Candice portraits

I've been working on shooting with off camera strobe. I've got a strobe camera left and a hot light camera right. Would appreciate any C&C on these.


1.

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Lonnie, your model is quite attractive. Pics 3 and 4 have a red hue to them. Drag your shutter a bit to give her hair more details. And if your not using a high iso step up to 400 or higher!

That is good advice. I will try that next time.

You're right. I need to start shooting in RAW I guess. I suppose that red wall is throwing me off.

I actually started off at 100 and ended up at 400 for the last few shots.

Thanks for the advice DS, this is the kind of stuff I need to hear to get better.

Many examples of portraits in which the lighting is the main problem. I will not dwell on poses other than to say that all but #2 are reasonably good poses. #2 just does not strike me as a good pose. That lighting and pose seem to be accentuating the double chin by shooting up from below and arranging the lighting to accentuate the fleshy area under her chin.

The lighting seems to have no particular pattern and is different from shot to shot.

I strongly recommend locating some professionally done portraits and studying them to see from what direction the light(s) are coming and what shadows are created by each light. There are classic lighting patterns, such as "Rembrandt" that can be created easily with two lights. The objective in studio lighting for portraits is to make the subject look as 3-dimensional as possible. It's a deep subject, and we are only scratching the surface here, but the secret is that lights and their placement create the shadows that are necessary and critical to the illusion of 3-dimensionality.

*************Studio Portrait Lighting**************​*
Tutorial on Studio Portrait Lighting Using Two Lights, with Emphasis on Rembrandt Lighting:
http://www.zaffora.com​/W9DMK/PortraitLightin​g.htm
or the downloadable PDF version at:
http://www.zaffora.com​/W9DMK/PortraitLightin​g.pdf

Also see this helpful reference:
http://en.wikipedia.or​g/wiki/Rembrandt_light​ing

*************Studio Portrait Lighting**************​*
Tutorial on Studio Portrait Lighting Using Two Lights, with Emphasis on Rembrandt Lighting:
http://www.zaffora.com​/W9DMK/PortraitLightin​g.htm
or the downloadable PDF version at:
http://www.zaffora.com​/W9DMK/PortraitLightin​g.pdf

Also see this helpful reference:
http://en.wikipedia.or​g/wiki/Rembrandt_light​ing

Thanks for the links Bob, especially the one you wrote up yourself. I'll attempt a reshoot soon using your instruction.

I'm sure it's been covered ad infinitum in the forums, but what would you say is a good f-stop to start with for a portrait? With the ability to control the amount of light and ISO, I don't really know where to start. I was thinking somewhere around f/5.6, ISO 400, and then play around with the shutter speed for the ambient exposure. I know there won't be an "answer" to this question, but I would appreciate some direction.

I'm only just now starting to fathom the number of options that are available shooting under "studio" conditions. I've been shooting with mostly ambient light for the past 2 years, and it is seemingly a lot simpler.

I agree. A good point.

Bob, forgot to tell you - that doll in your link is scary. I'll probably have nightmares about that tonight. It would only have been worse if you would have used a clown instead.

I'm not a Stephen King fan either.

My suggestion for aperture in portraits is to use the smallest aperture that you can get away with - relative to ISO and shutter speeds. The reason being that a portrait will benefit from the softness that occurs as we stop down more and more. It's an inherent characteristic of tiny aperture to become limited in resolution and contrast.