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This time it is my 15 yo daughter who is the guinea pig for my portrait attempts, this time using only one studio flash with umbrella and kit lens.



Max

Ozi - I like this image, although I must say that apart from your lovely daughter's face and hat, on my monitor at least - the rest of the image looks a little too dark. But alas, this is only my mere opinion. Keep on posting

Hi Max,

I can see a marked improvement in your studio shoots. You need one more light to the shadows under the hat. I would prefer a tighter crop.

regards,

Arthur

Max, looking good but as first coment looks a bit dark on my monitor as well, but may look dif on lcd as i have noticed when i have seen my mate my pics look a lot brighter on a lcd, but yeh works for me, least she doesn't poke her tongue out.
Cheers
John

Hi Max,

I agree with the others... this image is a big improvement on your earlier work (getting rid of the car head lamp style lighting is always a good start).

A couple of thoughts....

To begin with, start lighting from the left and here is the reason why... everybody reads images from the left to the right (the same as we read text); if you have the light on the right then the shadows will be on the left ... we start looking at the image, get to the highlights and keep looking to the right (to discover not much happening!). If we light from the left we create shadows in the right of the image and these act as a natural boundary for our eyes that then send us back into the highlights on the left ... our eyes dwell on the picture for longer and it is naturally appealing! (Just remember that you need to pose to match the light!)

Second thing to remember is that the softness of the light is directly proportional to the size of the light source AS SEEN BY THE SUBJECT. As you know, the sun is quiet a many times larger than the earth yet it is so far away that looks tiny and it creates really hard shadows. Studio lights are the same .. the umbrella will soften the light however it is wasted if you do not get it closer to your subject .. this will soften the light more. Put a white or a silver/gold (soft gold) on the opposite side of the light to help soften the shadows.

Finally, the further your background is away from the light source the darker it is going to get however the fall of is more than most people think. The Inverse Square Law says that as you double the distance between a subject and a light source you will QUARTER the amount of light that it recieves. Therefore, to stop the background getting too dark you are going to need to bring the background closer or light it with a seperate light (with this being said, I would keep experimenting with a single light source for the moment because this is how you will learn the most! (and it is also the lighting that I use the most in my work... either as the sole light source or combined with available light.) (Its a little light learning music... learn the individual notes first before you start trying to put chords together!)

Hope this is a help. Keep making it happen!
Cheers, Ants!

Max,

Anstl makes some excellent points. A small reflector on the opposite side of the subject (to the light source) to provide some fill would be nice.

I'd also like to see the colour balance warmed up just a tad; on my system it's looking just a tad cooler than it should.

Antsl wrote:To begin with, start lighting from the left and here is the reason why... everybody reads images from the left to the right (the same as we read text);

Interesting; thanx.

(Its a little light learning music... learn the individual notes first before you start trying to put chords together!)

You've obviously never played guitar.

(Its a little light learning music... learn the individual notes first before you start trying to put chords together!)
You've obviously never played guitar.

Actually, I started on the piano and went on to play the trumpet semi professionally. Theres a lot to be said though for being able to identify each note in a chord ... it makes fixing the sound a lot easier!

When you understand the job that one light is doing it makes it easier to identify what you need to do to achieve effects when you add extra lights.

Very interesting and profitable posting here, many thanks to all.

I have an iBook screen, 15" NEC LCD monitor and a 17" CRT screen, and yes, images look completely different on all three. (When I am asked for a landscape print it is a real headache as I can get it printed at 5 different places in Coffs Hbr and they all are different. The Camera House (Fuji) has the best colour profile for printing in my experience, but I usually print 2 or 3 6x4's from diffrerent places just to compare colours.

As far as light goes, thanks Ants and Gary, will keep playing around with things.

And for music, well I play piano, keyboard, guitar, accordion and harmonica, all by ear. I took classical lessons for about 5-6 years but never could learn to read music, (which is really strange because I love writing piano rags and other assorted stuff). Notes/chords don't mean much to me, I think there is a malfunction in my brain somewhere!! Actually my Father was the same way, he couldn't read or understand notation yet he was a brilliant pianist, and was once offered a recording contract with Winifred Atwell!

I think my photography is a bit the same, there is a lot I don't understand about it but if it looks right, it usually is. However, having expert help such as found in this forum is a great boon to all aspiring photonuts.

Max

Max - I like the portrait of your daughter and I believe the main thing is that you like it to - that’s obvious to me.

Actually Chris, you've hit on a good point here, I think beauty is in the eye of the beholder. For eg, I love classical music but I dislike Beethoven. Some of my friends think I'm mad, but it's me, I just don't like minor keyed, dark music that much. Same with images, some that I don't care for others will rave over and vice versa.

However, I'm always glad for advice from those more experienced than me!

Thanks for the comment BTW!

Max