Head Shot Tests - Hurley style

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blutch
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p.3 #1 · Head Shot Tests - Hurley style

Ok. First, I did use a grey card for this shoot. The numbers for WB from the grey card made the faces redder than I liked, so I tweaked it a bit.... by eye.

There were no incandescent lights in the room. on the background, I had one strip light with two t-8 flourescents horizontal below the subject shining up onto the background. The only other light hitting the background is spill from the two banks of fluorescent lights in the front of the subject. B

Oct 19, 2012 at 02:27 AM

blutch
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p.3 #2 · Head Shot Tests - Hurley style

Same bulbs on everything.

Oct 19, 2012 at 02:30 AM

RustyBug

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p.3 #3 · Head Shot Tests - Hurley style

Do you have the image with the grey card in it that you can post. I'd like to see the rgb numbers that are illuminating your grey card. Also, what is your WB set to on your camera?

Oct 19, 2012 at 02:35 AM

blutch
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p.3 #4 · Head Shot Tests - Hurley style

Yes. I will upload it asap. I have the camera set to Auto WB.

Oct 19, 2012 at 02:36 AM

blutch
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p.3 #5 · Head Shot Tests - Hurley style

Ok. There are two. the first is the one I used because it looked better. the only difference between these two shots is ISO. I don't know why they look so different.

121016-0044-248.jpg by blutcherama, on Flickr

121016-0044-249.jpg by blutcherama, on Flickr

Oct 19, 2012 at 02:42 AM

blutch
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p.3 #6 · Head Shot Tests - Hurley style

WAIT! I just discovered part of the problem.... I didn't use the numbers from the grey card. For some reason I changed the WB of the first one.. Here it is again but with the original WB numbers. I'm sorry for all the confusion.

121016-0044-248.jpg by blutcherama, on Flickr

Oct 19, 2012 at 02:45 AM

RustyBug

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p.3 #7 · Head Shot Tests - Hurley style

Next question ... what is the color temp and CRI of the bulbs being used? (sorry if you already said)

Next question ... what is the blue vs. the white I'm seeing in the bg of the second grey card image?

Oct 19, 2012 at 02:52 AM

blutch
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p.3 #8 · Head Shot Tests - Hurley style

question 1 - I don't see any indication of those numbers anywhere on the bulb or the box. They are Philips Alto II - Neutral. 32 watt. 700 series F32T8/TL735/

Good question on #2.. I was wondering that myself. The background hangs all the way to the floor and the wall behind it is a striped wall - white and beige wall paper.. weird.. I have no idea what that is unless it is the floor which is off white tile...

Oct 19, 2012 at 03:01 AM

blutch
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p.3 #9 · Head Shot Tests - Hurley style

The background is a white vinyl sheet i had hanging on the wall. For some reason it appears as blue in all these photos. I used a white piece of foam board in the earlier photos where I used my wife as a subject. I needed more coverage than the foam board could give, so I went to the bigger piece of vinyl for the guys. Obviously the color was very different... but so were the lights.

Oct 19, 2012 at 03:05 AM

RustyBug

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p.3 #10 · Head Shot Tests - Hurley style

OKay thanks ... that helps.

Oct 19, 2012 at 03:11 AM

Micky Bill
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p.3 #11 · Head Shot Tests - Hurley style

I googled the CRI of the lights mentioned and it is 78, IMO not a good choice (kino flo lamps have a CRI of 95) as you will have spikes in color along the red/green spectrum. This may be part of your color problem, to me it seems the red channel needs some attention, or the red saturation slider.

Doesn't matter if they are all the same if they are creating cross over in the color balance....

PS Many "white" products have a slight tint of blue to make them look white and not dingy.

Oct 19, 2012 at 03:28 AM

blutch
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p.3 #12 · Head Shot Tests - Hurley style

Ah.... I didn't know this. So i might be able to improve my setup with higher CRI bulbs. I don't see that rating anywhere on the package, so google is the way to find this.... Thanks! B

Oct 19, 2012 at 03:31 AM

RustyBug

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p.3 #13 · Head Shot Tests - Hurley style

Okay ... the 735 light bulb is a 7 series bulb with a 3500K temperature and as Micky Bill mentioned a 78 CRI. This is a very warm bulb @ 3500K. Your D7000 has the ability to set your WB to a specific color temp. Grab the manual and set it to 3500K or to the Fluorescent White setting (3700K is close enough) for a start.

But, using a warm light bulb like that leaves a lot of color spectrum out of the picture. They make bulbs that are 4100K, 5000K and 6500K balanced. If I were going to be shooting with fluorescent, I'd likely be using the 6500K (i.e. daylight/full spectrum) variety.

Oct 19, 2012 at 03:45 AM

blutch
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p.3 #14 · Head Shot Tests - Hurley style

Do you know where I can find brand/model names for those T-8 bulbs? The boxes don't offer much information... at least the ones at Home Depot. Thanks! B

Oct 19, 2012 at 01:53 PM

RustyBug

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p.3 #15 · Head Shot Tests - Hurley style

Those are the same brand that you are using ... just a different model number. You'd be looking for the 765 instead of the 735 to get a 7 series, 6500K or a 750 to get a 5000K version, just add a couple zero's to the model number and it should let you know what the temp is ... ignoring the series number at the beginning (i.e. 7 or 8). It may be that HD doesn't carry them on the shelf ... but they should be able to special order them without any problem.

Also, it looks like the DAYLIGHTDELUXE is a 6500K bulb as well.

Here's a link to the pdf.
http://www.usa.lighting.philips.com/pwc_li/us_en/connect/tools_literature/downloads/SAG_2011_Fluorescent.pdf

You might want to get a couple 5000K and 6500K to compare. Some people might find 6500K too cool for portrait work since most lighting / daylight balance is set around 5600K. Either way, you'll be a lot closer to full spectrum than what you are using right now @ 3500K.

NOTE: Don't think your 3500K's are worthless ... you can use them for accent lights when you want to kick in some warmth to the bg, hair or even to mix in a bank to alter the output temp a bit for creative purposes. Maybe you even find that you like to bank a couple 6500's with a couple 3500's to get

But ... that's a thought I'd put on hold for now. First thing is to get control of your process. Again, I've not used fluorescent lighting as a primary source, so you might check with those who advocate them to see if they indicate a preference toward 5000K vs. 6500K, etc. They might be keeping some things close to their chest, but I'd see what they've got to offer in terms of guidance. And of course, you can always experiment to develop your own assessment of how you want to proceed.

Edited on Oct 19, 2012 at 02:51 PM · View previous versions

Oct 19, 2012 at 02:39 PM

blutch
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p.3 #16 · Head Shot Tests - Hurley style

Awesome. Thank you for doing my homework Rusty.

You guys have been extremely helpful. I will replace the lights, custom set the wb on my camera and shoot again. I will also try to get the subject further away from the background. I need to find better lights to light the background.. I would like a pure white. Short of buying strobes and controllers are there any suggestions? I have an SB700, but it doesn't cut it by itself and I don't have a controller other than commander mode and the popup flash ruins it. I could borrow another speed light and an IR controller from a friend and use the speedlights to light the background. With enough separation I should be able to get that background to lighten up, eh? Is that a good plan? Thanks! B

Oct 19, 2012 at 02:43 PM

RustyBug

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p.3 #17 · Head Shot Tests - Hurley style

Well, as to the BG @ White, I think that once you get closer to full spectrum lighting ... we wont' be having to add in so much blue in post to offset the yellow that it turns your BG cyan. That's my first thought @ eliminate the more obvious problem, then see what remains to be needed after that.

I'm guessing that then it'll be close enough that some PP tweaks can handle the White BG issue without much trouble, or some refinement with lighting arrangement, etc. First things first ... stop lighting with yellow light and expecting to get neutral outcomes. Reevaluate after that ... one change at a time, lest you confuse the cause & effect relationships.

PP is pretty magical ... but it does have its limits.

Oct 19, 2012 at 02:58 PM

silvawispa
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p.3 #18 · Head Shot Tests - Hurley style

blutch wrote:
I have an SB700, but it doesn't cut it by itself and I don't have a controller other than commander mode and the popup flash ruins it.

It doesn't have to work that way.

If you read the manual, there is a way of working it so that the pop-up won't affect a portrait.

The only time I've seen the popup kill an image in commander mode was for some close up macro stuff, where the tail end of the commander burst splashes a little light.

I can even get my Canon to optically trigger my lights with it's pop-up in such a way that it has no overall effect on the image. (Although this is something I worked out strictly as back up to my emergency back-up triggering system. Triple redundancy for the win!)

Over at Strobist there are tutorials on taking great portraits with one flash. Zach Arias is another source of one flash wonderment.

I'd suggest that instead of getting wrapped up hunting down perfect spectrum lights and lost in a technological tail chase you spend the time and effort exploring lighting options with what you do have.

I guess if you're looking to produce perfect actors headshots on a regular basis then the obvious route is to get a good set of no-nonsense professional lights. Otherwise use your time and resources to learn more. You'll get far better results through tuition, than through kit.

Oct 19, 2012 at 04:05 PM

dmacmillan
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p.3 #19 · Head Shot Tests - Hurley style

RustyBug wrote:

But, using a warm light bulb like that leaves a lot of color spectrum out of the picture. They make bulbs that are 4100K, 5000K and 6500K balanced. If I were going to be shooting with fluorescent, I'd likely be using the 6500K (i.e. daylight/full spectrum) variety.
Kent,
Be careful not to confuse color temperature and CRI (Color Rendering Index). They are representations of two different things.

There can be a light source with a low color temperature (eg3200K) that has a high CRI. Tungsten bulbs fall in that category, they are great light sources. Other sources, such as certain fluorescent lights, can have "daylight" color temperature, yet have horrible CRI. These make poor light sources because even the the color temperature can be set, not all colors will be rendered properly.

See this description of CRI. Notice the photograph on the right. You can see that the spectrum from the incandescent light has a smooth spectrum, whereas the CF bulb has missing bands. It does not emit light in that area of the spectrum. You can get an approximate color balance, but you can't fill in the holes.

Oct 19, 2012 at 04:56 PM

RustyBug

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p.3 #20 · Head Shot Tests - Hurley style

Thanks Doug for pointing that out.

No confusion here ... I checked that the other bulbs had better CRI ... even though they aren't a lot better.

This is why I haven't bothered doing full research into finding the best fluorescent bulbs out there. I figure that at the end of the day, you'll eventually figure out that they fall short to what others have spent an enormous amount of energy, time and money developing (i.e. well corrected lighting).

It kinda "miff's me" that people are advocating fluourescent lights as being all that, yet they apparently are leaving people hanging to figure out the pitfalls on their own. I'd gladly welcome someone offering up "the bulb" to use for fluorescent illumination. I readily recognize that consumer bulbs are NOT photographic lighting, yet also understand the creative DIY approach that is alluring to some (been there, tried that too).

I wasn't trying to suggest that color temp was more important than CRI, but that without full spectrum ... yes, there are gaps that you'll be trying to make up for in PP ... and that can only be so effective.

Hope I didn't confuse things too much.

Oct 19, 2012 at 05:13 PM

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