Playing with lights

[SMason]

Hi everyone, I'm attempting to learn portriat lighting and I'd like your input. I'm having a lot of trouble getting the hair light right. I bought an AB400 and dialed it all the way down and used the barn doors and I still get too much light on the shoulders. I even tried a 20 watt Britek LED wich didn't work out either. I've attatched a couple of photos to show my setup. Thanks for your time.

Steve

[patterfr]

looks good to me

[Sailor Blue]

If you want the light only on the head and not the shoulders then rotate the barndoors 90° from what is shown in the attached photo. That way you can narrow the beam as much as you want from side to side. To keep it on the head where you want it front to back simply move it forward or backward over the subject or rotate it.

[RV]

lol @ Mannequin

[Rain Lily]

Originally Posted by RV

lol @ Mannequin

Why, Ryan? A perfect non-complaining (and non-moving!) subject, if you ask me!

I wish I had a mannequin for studio practice. Might have to check into getting one.

My comment to the OP is - I'm not seeing a lot of light on the hair at all. I wonder if putting a blond wig on instead of a black one for lighting practice would help?

[ksgal]

Wish I had a mannequin to use.. 4 yr olds don't sit still for that long... *sigh*

...maybe the hair light needs to be further back and then pointed more at the back of her head? so it won't spill onto her shoulder??

Wish I could be more help.. I'm not a studio guru.. need one of the pros here..

[SMason]

Originally Posted by Rain Lily

Why, Ryan? A perfect non-complaining (and non-moving!) subject, if you ask me!

I wish I had a mannequin for studio practice. Might have to check into getting one.

My comment to the OP is - I'm not seeing a lot of light on the hair at all. I wonder if putting a blond wig on instead of a black one for lighting practice would help?

Exactly! It's so hard to get my wife to come out and pose for me, there's always something else that she wants to do, and when she does pose for me it's hurry up and get this over with!

I forget where, but someone posted a link to a website that sells these and it was under $50, and the wig was only another $7. I figured "why not" ? My wife thought I was nutts. Now my victim stands there patiently without any complaining for as long as I want. I picked a black wig because I knew it would be harder to seperate from the background and I knew that I need to learn how to do it.

Now when I learn how to place my lights it should be easier to coax my wife to come out and pose for me.

Thanks for the suggestions. Hopefully I'll be able to give them a try tonight after work.

[SMason]

Rain Lilly you're correct about the blonde wig. I had my wife stand in place of the mannequin and without changing any settings, there was quite a bit more light showing on the hair. Too much light. So far this has been my biggest challenge with the lights.

[SMason]

I'd welcome any other C&C with the photo of the mannequin also. I really want to learn how to do portriats correctly.

[Rain Lily]

Originally Posted by SMason

Rain Lilly you're correct about the blonde wig. I had my wife stand in place of the mannequin and without changing any settings, there was quite a bit more light showing on the hair. Too much light. So far this has been my biggest challenge with the lights.

I think black is more of a 'light absorber' so you're not getting the full benefit of your learning experience with a black wig.

I'm loving the lighting pattern on the face of the mannequin. I know that doesn't help you with the hair light but I just wanted to say.