Picked up a Genesis 400 2 Strobe Kit, Now What?

Hi studio lighting experts! So I went and got the Genesis 400 two strobe kit along with a backdrop, stands, and triggers. Got it all up and running, it was pretty easy. Took a few tests shots, all works, the camera trips both lights fine. I was going to get a hair light but ran out of money.

I should mention that I have about 200 people coming in on the 15th to get their head and shoulders portraits and this is the reason why I got the strobes.

BUT, I'm very new to studio lighting. Was wandering if any of you can help me with or have a link to a thread that gives a basic configuration for things like the camera settings, the strobe's settings (power output for each), distance from subject, positioning of strobes, shoot through umbrella vs reflecting. I'm looking for a general guide I can use to set me equipment up as a starting point and mess with it from there and adjust to taste.

I greatly appreciate your time!

http://www.studioxil.c​om …tup-01-cherry-background/

For your clients' sake, I hope you understand ...

• the concept of a 'good' vs. 'bad' side of the face for portrait sitters
  
• the concept of 'broad' lighting vs. 'short' lighting and how thin vs. rounder faces are complemented or made less attractive simply by which side of the face gets the brighter lighting
  
• the concept of 'masculine' pose vs. 'feminine' pose
  
• the concept of camera height for helping to hide certain flaws in the sitter
  

Wilt wrote in post #10849540
There is more to portraiture than lighting.

whew... would have never known without the insite

Practice practice practice.

All the articles and youtube tutorials are good to get an idea, but practice is how you'll really start to understand the process.

Thanks everyone for the input!

Here are the two very first shots. The first one has one of the lights as a main light and is positioned to her front/left and the second light is behind her as a hair light. The second image has both lights in front of her, both at different distances and power.

Neither of the images is great. The light is just harsh. Any input how to improve that?

By the way, the first shot is shot through the umbrella and the hair light is bounced and the second has both light shot through the umbrellas. Also, I think I need a different color background like gray and some light in it to create some depth.

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/png' | Byte size: ZERO

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/png' | Byte size: ZERO

Juding by shadows, the lights appear to be set too low, and too far away (causing them to be specular in spite of being a relatively large source -- umbrella). And the first photo shows how not to light a person with a slender face, using 'short' lighting. Second shot, lighting is too flat...cannot really see much difference in highlight vs. shadow side.

My tips for learning lighting....

1. Just turn on the modelling light with no modifier, and learn to SEE what a single light does to a face -- take no photos, just SEE. Move it around, up and down, and to subject right and subject left.
   
2. After you learn to see one light's flattery (or not) to a face, then add a second light for Fill.
   
3. After you learn to SEE one or two lights with no modifiers, learn how to use modifiers.
   
4. After you've done all of the above, then add a hair light and learn to SEE both affects of placement and intensity on different colors of hair.
   

Thanks Wilt, I'll try what you said. If I get the lights closer, and turn them up, won't I get hot spots? I though that to get the light even on the subject, the source should be fairly far away (like 6 feet or so).

pixel_junkie wrote in post #10854663
Thanks Wilt, I'll try what you said. If I get the lights closer, and turn them up, won't I get hot spots? I though that to get the light even on the subject, the source should be fairly far away (like 6 feet or so).

A light which is closer is...

1. Going to exhibit faster falloff in intensity for a given increase of distance, so shadows will be relatively darker
2. Going to be relatively larger, so shadow edges are less 'hard'

If you have a 30" umbrella, putting it at 72" away will make it less of a 'soft' source.