Lighting and PP test runs. CC Pls

[mi_reefy]

A bit of background. I'm learning, and thought I would experiment with a compact, before buying myself a dSLR... I don't own any proper lighting equipment (except for the in-built flash on my S5)... So thought I'd experiment with some other cheap stuff :D

Bought some filament bulbs and wires, connected them up and just asked a friend to pose... and heres the result...

Well, you can see three catchlights, the middle is my flash firing and on the right hand side its a 200W bulb (orange light) and on the left hand side its a small emergency lamp (white light) with some glossy white paper right below it (as a reflector :oops: for some light below the chin) I'm guessing two different coloured light isn't a very good idea, but since I was running short, I had to improvise.

Almost forgot, I also set up a 100W orange light bulb at the back of the subject (backlight :D :oops:)

Horrible background - curtains drawn during the day (hence the light through it)

I'm sure this set up has a world full of technical flaws, but just wanted to know what everybody makes of it... I tried a B&W conversion (after some skin work + other touchups on CS3). Is it a big failure?

Thanks for viewing, Comments and criticism always welcome.

http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/5929/52452985vb3.jpg

Oh and sorry for the extremely long post...
Was just having some fun...

[Robert_Lay]

Let's list the effects of the lighting -
1) Hot spots in the middle of the forehead, down the ridge of the nose and at the tip of the nose and on her right cheek - all signs of overly harsh lighting and lack of diffusion.

2) The lighting is more or less symmetrical across the face giving the un-natural appearance of two main sources of light.

A good idea would be to find examples of professional lighting and try to get the same effect, but in any case use lighting with more diffusion in order to reduce the hot spots.

Once you decide on a lighting scheme, such as Rembrandt lighting, adjust your lights to create the shadows that give 3-dimensionality to the subject - that is, the appearance of depth.

I would suggest as an educational exercise to use one main light that creates shadows diagonally across the face. This light should be off to one side of the camera and higher than the camera. Then, if necessary, add a small amount of flat light to soften those shadows if they are too contrasty.

Whenever you see very hot spots, it is a good idea to move the lamp further away and give it some diffusion ad some opportunity to bounce off nearby walls or ceiling to reduce its harshness.

[mi_reefy]

Thank you very much for the tips. Will surely make corrections and post again soon.
This is extremely helpful :)

-Reef