I'm new to this forum. I used to frequent the Paul C. Buff forums when they were active and I sorely miss them. I've been lurking here for a few days and it looks like this is a good group of people. I started photography on a Canon AE-1 circa 1982. I'm an intellectual property attorney and work keeps me pretty busy, but I still make some time to photograph my kids. I shoot a 40D and I use Alien Bees for studio lights.
Below is my second attempt using a hairlight. Hairlight is an AB400 with a reflector and a 20 degree honeycomb grid. Main and fill are each an AB800 with softboxes.
Any C&C is appreciated, particularly on the hair light and white balance.
Image #1 - I like the separation from the background, you did a good job not blowing out the hair which is easy to do with light colored hair. To my eye the skin tones look just a touch overexposed though her left arm was in a shadow. Minor nit is the way her skirt falls the left leg stands out and is a little distracting. Also if she were a little further from the background the separation would be more apparent and the background could have been a bit darker.
Image #2 - I like the skin tones a little more in this one. I would clone out the seam where the background meets the floor on the right side of the photo. In the foreground there seems to be a wash of light and I am not sure where it is coming from.
Image #3 - I think this image needed more light on the backdrop so his pants did not get so lost in the background or you could use a kicker and get a little rim light on teh edges to make them stand out. The rest looks good and the hair light again seems to be doing the job.
Image #4 - Works better now that the pants are not in the photo, exposure looks good though the downsized image makes it hard to see if there is good texture in the sweater.
All in all I think all four images are good, a shot without the hair light would have been nice just for comparison and to see how much it added. On my monitor the white balance looks fine in all four. Keep up the good work!
Thank you for the feedback. I blew the hair out on my first attempts with the hairlight. I hadn't thought about using a kicker to rim-light the pants. That's a great idea.
Faces are being cross lit to some degree with the key and fill on opposite sides which results in an overall flat look with dark smile lines. Try this next time and compare: For full face poses try butterfly with key light centered, in line with the noses and fill just below the camera, also centered. For oblique poses move the key light 45 degrees from nose on the far side of the face (to highlight the front of it) and keep the fill above the camera (where it can all reach everything the camera sees).
Can't really see the hairlight on the girl and on the boy its hitting the top of the head too directly. Don't take the term "hairlight" too literally. A better description is rim light. Watch the evening network news and notice how the backlight hits the head and shoulders providing separation with the set in the background. That's the basic idea for using one: to define the overall shape of the person and provide separation with a dark or distracting background.
One final note. The standing poses are squared-off and flat footed which look static and stiff. Angle the body to the camera about 45 degrees and get the weight shifted to one foot and hip or the other for a more relaxed natural look.
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