Odd Man Out - Studio lighting

[Rufus]

My local club had a studio evening recently and the models were amatear musicians who were not used to a studio envirnoment (like me ). As they were dressed mainly in black and white (one had a red jumper) I decided to convert my image to monochrome. The monochrome also meant I had less need to worry about what to do in Post with the white backdrop.

The lighting set up was basically two lights in front forming an equilateral triangle with the subjects (lower power output to the image left) and a fill light to image right illuminating the backdrop and back of the subjects.

My critique and comments would be:

The background light is evident from the shadows cast on the floor, which I have only just noticed, but it does seem to have eliminated shadow on the backdrop.

This is one of several poses during the evening, but is the best result that I achieved. Composition is a challenge with an even number of people, despite there being and odd nember of women and a single man.

The lighting seems a bit flat to me, but does that go with the territory when you have a group of people in a studio and they are not in the same plane?

Your C&C will be most welcome.

[Shadowman]

Pretty good result, that background light is a bit much but I suppose it could be used for special effect.

[Rufus]

Pretty good result, that background light is a bit much but I suppose it could be used for special effect.

Thank you, John. I have to confess that no special effect was intended; but the vignette was intentional to reduce the impact of the plain background.

[Manfred M]

Not bad for a first attempt. There is definitely nothing wrong with shooting an even number of people; the group size is what it is and what you have to work with. Using a background light is a fairly common technique, so nothing wrong with that.

I don't love the heavy vignette as it distracts and the crop seems a touch too tight as the whole group looks a bit cramped in the frame. I'm not sure how large the studio was, but I try to have people at least 6 ft in front of the background; 10 ft is even better, but the studio size will dictate that to some extent.

[pendennis]

I like the overall composition, and their expressions are beautiful. That stated,

• I'm with Manfred, the pose is a bit tight. A bit more spacing and it would add some airiness to the pose.
• I'd be happier with a square photo. You have an even number, and a square format may be better. Definitely not vertical. You may want to try a landscape mode composition for comparison.
• The background light should be a bit more diffused, more even, and less bright. The vignette seems a bit forced, and doesn't lend itself to such a tight composition. When you get to more than two people, spot-lit backgrounds lose their effect(s). The lower right of the photo seems underexposed because of the vignette.
• For giggles and grins, an environmental portrait may be a thought. Putting them in a park or open room setting may enhance the pose
• I know that it's sometimes difficult to get everyone looking in the same direction simultaneously, but the lady second from right, should be looking at the same spot as the others. Focusing to a single spot adds unity to the pose.

[Rufus]

Not bad for a first attempt. There is definitely nothing wrong with shooting an even number of people; the group size is what it is and what you have to work with. Using a background light is a fairly common technique, so nothing wrong with that.

I don't love the heavy vignette as it distracts and the crop seems a touch too tight as the whole group looks a bit cramped in the frame. I'm not sure how large the studio was, but I try to have people at least 6 ft in front of the background; 10 ft is even better, but the studio size will dictate that to some extent.

Thank you for commenting, Manfred. I agree I should tone down the vignette. Somehow it did not seem as apparent when I was processing it, or when I printed it. Now I cannot help but see it!

The original image was a wider view, but I had to crop it to remove my shortcomings at the capture stage, as unfortunately the top showed the roll of the background and there was some grey on the right which may have been shadow cast by a curl on the edge of the backdrop. It was remiss of me not to have have spotted these basic errors in the viewfinder. My only plea in mitigation is that there was very limited time for each club member, so I did not refer to the LCD display much once the exposure was ascertained. I might try to extend the image size and fill the additional space as that could in itself be a useful execrsie for me to do.

The studio area is rather small. The backdrop is about 2.7m /9 ft wide and the backdrop comes out perhaps 4m / 13ft. Then there is only about 2m / 6ft or so for the photographer to move around in. It is far too cramped, particularly for a group shot. Consequently the subjects were close to the background and I needed to use a focal length of 42mm which I believe is rather wide for this genre of photography.

The studio is clearly too small for groups. I managed a head and upper body shot of one of the musicians and her guitar with my 135mm lens, but sadly it is not worthy of posting here.

[Rufus]

I like the overall composition, and their expressions are beautiful. That stated,

• I'm with Manfred, the pose is a bit tight. A bit more spacing and it would add some airiness to the pose.
• I'd be happier with a square photo. You have an even number, and a square format may be better. Definitely not vertical. You may want to try a landscape mode composition for comparison.
• The background light should be a bit more diffused, more even, and less bright. The vignette seems a bit forced, and doesn't lend itself to such a tight composition. When you get to more than two people, spot-lit backgrounds lose their effect(s). The lower right of the photo seems underexposed because of the vignette.
• For giggles and grins, an environmental portrait may be a thought. Putting them in a park or open room setting may enhance the pose
• I know that it's sometimes difficult to get everyone looking in the same direction simultaneously, but the lady second from right, should be looking at the same spot as the others. Focusing to a single spot adds unity to the pose.

Thank you Dennis, these are good points for me to take on board.

I avoided spacing them out for this pose as I wanted to avoid them just being in a line. I did take a picture in landscape format with them more spaced out and the instruments being "played". I ended up with an elbow beyond the left hand edge of the backround and a hand beyond the right hand side of the backdrop. It just wasn't wide enough for that pose.

I must admit I would not have thought of a square format, but I can definitely see how that would work with a group this size and in a less compact arrangement. I would try that another time.

I agree the background light is too bright. We normally use it to provide an even background and provide back highlights on hair (I don't recall the technical term for this). It was so strong and at such an oblique angle that in some of my images it cast shadows on minor undulations of the seamless background. That is something else to look out for in future.

The evening was a club studio evening so shooting outside or in a normal indoors setting was not an option. However, when I improve my selection skills in photoshop I shall be able to replace the background

[rpcrowe]

IMO, sometimes we have to do what we can with what we are presented...

My first observation was that the mage was too tightly compacted and the vignette contributes to that feeling. Shooting in such a tight area also places your subjects so close to the background that the wrinkles are in focus and plainly visible...

Otherwise, I think it is a nicely done image and I am sure that the group will be please with it. A big plus is that you chose a good camera height to minimize distortion...

My second observation (which blew the image for me - but is certainly not your fault) was that I honed in on the dude's ridiculous 1980 style hairdo. I was wondering all the time, is this guy wearing a clown Halloween costume. I surveyed the rest of the people in the image and then came to the conclusion that he wasn't wearing a clown outfit. I am still wondering, is this a wig, and if so, why is he wearing it?

[Rufus]

IMO, sometimes we have to do what we can with what we are presented...

My first observation was that the image was too tightly compacted and the vignette contributes to that feeling. Shooting in such a tight area also places your subjects so close to the background that the wrinkles are in focus and plainly visible...

Otherwise, I think it is a nicely done image and I am sure that the group will be pleased with it. A big plus is that you chose a good camera height to minimize distortion...

My second observation (which blew the image for me - but is certainly not your fault) was that I honed in on the dude's ridiculous 1980 style hairdo. I was wondering all the time, is this guy wearing a clown Halloween costume. I surveyed the rest of the people in the image and then came to the conclusion that he wasn't wearing a clown outfit. I am still wondering, is this a wig, and if so, why is he wearing it?

Thank you for commenting, Richard.

Part of the reason for the vignette was to try to reduce the effect of the wrinkle on the background as well as the strong white that otherwise should be there. I need to practice the skills required to replace skies and backgrounds, then I would be able to resolve this particular problem.

The guy is in fact wearing a ridiculous black wig and I have absolutely no idea why, other than to make him even more of an odd man out.