Fake Executive shots

sempaidavid wrote in post #14245230
Hmm....I am surprised to seeeople say the exposure looks hot. But I am viewing on my iPad, so who knows.

On my uncalibrated monitor the blacks look fine, but the lighting on the face itself does look a little hot to me as well.

Curious... I may be doing something similar soon. I was recently [this afternoon] volunteered to photograph a small church staff in a couple of weeks. I did get a shot list today, and most will be individuals, though there will be a few couples as well. I have done some similar shooting [1-2 light setups] of my brother (senior year) so I don't have that much of an issue with this part... I am also planning to go setup either this weekend or next and do some testing before hand; I plan to jot down some lighting layouts, flash power settings, etc. so I have a solid starting point, and maybe a few different setups in mind before hand (in case they don't want the lighting to be identical in all of the shots).

That said, they do also want a group shot of 6. Any suggestions on how to best light this? I currently have (3) light stands, (2) shoot through umbrellas, and (4) speedlites; I actually currently own 5 lights, but one of them is currently for sale, so I am not counting on having it. Do you guys think having (2) speedlites paired with the umbrellas will be enough to properly light all 6? If so, can you recommend a lighting configuration? Will one light on either side of the camera [main/fill] work? If not, I have no issue getting another (or more) umbrellas and/or light stands as needed. I just recently (last week) got 2 of the flashes, which is why I don't have stands for them already.

Sorry for hi-jacking, but thanks in advance for the recommendations and/or comments

^^ We are all here to share information and discuss, no worries about hijacking. Thanks for pointing out the hotness. I now see what you mean. The reason why I emphasized on the background light was because the potential client provided me a photo that had exactly that and I was going to imitate that.

Yes, the 580ex1 has a slave option but it did not fire (but I was pointing it towards the background when I tried. I should try to light the hair with that (maybe it will pick up the flash from the eli dl4? I have attempted to raise the main light source up and point it more of an angle downwards to see if it will light up the hair, will post up the 2nd try soon.

I think the angle is a little awkwardly low. tighter on the face?

^^ I can see why you say that but I've seen a lot of executive shots that has about the breast and up to show their suit I suppose?
So here's a reshoot of moving the light source as high as I can and pointing down, trying to get the hair with one light. It doesn't seem to work. Also, is the nose a little hot still? Windping, do you mind telling us how to look at a cs5 file to determine "hotness"? Please?

key pretty hot.

when I shoot executives... I shoot with at least 2 lights on the subject to make them look prestigious. one light looks like an ID shot for me.
Key light at eye level... especially men.

Ok folks, here's my final attempt for today. I put a green background up so I can chromakey in a different background, but I should have tried for white (which may be easier). I really do appreciate all the input. PhilF, I moved the key light to eye level which I really like. Also, this octabox, I removed the outer diffuser and the light looks so much better, IMO.

too much hotspot and the separation lights needs to be repositioned. If you meter for the background then adjust the key light as necessary. I prefer butterfly lighting than rembrandt also. The last edit you have is really bad, it needs color correction and white balance adjustment.

^^ Thanks, I see what I did wrong now. My picture style setting had color tone to be -2. Then I attempted to cool it down and looks like I overdid it. Will attempt the butterfly lighting and see how that goes. Thanks

darksike wrote in post #14245271
you mentioned 580ex1, I assume you have it in hand? does it have a slave option? no need to buy additional optical slave or skyport receivers if it does have this option.
both of my monitors looked hot as well
1st not as much but 2 and 3 are more w/hint of red tint

Hot and a bit red here to.

Even if you had the lighting perfect, that crooked tie would have killed the photo. Also not a big fan of more than one catch light in the eyes.

IMO all your practice shots are off in one way or another. Poses, lighting ratios, light position, etc.
I suggest that you spend some time either on the internet or with magazines looking at executive portraits. Find some that you think nail it and the deconstruct them and try to duplicate the lighting. Then spend some time fine tuning the poses.

There are a few basics that have proven useful over time. Short lighting is good for men. Rembrandt lighting is a classic starting place for portraits, both men and women. shoulders about 45 degrees to the camera is good starting point for body posing, with head turned back toward camera a bit.
Again, these are "classic" starting place suggestions. Best to spend time finding some good examples and then learning how to replicate them.

Here an actor's head shot that was done with two lights. Main was in a large PLM and fill was in a mid-sized PLM shoot through. Given the power settings this could just as easily been done with two speedlites.

Another observation; the green background should be much lighter to make it useful as a green screen background for dropping out.

All have been dutifully noted. Thank you so much. These were self portraits so it was kind of hard to pose myself without seeing myself. Will definitely be practicing more and more. Very much appreciate all the great feedback. Oh I've been reading and reading and looking at various different work.

zyndurai wrote in post #14250151
All have been dutifully noted. Thank you so much. These were self portraits so it was kind of hard to pose myself without seeing myself. Will definitely be practicing more and more. Very much appreciate all the great feedback. Oh I've been reading and reading and looking at various different work.

Keep at it.

Do you have a laptop you can tether to? That's what I do at times when I'm checking out new lighting ideas. I set the lap to in front of me so that I see what the camera sees.

^^ What a great idea! I didn't even think about that. Thanks!