Newbie Alert - I have been lurking and learning here long enough and now it is time to start posting my own results.
I am very green when it comes to working with people in a studio environment and am much more comfortable with action sports or landscape imagery, but desire to expand into fine art and figure studies involving people. Any how, I would appreciate your thoughts on these images.
i like the hard angles to bring out the textures and define the lines (of his muscles) but i think there should be one more light to help separate your guys from the background-very subtle but separating which would add dimension to them as well
Daniel, would you mind going into a little more detail about the background light? Not sure how it could be quantified but how much more light above what is already there on the backgrounds? The comments make sense but I was also concerned that this would take focus away form the subjects.
the only areas i'm noticing are being lost are the left neck/shoulder in #1 and the left arm/leg and back in #2-maybe a snooted/gridded kicker (or even 2) aimed toward those dark areas to bring those parts out from the background since you have such high ratios everywhere else-my thinking is that you want to have clear definition of those muscles-in #1, for instance, his bicep is well lit on top but the triceps are lost in shadow-the kicker(s) would bring that up to define the boundaries of his frame
looking back, #3 seems to have appropriate but nicely subtle definition around the body-does that help? if it doesn't, please PM me
radioblurs wrote:
i like the hard angles to bring out the textures and define the lines (of his muscles) but i think there should be one more light to help separate your guys from the background-very subtle but separating which would add dimension to them as well
hope this is helpful
daniel
Good points, and perhaps a large reflector could do it too. I think Daniel is talking about the fact that the blacks on the body have zero detail just like the blacks in the background, and therefore are not defined. Just a smidge of fill light on the body shadows would keep the hard edge effect but also seperate them from the background. But I could be wrong on what he means and if so, looking forward to a correction. Learning here too and thanks for sharing these for C&C.
And I like that the guy in 2 actually has hair on his chest...sheesh, for some years now I been starting to every guy in front of a camera was hairless or is into body shaving.
MSC wrote:
Good points, and perhaps a large reflector could do it too. I think Daniel is talking about the fact that the blacks on the body have zero detail just like the blacks in the background, and therefore are not defined. Just a smidge of fill light on the body shadows would keep the hard edge effect but also seperate them from the background. But I could be wrong on what he means and if so, looking forward to a correction. Learning here too and thanks for sharing these for C&C.
And I like that the guy in 2 actually has hair on his chest...sheesh, for some years now I been starting to every guy in front of a camera was hairless or is into body shaving. ...Show more →
nope, that's what i was talking about, MSC-the only reason i suggested gridded or snooted lights for that was to minimize spill since the shots had very dramatic, high ratio lighting schemes-depending on the effect you want to achieve or the size, a reflector could work as well
I believe it may be a challenge to accomplish this with a reflector. These images where all done with a single light with barn doors positioned directly above the model. The idea of an additional light with snoot seems more logical.
Either way the ideas make for an interesting learning experience.
