May I please get your input on an image?

Hi guys,

I'm trying to do some portraits using the single strobe lighting concept. For the bellow shot, I used two softboxes - one almost directly to the left of the subject turned almost all the way up and another softbox laying on the ground pulled way back and slightly in front and to the right of the subject. The second one is turned all the way down (just to create a very soft fill on the right so it isn't completely dark.

Now, something is off! Not sure what it is, but I'm not completely satisfied with the result and the bellow example is the best one. What do you think? How Can I improve? Have I positioned the subject too close to the softbox (5-6 feet)? Maybe PP needs a better technique?

Any input would be greatly appreciated!!

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I'm far from an expert but it looks like your color is off - perhaps white balance.

I would also move the softbox in closer, crank it down, and use the second to lift some of the shadow side a bit - it looks too dark to me.

I would also get a light on her hair to get some separation from the background.

Eyes look a bit soft. I would also position her so there is some white showing on the right side of the eye.

Since you have image edit on I tried to boost your shot a bit. Color doesn't look real good in my edit either.

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Not bad for one light... A reflector for fill might brighten up the shadows a bit. I agree on the wb issue... Things would look better without the direct eye contact, IMHO.

Her hair blends with the background, dark hair on a dark background requires a hairlight.

Titus213 wrote in post #8268219
I'm far from an expert but it looks like your color is off - perhaps white balance.

I would also move the softbox in closer, crank it down, and use the second to lift some of the shadow side a bit - it looks too dark to me.

I would also get a light on her hair to get some separation from the background.

Eyes look a bit soft. I would also position her so there is some white showing on the right side of the eye.

Since you have image edit on I tried to boost your shot a bit. Color doesn't look real good in my edit either.

What would be the effect of this? Closer but with less light ...

District_History_Fan wrote in post #8268224
Not bad for one light... A reflector for fill might brighten up the shadows a bit. I agree on the wb issue... Things would look better without the direct eye contact, IMHO.

I was going for B&W but left some color at the last moment. Good point though, the colors are off.

tim wrote in post #8268461
Her hair blends with the background, dark hair on a dark background requires a hairlight.

Yah, that's right, I have put some light on the background.

Thank you, guys!!

Titus213 wrote in post #8268219
I would also move the softbox in closer, crank it down

pixel_junkie wrote in post #8268501
What would be the effect of this? Closer but with less light ...

Moving the softbox in closer will provide softer shadow edges. Turning the flash level down a bit was suggested to keep the light level on the face approximately the same.

Are you using a handheld light meter to judge your exposure? The image in the first post is underexposed a bit in my opinion.

I agree with the hair light - not lighting the background necessarily, but just putting a splash of light into the hair.

SkipD wrote in post #8268528
Moving the softbox in closer will provide softer shadow edges. Turning the flash level down a bit was suggested to keep the light level on the face approximately the same.

Are you using a handheld light meter to judge your exposure? The image in the first post is underexposed a bit in my opinion.

I agree with the hair light - not lighting the background necessarily, but just putting a splash of light into the hair.

I see. I'll try that. I'm not using a light meter, no. I can't get enough shutter speed to cover my lens so I'm going by the minimum aperture I want to use for the shot and adjusting the rest accordingly. Also shooting on a tripod.

Thank you!

pixel_junkie wrote in post #8268501
Yah, that's right, I have put some light on the background.

No, not on the background, on the person from above and slightly behind.

pixel_junkie wrote in post #8268571
I see. I'll try that. I'm not using a light meter, no. I can't get enough shutter speed to cover my lens so I'm going by the minimum aperture I want to use for the shot and adjusting the rest accordingly. Also shooting on a tripod.

Thank you!

I don't understand the part I put in bold above.

What type of flash unit are you using?

If you are using a studio flash (or a Speedlite set up in fully manual mode), you must have the camera in manual mode ("M" on the dial). You can use any shutter speed you wish as long as it isn't faster than the "max sync speed" for the camera. That's probably 1/200 or 1/250 second. Set the shutter speed at something near (but not faster than) the max sync speed and leave it there. That will minimize the effect of ambient light on your image. Then, you adjust the light level and/or the aperture setting in the camera to control your exposure.

It's also a good idea to set the white balance to either "flash" or "daylight" as well for starters. You can play with tweaking color at a later time. It's more critical to get your exposures under control first.

I'm not using a flash. I'm using two continuous light soft boxes. So at f/4, my shutter is 1/50, ISO 400 ...

pixel_junkie wrote in post #8268766
I'm not using a flash. I'm using two continuous light soft boxes. So at f/4, my shutter is 1/50, ISO 400 ...

Now we're getting somewhere. Moving the softboxes closer to the subject will not only provide softer edges to the shadows, but it will give you a brighter light as well. That can, of course, translate to a smaller aperture or a shorter shutter speed.

As an alternative to using a handheld meter in incident mode, I'd suggest getting an 8x10 inch gray card such as Kodak's gray card. It's designed for measuring light for exposure calculation. Use that as the target for your camera's meter and lock the settings in with manual mode. Then, you don't need to worry about colors, reflectivity, etc., "fooling" the camera's meter. I like to use my handheld meter (a Sekonic L-358 ) for most of my exposure calculations for the same purpose.

SkipD wrote in post #8269333
Now we're getting somewhere. Moving the softboxes closer to the subject will not only provide softer edges to the shadows, but it will give you a brighter light as well. That can, of course, translate to a smaller aperture or a shorter shutter speed.

As an alternative to using a handheld meter in incident mode, I'd suggest getting an 8x10 inch gray card such as Kodak's gray card. It's designed for measuring light for exposure calculation. Use that as the target for your camera's meter and lock the settings in with manual mode. Then, you don't need to worry about colors, reflectivity, etc., "fooling" the camera's meter. I like to use my handheld meter (a Sekonic L-358 ) for most of my exposure calculations for the same purpose.

Thanks Skip, you've been great help. So if I move the boxes closer, but turn the light down, won't I get hot spots this way? I moved them back as I can only control the soft box light so much and even in the lowest setting, they are still pretty bright. I guess I'll have to experiment with the position of the soft boxes ... I'll look into that gray card you suggested. Thanks again!