New studio shots

[smison]

Hey guys,

As some of you will remember I've recently purchased a studio lighting kit, and the first run didn't turn out too well...

I've had some practice and would appreciate some feedback.

Photo shoot for some close friends of mine:







Full set at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.332167096819249.69038.247963091906317&type=1

[gstark]

Stephen,

I like how you're using the light on these. Very nice, and very subtle.

On the second one - and please bear in mind I'm not one for gimmicks or cliches - the question marks do nothing for me. Nor does the selective colour on them.

More importantly though, I don't yet think that you've got the B&W conversion nailed. This image reminds me of some that I'd shot on film, many years ago, when I'd screwed up the development process. There is too little contrast, and not enough in the range of greys displayed in this image.

What processes are you engaging for the conversion? If you can talk us through how you're doing that, perhaps we can help you improve that part of your post. The good news here is that even though this version appears (to me) to be too soft, if you've shot in raw, then you'll be able to revisit the image and pull different versions out and have a great play with it, with little to no effort.

[chrisk]

Agree with Gary. I like the light in the first especially, it's a nice shit. I wonder did you try this with a more full frontal angle. Not a fan of the question marks, if you were to have put a single question mark in black that may have looked less "gimmicky" but this is just personal taste. Fr the last would have liked to see his face and hand lit a little better. I assume you are using some kind of light modifier here, looks like a grid, so a second flash front on just to light his face would have been preferable IMO.

I would also be considering the use of some sort of rim light for these to give some more depth.

[gstark]

Agree with Gary. I like the light in the first especially, it's a nice shit.

I'm sure Chris means "shot".

[chrisk]

lol goddam iphones

[PiroStitch]

First one is the pick for me. Might consider using a reflector next time as well to highlight the bottom lit a bit more. Keep up the work

[smison]

Thanks guys,

Gary - b&w conversion is just a simple click of black and white in Photoshop, then layers and masking for the selective colour. If there are some tips you can give these would be appreciated because every time I play with a b&w conversion the default setting looks the best! The question marks were the girl's idea, not knowing if it's a boy or girl was the idea. Not something I'd do in every case but I kind of liked the idea behind it so included it in this post as something different.

Rooz - the idea was to have the guy behind, kind of a moody idea to have him in the shot but also in the background if that makes any sense..

I guess for the first and third the goal was to have very sharp lighting to give some drama to the shot.. all three had the clarity turned down in lightroom to try and hide some imperfections and give that slightly dreamy look