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Photography Question 

Jodi A. Birnbaum 		 

My pictures look flat


Sandra suggested that I post my question out here because she said someone was sure to have advice for me. Thanks Sandra!!! I have read over several of the threads and I see that at least I am not the only one having a problem!! LOL!! I love taking portraits for other people but I am really starting to second guess if I should be doing this because I am just not getting the lighting. Right now I am shooting in a 12x15 room with a window to the east and one to the south which I typically cover with my backdrops. I have the Alien Bees strobe B800 to my left at about 7 ft high pointing down to my subject. I then just use the flash on my camera to activate the light (which might be wrong). I also have a 420EX flash that I use outdoors. I have experimented with my white background by leaving the window uncovered behind the backdrop which seemed to be too white! Can someone please take a look at my gallery and give me some idea as to what I am doing wrong? Thank you so much for this sight, it is incredibly helpful...


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March 03, 2006

 

Robyn Gwilt 		  Sandra, I can't help you with this, as I'm not a studio photographer, but maybe you need to Photoshop them a bit (I presume you're shooting digital) but check out http://www.betterphoto.com/forms/QnAdetail.php?threadID=22541
there's enough info there to boggle your mind - and there are plenty of people (Debby, Liza etc) who know about lighting etc.


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March 03, 2006

 

Pete H 		  Hello Jodi,

Ya..They are a little "flat."
It appears to me most are under-exposed and loss of contrast.
There are several possibilities.

Are you using a umbrella or softbox?
By looking at them, I would also guess your f/stop is in the 5/4/3 range..This hurts sharpness.

7 feet is too high for people either sitting or laying on the ground.

If you would do the following, it would be most helpful. Tell us your exact setup, distance of strobe to subject, cam to subject, angle of strobe to subject, f# on the strobe, f/stop of lens..ISO etc..etc...as much detail as you can provide.

As far as the light in your room, this should not make a difference if you shoot fast...1/200th plus, any ambient light will not contribute to the shot.
In studio I generally steer clear of shooting below 1/125th. (That's another subject)

"I then just use the flash on my camera to activate the light (which might be wrong)."

This is fine, BUT, you do NOT want the on cam flash to contribute to the shot.
Your studio strobes will overpower the on cam flash, so this is not what I am talking about. What I am talking about is the fact that the on cam flash will place another catch light in your subjects eyes in the 12 O'clock position...That's a no-no.
Use a piece of aluminum foil over the on cam flash so it blocks and forward light, yet spills out enough to trip your slaves.


Pete


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March 04, 2006

 

Pete H 		 
 
 
Jodi;
I thought this example might help of a quickie shot I did a few yrs ago.

This was shot with ONE strobe (400w/s)with umbrella bounce (silver)
To the right of the image is simply a white wall to fill in shadow as the strobe/umbrella was camera left at about 10 feet distance and 7feet height as this subject is standing.

The background is via Adobe, but that is not what I want you to see.
The color is bright and saturated well.

Good portrait lighting is indeed positioning, but proper exposure is more important.
Hope this helps a bit.

Pete


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March 04, 2006

 

Alan N. Marcus 		  Contrast is controlled by adjusting the ratio of the main light to the fill light.
1. Fill is always placed as close to the camera as possible. (You are filling the shadows as seen by the camera not some other observer). Main always placed above subject and off to the side. Low main produces horror type shots.
2. Measure each source with all the others turned off.
3. Set main and fill to produce equal brightness. Ratio is 2:1. This is flat lighting unsuitable for portraits. One unit light received in shadows from fill. One unit in frontal area from main. Frontal additionally receives one unit from fill. Thus total in frontal area is two units vs. one unit in shadow.
4. Set main 1 f stop brighter than fill. Lighting is now 3:1. Best contrast for portrait. Subject receives one unit in shadow area from fill. Frontal area receives 2x more light from main plus one unit from fill. Total frontal is three units, thus 3:1 or bread-and-butter lighting.
5. More contrast: Set fill two f stops dimmer than main. Ratio is 5:1. This is theatrical lighting for effect.
6. Maximum possible contrast is fill set three f stops dimmer. The ratio is 9:1. This is about the limit of latitude for most films.

Alan Marcus


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March 04, 2006

 

Jodi A. Birnbaum 		  I apologize for not getting back to both of you sooner. I don't get to log on as often as I would like. I am going to get more information posted as to my exact setup, like you requested Pete. Thank you very much!! I will also try to post another picture along with the exact setup so that I can get some more feedback. I will try to use the setup you talked about Alan and see if I can improve my shot before I post another picture. :-) Thanks for both of your inputs.


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March 21, 2006

 
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