Help with posing & lighting

[scottvd]

Did an informal school photo shoot for my niece – light started too bright then quickly became too dark! I’m very inexperienced with posing, and lighting – first time ever using a bounce illuminator and only have a SB400. Looking for honest feedback on posing and lighting mostly – but whatever else you see too. Thanks in advance; I really appreciate it!

Fingernails got blown on #2 (they were hot pink) - what could I do about this during the shoot? What about to fix in PP?

Smugmug gallery with remainder of photos available here- http://bit.ly/hGbny


Scott Vander Dussen

#1


#2


#3


#4

[MATT]

Pics no show>>>>

[scottvd]

Matt-
That's weird - everything loads OK on my end, cleared browser cache and wasn't logged into either DSLR or Smugmug and it's OK - it also loads on my iPhone over 3G just fine. Can you reach Smugmug from your ISP?

Anyone else able to view/not view the 4 embedded photos?

Thanks,
`S

[gstark]

Scott,

There's nothing wrong with your posing or cropping in these; you're definitely on the right track there.

And your lighting is quite good too: no harsh shadows, good light shaping ...

But were you shooting with AWB? It seems to be in two different places for the three colour shots you've posted.

Images 1 and 4 are too yellow, whereas there seems to be a strong blue cast in #2 - look at the legs and arms. #2 seems to be under exposed as well (a product of the SB400's power).

Finally, try this for an alternate crop: #4 ... crop vertically to include the area from just above her eyes to just above the bottom of her chin. On the left, include just some of her hair. On the right, crop to the edge, and lose the frame.

[aim54x]

Great stuff there...esp for a first go! As Gary said...watch that white balance! Love #1 and #2

Gotta love the SB-400 when you have nothing else!

I look forward to seeing more portraiture from you.

[scottvd]

Thanks Gary & Aim for the comments. I did shoot in AWB which was probably a mistake considering the conditions. There was too much yellow in the photos also because I was using the gold side of the bounce - it was so dark the white side wasn't enough and the silver seemed too much - so I went with gold. For these originals I adjusted the exposure and gama in CS3 to makeup for the poor SB400 power.

I made the alterations that you mentioned Gary - for the #2 shot her legs look blue because the gold bounce was only on the torso and up. I created a layer just for her legs and upped the red - perhaps too much? Whatta think-

#1


#2


#3


Thanks,
Scott Vander Dussen

[gstark]

Scott,

I did shoot in AWB which was probably a mistake considering the conditions.

There's little that I'd call a "mistake" in photography. But there are some methods that may be better than others.

When you're using a flash, consider that your lighting conditions are now rendered to be constant. They are consistent from one image to the next. AWB is basically expected to be used in more general shooting, where your lighting may change from one image to the next. A very different set of circumstances.

And thus when using flash, I think that it's best to select just the one WB setting, and keep that in place while you're using the same lighting setup.

There was too much yellow in the photos also because I was using the gold side of the bounce

That would certainly do it.

I made the alterations that you mentioned Gary - for the #2 shot her legs look blue because the gold bounce was only on the torso and up. I created a layer just for her legs and upped the red - perhaps too much? Whatta think-

I'm still seeing a lot of blue there, but mostly that's hitting this image because of the underexposure. Consider perhaps a crop from about halfway between the knees and the bottom of her dress?

I prefer the new crop on the last image, but what I prefer is not important here: what do you think?

[Mr Darcy]

When you're using a flash, consider that your lighting conditions are now rendered to be constant. They are consistent from one image to the next. AWB is basically expected to be used in more general shooting, where your lighting may change from one image to the next. A very different set of circumstances.

It is also worth remembering that if you shoot in RAW, you can change the White Balance setting after the event. This is very worthwhile. I tend to just leave the camera set on "Shade" or "Flash" depending on what I am doing most at the moment, then the odd exception just gets changed in post processing later

Fingernails got blown on #2 (they were hot pink) - what could I do about this during the shoot? What about to fix in PP?

What you have done is too much. They look like bright pink blobs now. They stand out like Dog's Balls. When I first looked at the post a couple of days ago, I didn't notice them, so I suspect you have changed something in the meantime.

During the shoot, either angle them so they don't catch direct reflections, or if you are organised (I'm not!), use a gobo (A shade that blocks light from getting to part of the object you are photographing) to shade the fingernails

In PP, You could try using HDR techniques to tone them down, again assuming you have taken a RAW image. Alternatively, you could take another photo exposed for the fingernails, and cut & paste (This is pretty much HDR anyway) Given their size in the image, you could just create a mask over them, and reduce the brightness. This needs to be done carefully to keep it looking natural.

[scottvd]

It is also worth remembering that if you shoot in RAW, you can change the White Balance setting after the event. This is very worthwhile. I tend to just leave the camera set on "Shade" or "Flash" depending on what I am doing most at the moment, then the odd exception just gets changed in post processing later

Yeah, my fault for not shooting in RAW to begin with and leaving AWB to make thing worse. Thanks for the WB suggested settings - I'll give that a shot.

What you have done is too much. They look like bright pink blobs now. They stand out like Dog's Balls. When I first looked at the post a couple of days ago, I didn't notice them, so I suspect you have changed something in the meantime.

You might have this post mixed up with another post b/c I didn't change the nails - very little changed after my initial PP - they looked like pink blobs right out of the camera - but I did a mask and updated the photo above - now they're just dull pink blobs. (: Thanks for all the suggestions.

`S