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I've been meaning to finish this project but thought I'd run it by critique first before I set everything up again. It's kind of an ordeal because my studio set up blocks off vital areas of my small house and I've got my kids running around almost knocking things over, so I have to be efficient.

I was a bit too rough with one of my umbrellas and it broke. I even fixed it temporarily, but the tines collapsed again and now it's not salvageable. I can't buy a replacement at the moment so I improvised by pointing my bare bulbs at a large reflective board, then positioned it so I could see the light was hitting my subject. I'm using continuous lights so I can see what the light is doing before I shoot. However, I realized I lost a lot of focused light by doing that, but I didn't think I'd have enough light with that set up. So to compensate, I bounced my on camera flash with a diffuser behind me at an upward angle to bring up the ambient light. Another however, this seems to have flattened out my lighting so I've lost the nice contrasty look with light and shadows.

In any case, I'll have to put my studio photography on hold after I finish this project, until I can get a replacement umbrella. Here are some of the results. I'm creating a book of my daughter's favorite things at the suggestion of her speech therapist as a tool to help with her speech.

Feedback appreciated. It's just for a personal project so I'll have it printed regardless, but I thought it'd be a good exercise for me.

Dressy shoes and Shopkins.

Nice clean shots for a specific purpose. I'd try bumping the contrast on 1 and 4 a bit but otherwise well done.

Well done!

Sounds like an excellent project that will serve both you and your daughter. Unless you were going for a high key look, the first image looks a little overexposed.
I brought it into Adobe Camera Raw and just hit the "auto" selection and it gave me this result (which shows it 1 stop overexposed). It'll work either way, but I prefer the edited version. The rest of the images look fine and I'm sure she'll love the book. Keep at it, you're doing great.

Yes, I saw that same result as well. Except it is not accurate to the actual object. I suspect this is some calculation based on the 18% rule, similar to how the camera automatically underexposes this shot as well and I have to apply exposure compensation. The image is true to the actual scene, although I will play up the shadows and contrast more for a better visual balance.

Thanks

You're probably right about ACR adjusting it to 18% grey and you are the best to decide if the colors are correct. I do like a little separation from the background, but 1 full stop adjustment was probably too much.

atsilverstein wrote in post #17863896
I've been meaning to finish this project but thought I'd run it by critique first before I set everything up again. It's kind of an ordeal because my studio set up blocks off vital areas of my small house and I've got my kids running around almost knocking things over, so I have to be efficient.

I was a bit too rough with one of my umbrellas and it broke. I even fixed it temporarily, but the tines collapsed again and now it's not salvageable. I can't buy a replacement at the moment so I improvised by pointing my bare bulbs at a large reflective board, then positioned it so I could see the light was hitting my subject. I'm using continuous lights so I can see what the light is doing before I shoot. However, I realized I lost a lot of focused light by doing that, but I didn't think I'd have enough light with that set up. So to compensate, I bounced my on camera flash with a diffuser behind me at an upward angle to bring up the ambient light. Another however, this seems to have flattened out my lighting so I've lost the nice contrasty look with light and shadows.

In any case, I'll have to put my studio photography on hold after I finish this project, until I can get a replacement umbrella. Here are some of the results. I'm creating a book of my daughter's favorite things at the suggestion of her speech therapist as a tool to help with her speech.

Feedback appreciated. It's just for a personal project so I'll have it printed regardless, but I thought it'd be a good exercise for me.

I know you're looking for feedback on the photos, but I am going to comment on the writing instead.

It is a joy to see a post that is so well-written! Sadly it has become commonplace to see poor grammar, "there" instead of "their" or "they're", entire words that are completely missing, etc, etc, etc. Hence, it really catches my eye when I come across something like this. I appreciate the time you spent to make sure that your post was well written - that shows respect for those who will be reading it.

Thank you!

By the way, I do think that the photos themselves are quite good, especially considering the context in which they will be used. I think your daughter will love the book!

.

Thanks, I appreciate the compliments. I don't make a special effort to write well, except to make sure I don't have any weird typos that get changed by auto-correct. This is just how I write. However, I've always wanted to be taken seriously so I think that comes across in my writing.

There are plenty of people on POTN who write well too, but I understand what you mean. Especially with the younger generation which I'm a part of.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #17868692
I know you're looking for feedback on the photos, but I am going to comment on the writing instead.

It is a joy to see a post that is so well-written! Sadly it has become commonplace to see poor grammar, "there" instead of "their" or "they're", entire words that are completely missing, etc, etc, etc. Hence, it really catches my eye when I come across something like this. I appreciate the time you spent to make sure that your post was well written - that shows respect for those who will be reading it.

Thank you!

By the way, I do think that the photos themselves are quite good, especially considering the context in which they will be used. I think your daughter will love the book!

.

by golly, your write!



at, if you can pick up a cheap piece of fabric you should be able to easily rig up a shoot through light panel. I have a couple of pieces i picked up at the fabric store for only 4 or 6 bucks a yard. That would give you a 52" x 36" source for around 5 bucks. Last piece i picked up had a little smudge on the fabric that had bled through a few spots, as the store employee unrolled the bolt, she just kept going and going and was only able to get what I needed off the very end of the bolt. She ended up giving me the whole 5-6 yards for the price of 2. You can look for sheer nylon ripstop or sheer nylon/polyester in the bridal gown area.

even an old white bed sheet can be used for a shoot through.

as for the pics, it seems like you have the umbrella fairly far back. Placing the light closer to the subject would make the light fall off more dramatic and since the direct light falling on the subject is more intense, the bounced light (effectively strong fill) from around the room would be relatively less intense. If you end up with a shoot through panel you can place the flash closer or farther from the back of the material to make a smaller or larger light source.


random google for shoot through light panel: http://digital-photography-school.com …itch-softbox-light-panel/

I'm actually using continuous lighting, so I have 4 ridiculously large photography bulbs on one side and 2 on the other. Honestly I'm kind of intimidated by flashes and I've already maxed out my budget (but I'll look into the fabrics idea).

I have a 60" parabolic umbrella so it's huge (to me, I'm only 5' tall ).. maybe that's my issue.

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll definitely be looking into it.

the same principles apply to continuous vs. flash/strobe.

If your continuous lights are "hot lights" (not fluorescent or LCD) be careful using them with a fabric diffuser.

atsilverstein wrote in post #17872238
... Honestly I'm kind of intimidated by flashes and I've already maxed out my budget.

Yongnuo maybe? Pretty affordable.

/have to add, that I have two of them [YN600's with trigger] and everything works great, except both hotshoe rubbers are lost and one of flashes just reset itself couple days ago during shoot. But the price is unbeatable.
Oh, at one point there were know issue of losing signal with a trigger, but it has disappeared as of late.

Awesome project. The images look great. The ST is going to be impressed.