Model

[Shadowman]

Comments welcome, applied capture sharpening only.

No Edit by JOHN, on Flickr

[Manfred M]

Nice location, lighting and model John. Nice example of Rembrandt lighting. The lighting ratio gives you some very dramatic lighting. The light was close to the model, and tight, as the fall-off is quite noticeable; I like shooting this way too and often have to fix my edge of the frame in PP as part of the light modifier will often sneak in.

I assume that this was done with a studio light? The reason I ask is the right hand edge of the shot looks like a bar of the shutter not being completely open when the flash fired. The camera data on Flickr shows that you shot at 1/250th sec; which is typically the sync speed for a camera mounted Speedlight only. If you are using studio lights and / or radio triggers, chances are that the sync speed is lower. You are going to have to experiment a bit, but in general I find that I have to drop my shutter speed to 1/200th or 1/160th sec, depending on the flash setup.

I also wonder why you have left so much headroom above the model? Is that negative space contributing to the shot?

Your choice of focal length is also a bit of a puzzle; 45mm is quite short for a portrait like this. I can definitely see distortion on the model's hand closest to the camera. Unless there is no room to back up, I'd be looking at least 70mm and preferably a bit longer for a 3/4 shot like this one.

Watch the way your model holds here hands. When you shoot them straight on, especially with a wider focal length, they can look large and almost paw-like. A bit of a turn of the hands (or your shooting position) where you get more of an edge-on view generally works better.

Finally, watch where you crop. The light drop off hides this, but you have cropped at and below her knees. Cropping at a joint should be avoided. Crop the shot above the joint.





Just as an aside. I have a planned shoot with three other photographers, later on this week. We we are looking at using shutters to cast shadows, so don't bee too surprised if I post a shot along these lines.

[Shadowman]

Hi Manfred,

Yes this shot was done with a studio light, I chose the 1/250 shutter speed hoping to prevent hotspots on the models face, as this exercise was to do very little if any editing I thought I'd err on the side of caution. There was so much going on in my mind that I didn't consider the shutter curtain creating the flap, likewise with the negative space, I chimped a few times but as I was handholding the LCD only provides so much display room.

Focal length: I shot this particular lighting setup at various focal lengths (24-46), yes the shooting location was a bit tight. I have a few full body shots but her lower torso is completely in shadow. Thanks for the comments and suggestions and looking forward to seeing your versions.

[Manfred M]

Yes this shot was done with a studio light, I chose the 1/250 shutter speed hoping to prevent hotspots on the models face, as this exercise was to do very little if any editing I thought I'd err on the side of caution.

John; in a studio light situation, shutter speed usually has negligible impact on exposure, so changing it will not fix your hot spot on the skin issue. It has multiple causes, including the model's natural skin oil and makeup choices, distance to the light, light modifier choice, etc.. Cutting the light intensity down can work and reducing your aperture, but will also darken the rest of the image. Moving the model's head can also work; the parts of the face that are more forward towards the light (nose and chin) frequently show this issue.

A quick (and good) test for the impact of ambient light on the exposure is to take a shot at the camera settings you are using, without firing the flash. In most instances, you will find when you do that in a studio, you will get a totally black exposure.

I have a few full body shots but her lower torso is completely in shadow.

The light modifier you were using dictates this happening. A small light source with a narrow beam (for instance, a reflector with grid) will throw a very controlled and narrow beam of light. A larger modifier without a control, for instance a large softbox or umbrella, will scatter light more widely. Moving the model further from the light source will increase the spread of the light, but will also result in a harder light.

[Shadowman]

Hi Manfred,

Thanks for the additional information, regarding shutter speed and hot spots I will say that another reason for the no-editing capture and trying to get it right in-camera is that I've noticed that the camera tends to expose to the right, editing software (particularly PS Elements) tends to expose to the right, and depending on the tones in the image setting the white point tends to sometimes overexpose other tones before any white values; what I perceive to be white usually a highlight on something metallic or perhaps a yellow tone is not affected by the white slider until I really move towards its direction. I often have to soft proof to adjust those tones that is if I catch how those tones were affected during editing.

[Manfred M]

Hi Manfred,

Thanks for the additional information, regarding shutter speed and hot spots I will say that another reason for the no-editing capture and trying to get it right in-camera is that I've noticed that the camera tends to expose to the right, editing software (particularly PS Elements) tends to expose to the right, and depending on the tones in the image setting the white point tends to sometimes overexpose other tones before any white values; what I perceive to be white usually a highlight on something metallic or perhaps a yellow tone is not affected by the white slider until I really move towards its direction. I often have to soft proof to adjust those tones that is if I catch how those tones were affected during editing.

I'm not sure how the camera exposes to the right, when shooting in manual mode. That is the mode required to shoot with studio flash. If you are shooting to the right, then you are overexposing and need to turn down either your aperture or ISO or both.

If you are shooting with others (I assume you are) and the person doing the metering is using a Canon camera, assume that the correct exposure is 2/3 to a full stop lower than their reading. You may need to take a test shot or two to establish that. My experience is that is roughly the difference between the Canon and Nikon cameras; I suspect it is that the two manufacturers have used different methods to determine ISO. When I meter with my Sekonic L-358 flash meter, my exposures are bang on, but Canon shooters have to add around a stop to get the right exposure.

If you are having a tonality issue, this is not an exposure issue, but a WB issue. Change your White Balance to either Flash or Daylight, depending on which one works better for you as a starting point. AWB is NOT consistent and while you can handle it in PP by changing the colour temperature and tint sliders, it's easier to have all the starting WB at the same base, if your aim is to "get it right in camera".

Another way to do this is to use a a gray card, get the model to hold it under her chin and towards you and use that to give you a good neutral starting point. You can use the camera's custom WB function to do that. If you are shooting raw, you can pull a WB very quickly in the raw converter; I tend to warm things up a bit as I generally like people shots to be a touch on the warm side of neutral.

Soft proofing? That's only a tool that is used in printing and usually only useful to identify out-of-gamut issues. It does not buy you anything used in the way you are describing because all it does is make adjustments based on the colour profile of the output medium you are using.

[Shadowman]

Manfred,

The image was shot with the camera in manual mode, I mentioned the ETTR only in reference to how the camera would expose the scene or editing software would automatically modify, as this was going to be a no editing shot I didn't want to be fooled by the highlight warning on the camera. The first time I did any studio work with a model I was using external flash and tended to overexpose, usually to overcome that issue I'll use manual flash but for this shoot we were using TTL. My first time shoot (about two years ago) resulted in a lot of editing to control the hot spots, this time around I wanted to eliminate the ETTR issues and I think I did pretty good; more practice is definitely in the cards.

[Shadowman]

Manfred,

Here is an example of the ETTR issue I was describing, I used external flash bounced off upper terrace, editing involved quite a bit of adjustments when setting the white point.

Portrait Patterns by JOHN, on Flickr

[Manfred M]

Manfred,

Here is an example of the ETTR issue I was describing, I used external flash bounced off upper terrace, editing involved quite a bit of adjustments when setting the white point.

Bounce with a Speedlight in those lighting conditions? Not possible; it's much to bright out for a bounced small flash to overpower the sunlight. This is one of those situations where a direct flash fill light is the only option.

[Shadowman]

Bounce with a Speedlight in those lighting conditions? Not possible; it's much to bright out for a bounced small flash to overpower the sunlight. This is one of those situations where a direct flash fill light is the only option.

You're right, I looked over the setup and have an image where their is a light bender to her left.

[DrJeans]

Comments welcome, applied capture sharpening only.

Excellent! I like the hard light. He is justified in this scene.

[Manfred M]

You're right, I looked over the setup and have an image where their is a light bender to her left.

Frankly, I would have thought it would have been easier to find a location to shoot where you didn't have to fight with the light. That's usually the best approach in when the ambient light conditions are not ideal.

[rpcrowe]

I was shooting a "Plus-Size" model last evening with two other members of my club. We were shooting outside on towards evening, hoping for a golden hour. However the marine layer popped in and we got a "blue hour" instead.

I was using a Canon 600EX-RT flash on a Stroboframe bracket, modified with a mini softbox which has a pair of baffles and produces quite a nice light, especially when used relatively close to the subject. I don't lose a terrible lot of light modifying it with this softbox.



I had enough power to use this rig for fill light in this less than contrasty lighting, especially when the subject was within five to ten feet or so of the flash.

However another photographer was using the Flashpoint (rebranded Godox) Streaklight 360ii and a folding octagon softbox. This outfit provided a stop or stop and a half more light than my unit (my unit of course, included the built-in reflector of the 600EX-RT flash while he used the bare bulb capability of the 360ii in his softbox configuration) perhaps giving an even softer light. That unit would have certainly been the one to choose if the light was bright and contrasty.

The down side was that his flash was considerably heavier than my 600EX-RT. He used his light on a stand which reduced his mobility to a considerable degree. A saving grace for the Streaklight 360ii is that the battery pack is connected to the head with a power cord. Separating the head and battery pack reduces the weight of the head. He used a "Y" connection between his powerpack and power cord. This allowed him to draw power from both outlets of the powerpack, reducing the recycle time considerably. Additionally, he was using his powerful 360ii at a low power which facilitated a rather fast recycle time.

A neat facet of the Streaklight 360ii (BTW: the ii designates that the unit has built-in radio control as well as TTL and HSS capability although, he was using his light in manual mode) is the many variations of the setup in which it can be used. I am thinking that the standard reflector plus the supplied diffuser would also have been an option for fill light. He could have dialed down the power even more allowing an even faster recycle time....

Actually, I did most of my shooting as head and shoulder shots since the outfits the model chose were not at all flattering to a plus-size woman. BTW: she labels herself as a "plus-size model" on her Facebook page so, that term is in no way derogatory.

She is working with a Chinese company that is entering the field of clothing for plus-size women and has invited us to Hollywood later this month for exhibition of the new line of clothing from her company. If I were younger and wanted to establish contacts in the fashion field, I would certainly attend...

[Shadowman]

Excellent! I like the hard light. He is justified in this scene.

Hi Sergey,

Thanks for commenting.

[Shadowman]

Richard,

I think it would be a good experience just to participate even if you have no desire to do it full time. I would love to catwalk photography or even celeb event photography just to get the experience of multiple flashes popping off when I'm trying to shoot; a bit of the experience I had during this shoot and also the stray photographer walking into your line of sight just as you were going for that perfect shot. Ohhh the frustrations we could give ourselves.

[Shadowman]

Taken about ten minutes before we were kicked out of the hotel.

In The Foyer by JOHN, on Flickr