First Studio Shots

Just playing around today, I've had the studio set up about a month and have been to busy to do much.

I tinkered around for an hour or so this afternoon as I'm starting to get caught up.

Here is my youngest daughter.....I'll throw in a couple of my favorite model who never complains....

some of the dog shots are a little over exposed, but I think you did pretty well. the girl is perfectly exposed.

the shot of your daughter is perfect,

and the dog looks very sweet.

The other poster was wrong. The dog images are not overexposed. If anything, they are underexposed ... especially at the dog's eyes. An animal's fur eats up light and must get more light. They also needed a bit more saturation. Here is my version with light and detail in the eyes.

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Thanks,

The biggest problem was the light was not "in-front" enough. I agree though that they did not seem overexposed to me.

The one of the little girl is great!!! I'm glad to see that you didn't try to blow the BG out too much. People tend to do that and forget that it will reflect light and backllight the subject if it's too bright. Great pose too. And I'm really happy to see you get down there on the floor with her. I think it's the best angle when taking these kinds of photos. Nice work.

Oh.. and I love the dog's face. I've always liked that doggie head tilt thing they do when you make a weird noise and that's what this reminds me of.

forkball wrote in post #2225184
The one of the little girl is great!!! I'm glad to see that you didn't try to blow the BG out too much. People tend to do that and forget that it will reflect light and backllight the subject if it's too bright. Great pose too. And I'm really happy to see you get down there on the floor with her. I think it's the best angle when taking these kinds of photos. Nice work.

Oh.. and I love the dog's face. I've always liked that doggie head tilt thing they do when you make a weird noise and that's what this reminds me of.

Thanks forkball,

I tend to get "low" on a bunch of my shots..for some reason I just feel it looks better.

Sandy (the dog) loves nothing more than to go for a walk. Just mention the word "walk" and she gives you the look.

The wife and I took them for the longest walk we've ever taken them on Sunday morning so I didn't feel bad when I made her "SIT" and then once I focused and had the shot I asked her if she wanted a "Walk", I knew what look was coming.....

I don't remember where I read it but what I did was set the background light 2 stops above the other lights, I also had Sandy and my daughter about 8' from the background. I used a barn door on the back ground light to help keep light off of the subject.

Thanks again.

Nice work! You did an awesome job for you first studio shot!

It sounds like you're only using 1 light for the BG? Where did you position it? To one side, I assume? Thanks!

Yes, the light was just slightly behind the subject to camera right.

I was asked to post my gear and setup in another forum..here was my reply.

The setup I have in my home studio is;

2 AB800's
1 AB400
1 ABR 800 Ringlash
Backdrop holder
White and Black Paper and a couple other muslins
3 different softboxes
Numerous reflectors
Wired Remote to control all the lights
Sekonic L358 Light Meter

In these shots I used the AB800 on a back light stand to the right of the background, I used a barn door to keep the light off the subject and on the background. I set the light 2 stops above the exposure setting of the other 2 lights so it would be blown out. The main thing I also did was position my subject about 8' from the background. Everything I have read is that the biggest mistake most people make is putting the subject to close to the background.

I used a large softbox about 45 degree (on my daughters picture) to the right of the camera, I used a AB400 on a boom with a 9"x27" softbox slightly behind and above right for the hair light. I set both of these lights at F/8.0 with an ISO of 100 and shutter speed of 1/125. The back ground light was set about f/11 I think. I also had a large white reflector camera left next to the subject.

I hope this helps.

I am guessing I've got about.......$1500-$2K in light setup...the little things just keep adding up.

Excellent, thanks for the details!!!