Upper camera left Nikon SB-600 1/4 power through 43" umbrella.
About 4 foot off the ground camera middle Sunpak 383 1/16 power through bottle diffuser.
Five feet behind couple onto a bedsheet Sunpak 933 bare.
White foamcore at 45 degree angle on floor in front of couple.
I've been watching your progress through your shots here. You're getting the hang of the lighting! The background is a tad harsh and glaring; white is seldom the best backdrop for a couple's portrait.
Take the frontal lighting you have, select a more neutral background color (blue or gray or even an inexpensive mottled muslin) and work on balancing the background light a little more. Another suggestion I'd have is to have your wife stand on something to make her taller so there isn't quite the height disparity in the portrait. One last nit-picky thing is that I really don't care for having more than one catch-light in the eyes, so that might be worth a little retouching on your next go-'round.
Is your wife tired of this yet? She looks like she's delightful.
Quick comment, gotta get back to the game. Huge progress from where you started, but you still have a light too low. I'm just not sure why you like such low lights. Typically, you want to create a shadow under your chin, not light up under your chin. A light 4 feet off the ground isn't going to do that. Look at the catchlights in your wife's eyes. But again, huge progress. Background works for me. Just get the lights up, up, up.
Ron, with his wife shorter than him, along with wearing a hat that would shade her eyes if the light was higher, how would you keep her eyes properly exposed without a shadow on her forehead/eyes? I agree the light should be up, just asking how you would light that. (I guess this is a reason for getting her up to his height.)
Hope you don't mind...., I would like to respectfully offer a polite idea/suggestion for your next pose.
Being so much taller than your wife, have you thought about sitting in a chair and have your wife stand behind you, and lean down slightly over one of your shoulders, and have her hands placed on top of each of one your shoulders?
ICE B1 wrote:
I've been watching your progress through your shots here. You're getting the hang of the lighting! The background is a tad harsh and glaring; white is seldom the best backdrop for a couple's portrait.
Take the frontal lighting you have, select a more neutral background color (blue or gray or even an inexpensive mottled muslin) and work on balancing the background light a little more. Another suggestion I'd have is to have your wife stand on something to make her taller so there isn't quite the height disparity in the portrait. One last nit-picky thing is that I really don't care for having more than one catch-light in the eyes, so that might be worth a little retouching on your next go-'round.
Is your wife tired of this yet? She looks like she's delightful....Show more →
Thanks for commenting. My wife enjoys me having fun learning and doing this. She is a keeper!
Hope you don't mind...., I would like to respectfully offer a polite idea/suggestion for your next pose.
Being so much taller than your wife, have you thought about sitting in a chair and have your wife stand behind you, and lean down slightly over one of your shoulders, and have her hands placed on top of each of one your shoulders?
Just an idea....
Sincerely,
Randal
It's a good idea Randal. Thanks for commenting and making suggestions.
friscoron wrote:
Quick comment, gotta get back to the game. Huge progress from where you started, but you still have a light too low. I'm just not sure why you like such low lights. Typically, you want to create a shadow under your chin, not light up under your chin. A light 4 feet off the ground isn't going to do that. Look at the catchlights in your wife's eyes. But again, huge progress. Background works for me. Just get the lights up, up, up.
The low light was meant as just a touch of fill. She threw me a curve ball with the hat but I think it turned out all right despite the hat. Thanks for commenting.
Traditionally speaking, you don't want to fill the shadows with a fill light. In portrait photography, shadows have a purpose. For one, to give the face definition. Here's what's happening, look at your wife's right shoulder. She's closed off to the main light. Look at the catchlights in her eyes. The main light is barely doing anything to light her because she's closed off to it, and possibly the hat might be blocking it too, but I think it's more her body direction. Look at how her cheeks are well-lit, but it's not getting into her eyes.
Now look at the catchlights in your eyes. You can see that your main light is working, and you're well lit, although without shadows/definition. Maybe your left side (our right) is 1/4 stop off due to the spillage of light from your background lighting (see the light on the right side of your head, that's spillage).
In this pose, I put the main light to camera right so your wife's body is open to it. The angle of the main light looks good. The bottom of the umbrella should be in line with your chin. That angle, that position, will light you both. You do not need to be in a chair and at the same height as your wife. Up. Think "up".
Wrei wrote:
Ron, with his wife shorter than him, along with wearing a hat that would shade her eyes if the light was higher, how would you keep her eyes properly exposed without a shadow on her forehead/eyes? I agree the light should be up, just asking how you would light that. (I guess this is a reason for getting her up to his height.)
They don't need to be at the same height. Check the brim of her hat. It angles up, so it's going to let in light angling down. If she was wearing a baseball cap with the brim straight out, yep, it'd be a problem angling light down to her.
Another trick is to simply to angle her head up slightly. But I just don't see that hat, nor the height difference, as an issue in lighting this couple.
put your hand on your wife shoulder,
bring your heads closer together,
try to compose for a rectangular format
with a neutral background you can work it
as to give your portrait depth
your eyes are pointing in different directions
how do you get to carnegie hall?
practice , practice, practice
Get rid of that very low light, if you want some fill keep it off to side but higher. You are getting a lot of good advice here from others, so just keep trying.
I do a lot of test shots during the week. These shots showed I needed that fill flash.
When it was time to actually shoot I did it tethered to a laptop. I then determined I needed the foamcore also. Perhaps because of the hat. Not attempting to be argumentative just sharing my thought process a bit.
I think it'd be best if I bought a proper reflector and eliminated the fill flash. I also wanted to gel the background with possibly a snoot.
There are times that a single light will work, but not usually as well with a couple. With one person, it can create very dramatic lighting. With a couple, you usually want at least a second light (or reflector) to fill the shadows. But whether you use a reflector or the fill light, it needs to be up high with the light coming down on you.
You don't need more stuff, you just need to learn these techniques.
Well done Dude! VERY nice image. Nice work. I love rich images, but you might try ticcing the exposure up a notch or two on this one. It will lessen the hat shadow and bring her skin tone up a tad. I can't wait to see her in some glamour shots .
