Fred

[Manfred M]

I shot Fred (her name is really Frederique) a few weeks ago during a fall leaf shoot. I had a chance to work with her again, this time in the studio. Shooting against a white background is a bit tricky as the background works as a giant reflector, so veiling flare can always be an issue.

These images used five lights; two background lights to create the white background, a key light, a fill light and a hair light.

1.





2.





3.

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[Digital]

Manfred, nice photographs.


Bruce

[Donald]

Excellent images. I'd enjoy the challenge of working with 5 lights. I usually only have one - the Sun!

[Manfred M]

Thanks Donald.

The biggest part of the challenge is setting up and balancing the lights.

The key light and the two background lights have to be balanced to ensure that the model is properly exposed and the background is lit, without blowing out. I was aiming at f/8 for all three lights, but light being additive, this means things get a bit more light, so these ended up at around f/9.

When shooting women and children, I tend to stick to a 2:1 lighting ratio, so the resulting light is not too dramatic. The fill light was heavily feathered and set to f/5.6. I used the same setting on the hair light, but probably should have gone just a touch more. With the white background, I'm definitely not looking at using it to separate the hair from the background, but just to add a few more highlights to the hair. I can always just dodge those areas a touch, I suppose.

I know a lot of photographers who tell me that they do not use a flash meter. Getting the lighting to look just right took me the better part of 30 minutes with a meter. I can't figure out how they do it with trial and error without spending a lot more time fiddling with the lighting.

[rpcrowe]

Wonderful captures. I like #'s 2 and 3 best because of her facial expressions... That doesn't mean that I don't like #1 because I do!

I agree that a flash meter is a very handy tool for indoor portraiture...

One of the problems in shooting with multiple lights is conflicting shadows. You have avoided that problem exceptionally well as shown in image #3

[royent]

I'm not sure that I like the amputation in first one. I would try a crop at her right armpit
Roy

[mugge]

Beautiful images. I prefer the first one. The lighting is not as subtle as the other two images but it works better for me. The absence of stray hairs must have been a real boon.
Cheers Ole

[Manfred M]

I'm not sure that I like the amputation in first one. I would try a crop at her right armpit
Roy

That would be a head shot, not a head & chest shot. I have some of those, but that is definitely not what I was trying for with this image.

I'm fine with the crops; so long as I don't crop through the joint or just below it, the shot almost always works.

[mugge]

I think your crop work. Sometimes 'crop till it hurts.' That is only my opinion.
Cheers Ole