Night, lights

Had a model I have used before call me the other day. She wanted something simple to put in a frame for grandma. We ended up doing some for her and some for me.

Here are 2... thoughts?

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Number 2 is lovely, as for number 1 I think I would have liked to of seen a little more fill on the right side of her face. Which one is she planning on giving to her grandmother?

Don't know witch. I sent a few to her.

I didnt want any more fill on #1 as I thought it might look like a cut and paste job. But I do see what you are talking about

I like #2 much better. I don't care for the shadows caused by her sweater and nose in #1.

Definately #2 !!!!

I like 2 with a little less head room.

Do you mind sharing how you lit this. I am assuming you exposed for the background lights and then used flash of some sort to light the model. Did you use ETTL or manual etc? I have been trying to figure out how to do shots like this, but am having very limited success. I am also assuming that the model has to be a good distance from the background so the flash doews not illuminate the background.

To much head room on #2...

definitely #2...

RRitch wrote in post #6938392
Do you mind sharing how you lit this....

Sure! Nothing really special here. I have a mount to put flash units on a light stand. I made it so the flash was about head high. I shot it through a small 32 inch umbrella. With the flash at head high the umbrella then was about a foot taller than her and about a foot below her head. This made for some nice light wrap. The stand was about 4-6 foot away from her.I moved it from a 90 degree to about a 30 degree angle depending on how she was facing.

I actually ignored the background and exposed for her. I didnt want the building to be bright. And christmas light are actually brighter than you think. It is just that they are so small. So I know they would be OK. She is about 20-25 feet from the lights and I am about 7 feet from her. The farther the lights are out of focus the more of an "orb" they become. So one tip is, shoot close to the subject, but at a distance from the background. I did do some long, 1/4 - 1 sec exposures to let the lights burn in. But I didnt like them as much.

The flash was a 420EX. It has no manual settings. So when you fire it through a PC cord it fires at 100% every time. No TTL. So I had to play with the distance, rather than power output.

Adjusted color in post. And actually that is about all i did in post. A general color correction.

Im sure I am missing a point or two. Any other questions, just ask.

I agree with the head room being to much. This is not cropped. When she decides what one. I'll crop it down.

The second one is very nice. The first is nice, but something seem off with the lighting IMO. Love the bokeh.