First time with studio lights!

I got a set of studio lights from Ebay, I admit I really don't know much about them. I set up two 300W lights with white umbrellas. I was kinda disappointed with how they came out, the pictures are more dark than I would like, and I think the white balance is off. I used 200 ISO, f2.8, shutter speed 60. I didn't like going that low with shutter speed, but it was too dark otherwise. Ditto with the ISO. Any pointers, general C&C? I'll put my edited version first, then the unedited (sharpening only).

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were the lights on at full power? Hmmmm it does look really dark, try reading in the lighting sticky!
Good luck! hey, maybe the lights were too far away from the subject?

You say it's your first time, so let's tackle the basics first. How are you triggering these lights? If you are using an on-camera flash, your pre-flash (or red-eye) might be triggering the strobes early, causing the actual exposure to be lit with only the modeling light. When you press the shutter, do you see the subject lit by the flashes through the viewfinder? That's another indication that the flash is timed wrong.
If you're sure you've got this straightened out, let us know and we'll go from there.

Are each of the lights 300W or is the combined total 300W? I presume these are "hot lights" since you identified them as 300W and not 300WS. The light from them will be a bit orange. If the umbrellas were the thin, white shoot-through umbrellas that I believe are usually shipped with these kits, I suspect you are losing a bit of light through them. With a 30D I wouldn't be afraid to bump the ISO up to 400.

hey, i know how it goes playing around with lights. i'm still playing with mine too. i agree with you that they are too dark so i tried lightening it. i'm not sure that i got the color right though... he still looks a little red. i have to do this all the time b/c i always have at least one shot that i wish was lighter. good luck playing around though!

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Here's my idea of how it should look.

I agree with the previous posters.
How far away were the lights?
Hot lights?
Do a custom white ballance.

Lighting ratios look ok but I would go for less fill when it comes to the guys.

Didn't get time to even out the hot spot on his face. I would have spent more time but my daughter is calling

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Thankyou so much for the edits and the pointers! You know what... reading this, I've realised I don't know nearly enough about lighting, and need to go and read up on it . Thankyou again!

There is definitely a glitch there, but that's good b/c it will be easy to fix and you will be on your way to getting teh results you desire. You aren't capturing the subject when the flashes fire.
How are you triggering the flashes? ootsk probably hit the nail on the head with his post. With 2 300w lights at ISO 200 and f/2.8 you would be able to blow his face out like he were Casper the friendliest ghost. The shutter speed isn't that important as long as it's slower than the camera's sync speed; 1/125 and 1/200 are common.
Good luck!

rbush83 wrote in post #2135440
How are you triggering the flashes?

The lights are just continuous . Are they hopeless?

Now lets put the masculine head tilt on him so he looks more like a man.

Benji

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lol..

i love reading peoples threads about new lighting. thats my next setup purchase and am soaking in all the advice you have been given!

kp

LOL Benji..I did the same crop two days ago, but wasn't sure how to word it, so I didn't post it. Ignore the coloring, as i'm colorblind, and the compression looks severe, but you get the idea about the head tilt. I did a quick and dirty "arm" to add balance to the frame.

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Oh I didn't realise that about men's poses, another thing learned!

They are pretty dark, i wonder if you can get a few more in there? Our setup at work is 2 soft box's one either side of the subject, a hair light if we have a dark child, and a backlight to emphasise the backdrops...the 2 softbox's are pretty bright when they flash and from either side they get enough light to highlight the face. Maybe get the lights closer? They would look good for like dramatic shots with a model - but for simple portraits i think it needs work on the face with the lights!

Del

isis24 wrote in post #2136621
The lights are just continuous . Are they hopeless?

Ah continuous lights. I thought we were talking about 300w/s strobes. I'll have to butt out now because I know next to nothing about continuous lights. I will just say that it does appear they may be underpowered. Try moving them as close as pssible and putting a diffusion panel in front of them.