Need tips to improve the lighting technique

[Adam]

I would appreciate any C&C from anyone with any ideas for lighting technique, editing etc


Sony A77, Exposure time : 1/60sec. ; F-stop: f/8; ISO : 200 ; 1 wireless flash



Sony A77, Exposure time : 1/250sec. ; F-stop: f/9; ISO : 200 ; 1 wireless flash

[Harpo]

Sammy,
Looks like you have some good models to work with. Im not sure if you were intending the flash to be that harsh, especially in the second image.

I have found a couple sites that has great information on lighting and Ive used their tips with good results: Strobist & Neil van Niekerk. Maybe you will also find them helpful as well?

.

[Colin Southern]

Hi Sammy,

With regards to the first image ...

- Keep in mind that our eyes are drawn to the brightest part of an image - and here you have the "window" (or whatever it is) giving access to outside, which in my opinion competes (successfully) against the models face.

- You don't appeared to have diffused the flash, so it's made for some very hard shadows, which I don't think are as flattering as a softer light would have been.

- You've got a large black area in the image - completely devoid of what could have been interesting detail.

So overall, I think the location looks like it would be very interesting, but I wouldn't have done it just like that.

With regards to the 2nd image ...

- Great concept, but I think you've blown the tones on the portion of the model's face facing the light

- Personally, I think there's a little bit too much above the model's / shadows head that isn't strong enough to warrant being there.

Here's one that I shot in a similar location that you might like to compare the above points to ...

[Adam]

@mike : thanks mike, i'll bookmark n read that page
@colin : thanks colin, next session i'll add diffuser too reduce the shadow
i have a question, what is the difference between a under exposure/ over exposure with a low key / hi key photo? i have see some friends photo and they say its low key, what i see is under exposure photo..is there a misunderstanding in my concept?
Sorry for my bad english

cheers

[Colin Southern]

i have a question, what is the difference between a under exposure/ over exposure with a low key / hi key photo? i have see some friends photo and they say its low key, what i see is under exposure photo..is there a misunderstanding in my concept?

Low-key is where tones are predominately dark, high-key is where they're predominantly light. An under-exposed photo would technically be (tending towards) low key -- the difference is that it's probably not supposed to be.

Here's a high-key example - it's high-key because the tones are shifted towards white - so from that respect they're over-exposed, but the effect is intentional. an accidentally over-exposed image probably wouldn't have many blacks in it.

[Adam]

@ colin : Thanks for the explanation, very much appreciated