gives you a great deal of info on lighting ratios and how to build a lighting scene step by step. Lots of pictures and comparisons of all the classic portraiture lighting methods.