My third photo shoot on Saturday

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I bought a set of lights last June. I've used them a couple of times, had fun. My third practice is coming up this Saturday. I've asked a couple of families if I could use them as guinea pigs and they've agreed. But now I'm getting nervous. Okay, scared. One is a couple in their early 50s and the other is a family with mom, dad and 3 kids (one newborn).

After my last try I wanted to sell everything, camera, lights, all and do something else. The pictures absolutely sucked and I was not prepared. Just shows me that I'm not ready to move into charging people and making money.

I'll schedule an emergency appt with my doctor and get some Paxil or something. Take a double shot that morning and have fun.

[Ronald S. Jr.]

What was so wrong with them? What could be wrong? Don't mean to sound like a jerk, but it's not rocket science. If you don't have a light meter, just put your camera in manual mode, ISO 100, f/8, and 1/160, and play with the light settings until the histogram on your camera looks right. Lighting placement is another thing. You have to remember, you generally have a main light. That's the most powerful. All of the other lights aren't necessarily to light the subject, but to control shadows. Get the main light right, and then adjust the other lights below that until it looks good. If you just can't get the lights where it looks right, just put the main light to the subject's right, your left, at about 45 degrees from camera center. Then just move the other lights (don't know how many you have) around until the shadows look decent. It takes some toying around, but it's not tough.

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Thanks for the advice and you didn't sound like a jerk. I now have a light meter but need to figure it out.