The first from my Home studio

[Worm324]

Ok, I made the plunge and got some Alien Bees 800's and a reflector. I've done a few test shots to experiment with the lights and stuff and here's what I got.

I used a shoot through Umbrella at about 45 degrees camera right and had it aiming down about 45 degrees. I also had a white reflector to Camera left next to Mark and I.

If you could please tear these apart !! Thanks

Mark: did a little vignetting, but left the gray background just to save time.


Me: quickly added a digital background and did some minor skin smoothing. I think I had the light to high on my shot, because my eyes are deeper than Mark's and there is a shadow going across the top half of my eyes??


Thanks again for looking, ans any comments would be greatly appreciated

Jay

[rsmall]

Hi Jay, Very nice test images. The lack of specular highlights in the first image (glasses) is perfect, IMO. The background bothers me a little, however; you may want to consider moving your subject at least 4 feet away from the background. This would soften (blur) the wrinkles in the fabric a bit and allow for a background light if you should wish to use one. My personal preference would be to crop this image tighter. Whether you include the left arm in the crop is a personal decision. A handy item is to make what are known as Cropping L's. They are two pieces of cardboard about 1 1/2" wide and about 10" long cut in the shape of an "L". Lay these on your monitor screen and move them to change the crop to see what you may light best. Image #2 is a very nice portrait; I really like it. Only improvement that I can offer would be to lighten the right side of the model's face a tad from the eye to the hairline. You can do this with a fill light or a lighting panel. Digital background looks very good. Great job, Jay!

[captlen]

Very nice shots I am sure you will have lots more to show as you experiment even more with your new lights.

[felix.reichardt]

Hi, welcome to the club.
#1: there is a really dark area from his right arm which kinda spoils it.
#2: the eyes could use some more light (reflector?). Try to bring them out more.
skin tones look pretty nice to me
thanks for posting and I'm sure we see more coming soon

[Worm324]

Thanks a lot for the comments and suggestions!!

I think I got lucky with the specular highlights, because I thought for sure the glasses were going to cause a problem. The background is awful, but I was just testing so I didn't bother to do any extra work into the first shot in regards to that I tighter crop is a good idea!! I was looking at Benji's tutorial for reference in that first picture's pose.

I did add a heavy Vignetting on the first shot to try and darken the bottom area.

I also used a reflector, but I don't think the placement was right on it because it didn't seem to do much. I had it about 3 feet away of the model to camera left aiming slightly upward.

Thanks again for the great feedback

Jay

[KellyL]

Well look at you Jay! Very nice. I am impressed...

Of course, that clown in your second picture...I don't know about that one. But I guess I should keep my comments to the lighting and not the model.

You know I am just giving you a hard time. The Rembrandt lighting in the second is GREAT!

[Worm324]

Thanks Kelly You've been a great influence in my home studio adventure and I really appreciate it!!

Jay

[Waldemar]

Quite good for the first studio test shots. You posed your model nicely.
To improve your portraits in the future:
1. Place your main on the side the model's nose is pointing to /you have main on wrong side in both images/.This way you will get short lighting which is more suitable for people who are not so slim. Most of the short lighted face will be in shadow, appearing slimmer than it is.
2. Keep your model at least 5-6 feet away from the background /it gives more depth to the image , slightly blurs background hiding its imperfections and puts less light on it keeping it further from main light/.
3. Turn your model head slightly more to his right to hide right ear completely.

In the second image use blur tool /pick soft brush/ to make contour lines less pronounced against added later background.

Regards - Waldemar

[Worm324]

Waldemar,
Thanks for the comments and suggestions I used your Vignetting technique in both shots I did do a ruff job putting in the digital background and it shows!!

I'm looking forward to trying again as soon as I can get a test subject up to my house

Jay

[Unkl Buck]

In both images, the main is too high. Lower it to bring more catchlight in the eyes as well as show more color in the eyes.

[Worm324]

Originally Posted by Unkl Buck

In both images, the main is too high. Lower it to bring more catchlight in the eyes as well as show more color in the eyes.

Thank you!!!! I just eyeballed everything, because I have no light meter I'll try that next time for sure.

Any thoughts on where the reflector should be? How close to the model? I have a big 4 in 1 reflector and had the white 1 about 2 feet to the model left aiming up slightly, but it didn't seem to do all that much.

Thanks again!! Greatly appreciate all the feedback

Jay

[Unkl Buck]

Originally Posted by Worm324

Any thoughts on where the reflector should be? How close to the model? I have a big 4 in 1 reflector and had the white 1 about 2 feet to the model left aiming up slightly, but it didn't seem to do all that much.

Thanks again!! Greatly appreciate all the feedback

Jay

I usually position a reflector (when I use one) just outside the frame of the viewfinder on the camera. Move the reflector around to get the effect you want. By moving it around, you will be able to see how the light is reflected. Providing your strobes have a modeling lamp on.