Gisella

[Mister Sith]

Not necessarily the most conventional of portraits, But I think it fits here this time! Quick note on the background: I shot on a white cloth backdrop that, no matter my best efforts, was evidently wrinkled and was rather distracting, so I kind of painted in a background in post, and added a mild radial gradient for a vignette which is causing the rings in the image.

Clam shell lighting with 2 softboxes
shutter: 1/160s
aperture: 3.2
ISO: 100

Other: I used a variable ND filter to achieve the wide aperture.

[patterfr]

OOOOPPS
DId it myself
hahahhaa

[Benji]

Rather nicely done. This will sell quite easily. Good white balance and I like her pleasant expression.

Critique. I don't think you feathered the upper softbox as the light striking her nose appears to be rather harsh. The penumbra of the light should be what you use for your light source, not the umbra. In case these terms are new to you the penumbra in the soft outer area of a light source surrounding the hot spot (the umbra.) Also it appears to me that she slumped over just a little bit and rolled her shoulders forward. Sitting up and looking alert in a portrait trumps the relaxed slumped over look any day. I would clone out the stray hair on her shoulder. Lastly a vertical orientation would waste less pixels if you crop this into a portrait.

Benji

[Mister Sith]

Thank you Benji! I really appreciate the feedback!
Just a question regarding penumbra and umbra: would you say that the lower half of her face, from the tip of her nose down, is lit by the penumbra? And how would I go about avoiding the use of the umbra in this shot. I had the softbox angled around 45* down, so would I feather it down some more?
For the pose: thank you, I will be sure to make sure my model is sitting up straight next time!

Thank you again for the the feedback, and I will do some reading on umbra and penumbra!

[Ed Shapiro]

About feathering: See diagram

[Benji]

Originally Posted by Mister Sith

Thank you Benji! I really appreciate the feedback!
Just a question regarding penumbra and umbra: would you say that the lower half of her face, from the tip of her nose down, is lit by the penumbra? And how would I go about avoiding the use of the umbra in this shot. I had the softbox angled around 45* down, so would I feather it down some more?
For the pose: thank you, I will be sure to make sure my model is sitting up straight next time!

Thank you again for the the feedback, and I will do some reading on umbra and penumbra!

Feathering is usually done side to side, but in a head shot it could be done vertically. This will put the hot spot at her waist which will not show in a head and shoulders image. However about 99.99% of the time I feathered sideways since I learned to do it that way and it worked well for me.

The terms umbra and penumbra (and antumbra) are traditionally used to describe the different parts of a shadow cast by a point light source. For photographic purposes two of these terms are as described as I did in my original response and as Ed has shown above and has nothing to do with shadows. The easiest way to determine the exact location of the penumbra of any light is to make a capture of it at about three stops underexposed. You will then be able to easily see the differences.

Benji

[Ernst-Ulrich Schafer]

Very nice Mister Sith. I'm taking that Clam Shell Lighting is one light above and the other below? I've just never used it so I'm not sure. I would rather have the main light camera left here with the catch light in the 11 o'clock postion. Then put the other light in the background camera right for a kicker light and add a reflector camera right. By cropping this image square and putting her eyes into the rule of thirds would add impact. I would also soften the skin abit and offer her alittle retouching of the blemishes.

[Ed Shapiro]

Another issue- I feel the portrait has a very delicate and vulnerable feel and mood to it via the lighting, however, I find the lighting as a whole too flat. My reason for bringing this up is that she does have a bit of asymmetry of the face, especially around her nose and bringing the light in from a more lateral position might have evened out the lines of the face and the nose. I would suggest lighting it so the main comes in from the same direction as the slimmer side of the face on a shorter lighting pattern- this may renter the shape of the nose a bit better.

Butterfly and "clam shell lightings are designed more for near- symmetrical or really symmetrical faces. Oftentimes on covers of fashion and beauty magazines, heavier make up is applied to simulate other lightings or correct for flat lighting. Sometimes those images are heavily retouched buy experts so that is seamless.

Sometimes instructions and articles on lighting can be misunderstood in somewhat inaccurate. The authors will say that clam shell and butterfly are the right lightings for "glamour or fashion lighting but theses lightings may not flatter the model or even distort the face. In head-shots- you want to flatter the model.

Ed

[Mister Sith]

I totally forgot to reply to these fantastically educating posts! Thank you for the feedback, and I'll definitely remember it for the next shoot!
Benji: thank you for the information regarding umbra and penumbra. In addition to my readings, I think i understand how it works thats to your post!
Erst: I actually have retouched this image, though I myself do not do skin smoothing or softening on my portraits because I prefer to see the skin texture. I do, however, in my retouching process even it out, and remove major blemishes.

Ed, thank you for the tip on short lighting her across the slim side of her face. I can see what you mean regarding the flatness and the lines of her nose. Clam shell seems to be my go-to lighting style at the moment, though I'm starting to diversify and work on more complex lighting patterns.