My 9yo daughter, shot using Lastolite HiLite

I have bought a Lastolite HiLite to take headshots of local theatrical societies. To practise, I set it up in my living room and snapped off a few shots of my daughter. Don't ask me what she was wearing!

This is my second run at using the HiLite; on the first run I didn't have enough light in the background and it was a bit on the dark side. This time it worked much better.

For the front light, I am using a 101 cm umbrella softbox from Smick trading on eBay. Here's the setup - this is our living room, and you can see why I'm going to have to find somewhere else to practise!

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/atp/3599004468

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/atp/3598132383

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/atp/3598941250

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/atp/3598132753

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/atp/3598969438

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/atp/3598132223

You may not want to hear this, but the shot your daughter took came out the best.

Not sure what youre settings were, but the full shots seem a bit OOF. Not sure if it's due to slow shutter or missed focus. The closer shots are much sharper and much better, but #4 seems slightly underexposed.

You're off to a good start and practicing before hand was a smart move. One last thing you might want to do is get a white balance card if you don't have one already.

I think the last two are great, and I like the movement in the jumping action of your daughter.

On the other hand I do have to agree about slight softness in the first few shots; this could perhaps be to a slower shutter speed, or perhaps using a different autofocus mode or focus point.

Not bad for the first try. You are getting some wrap around the face and neck area which indicated the light in the Hi-lite is too strong.

My first thought is that the backdrop is really bright... so bright that it spills on the border of the subject. What kind of exposure mode did you shoot this in? Did you have to dial in any exposure compensation? In my opinion, I think white backdrops like this only work with nice contrasty subject. In this case, your daughter almost seems to be blending in the background, one because she isn't lighted properly in some shots, two because the backdrop is just overpowering her.

Lighting: you mention you placed the light 3/4 in relation of the subject. And from that, you should get some nice soft shadows wrapping around her face. I just don't see much of that here. It seems like the white background or maybe a reflector you used might negates the shadows.

love the set up

3-4 really adorable! Very cute.
I like the light, the expression, the composure.
Especially on the four a small adjustement on the hair of your beauty little princess add value of this shot.

woow nice studio setup

Thanks for all the feeback, everyone.

I agree that there is some significant wrap here - I think I need to get the subjects a little further away from the HiLite. As you can see, however, I am a little short of space.

The other thing is getting the lighting on the subject right. I think that probably takes practice; I think I need to buy a mannequin head and put it on a stand, then spend several hours clicking away and noting the results.

Practice makes less-imperfect!

regards,
/alan