2 light test shots

Two light test. Hair light on a boom arm above the subject and 580EX II/Lightsphere on camera.

Seems to be a little better. Did not have the time to try too many different positions with the hair light. Here are a couple I liked.







Setup shot:

It is really hard sometimes to capture the supple texture of hair and sometimes the highlights too. Oftentimes the hair looks unnatural and matted in some photos. That is why when I look at photos of people it is the hair I notice right off, to see how well it is defined and then the skin tones and facial highlights.

Big improvement on the one-light shot, Mark! That hairlight really provides some shape to the head in front of that black background.

OrcaBob wrote:

Big improvement on the one-light shot, Mark! That hairlight really provides some shape to the head in front of that black background.

Sure did. Now I just need to experiment with different bulbs to see which one I like best. The was taken with a florescent bulb that I think was around 4800K, but I am not positive as I did not take the time to look it up.

Someday I'll have some studio space so I can do this the right way and have my stuff close to hand! Someday. Whenever that is!

Here is a third test I did on Saturday. The background is black but not the same one as in the first 2 test series.

In this series I used only one light, unmodified and off camera (hand held to camera left about 2 feet). The light was set to 1/16 power and bounced off a white ceiling.



I like this particular photo a lot.

Excellent! I like that last one a lot!

OrcaBob wrote:

Excellent! I like that last one a lot!

My next series, hopefully this afternoon, will be to repeat this same shot using a diffuser on the flash to see if I can 'wrap' the light around the subject.

MusicMan5 wrote:
My next series, hopefully this afternoon, will be to repeat this same shot using a diffuser on the flash to see if I can 'wrap' the light around the subject.[/quote]

My usual arrangement is diffusers on the main and fill lights and a gridded hard light on the hair. I do that because the hairlight is usually very close to (sometimes inches from) the edge of the backdrop. If I used a diffuser, I'd spill all sorts of light where I didn't want it.

I'll be interested to see your results.

Well I tried several variations of this and here is what I came up with.

580 EX II on manual set to 1/16 with cloud Lightsphere and no dome. Flash was camera left and a reflector was camera right.

Untouched photo.

Setup Shot:


white background:


I like the white version the best for some reason. The shadows are not too hard are they?

black background:


Next I will be trying a 1 light setup with an umbrella, bounce and shoot through.

I'm intrigued by the high-key white shot, Mark, but the face looks a bit washed-out. It's somewhat the same problem I had a few weeks ago with the backlighted white muslin backdrop set up as a giant softbox. The model got a bit drowned out especially if I tinted the backlight with a gel; the washed-out face picked up the color of the backdrop. (I ended up selectively color-correcting the model with the background masked.)

The last pic, with the brown background, doesn't have that problem.

And, yes, the shadow along the top of the forehead is a bit too hard. Try positioning the hairlight so it's not striking any of the face. You don't need to hit all the hair with the hairlight. Hitting the back half and some of the side will do nicely.

Great job showing us the setup shot! Those are extremely helpful aand educational.

I need to quit using these backdrops. These are Cloud Dome background that are for shooting small product. They are hard plastic and very reflective. That's why the black one doesn't look black to you.

I'll try throwing a black backdrop over them or go back to my 5x7 background. (This was quicker and I've been lazy lately.)

I had no hair light on these shots by the way. This was strictly a 1 light shot. The light on the hair is coming from the bounce. I can try changing the angle of the bounce.

Thanks!

Today it was a 1 light (Speedlite 580EX II) in a 30 inch umbrella left side of camera. There was a reflector on the right side.



To see the actual photos go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/musicman5 - they are labeled as to whether they were bounce or shoot thru.

I also used cloth backgrounds to eliminate the glare problem I had on Monday.

Off to crash for the night!