For the past few years I've shot my neighbor's kids for their Christmas card and these two made the final cut this year...

Wonderful! Thanks for posting these Chuck.

nice shots
glad to see you post some of your work

replace that solid green (looks too "cutout") and you will have a great series

greg

Todd: I don't post much because I don't have an opportunity to shoot many studio portraits and most I do shoot are for friends where I don't get permission to display

Greg: I actually shot the ones for the card on a gelled red background but the mom decided she liked green better. Got to please the client, even the pro bono ones They are just going to upload it into a card template at Ritz with a green border so I didn't sweat it too much.

The lighting set-up was really simple, identical to this except I swapped the the position of the SB and Dish putting the dish on bottom so the catchlight would be smaller and easier to remove, and didn't use reflectors.

Chuck,

I have been reading your suggestions and read through your sight over the last several years. In all that time (you were on the other review board) I think this is the first time I've ever seen any of your work. I'm become used to your drawn people. I liked it alot and I also like the light setup you showed.

One question why the dish and not just two SB's in the same position. While I (hopefully) have your attention. I would like to also ask why you (read me) might use a round SB Vs and square of rectangle. I was thinking of trying to use a 12" round SB as a hairlight. Suggestions / comments accepted.

Cuck, might be a dumb question, but what is that on the right side of the front lights? Comes up above the SB. with a battery pack? I like the ideaof just using the same stand and the BD on the bottom. I was recently trying some stuff with two boxes in a similar config but never tried it with the dish and a box.

Mike

Nice interaction in #2, Chuck. The one girl is posing well for you in so many of the others. And showing the setup is always good to see.

The kids are cute.

Chester:

Regarding the use of dish on the bottom, it was to make the fill catchlight smaller and easier to retouch. The same is true for round vs rectangular SBs on the key light: they create different catchlight shapes when used close to the eye. In general I prefer round catchlights rather than rectangular. For that reason when using a med. SB for a solo portrait I'll usually use a 20" circle mask on it. The mask also creates a nice natural vignette on an dark background when used closer. But for that shoot the lights were 6- 7 ft from the faces so the catchlight from the rectangular SB turned sideways weren't a problem so I took the circle mask off. You'll note in the set-up photo I use a small SB with both circle mask and grid for the hair light. In that application both limit the spread of the light and the grid helps eliminate flare - my low ceiling prevents higher more effective placement of the hair light.

Regarding the illustrations, I started using them because most of my tutorials originated in threads where I was helping / teaching others from the baseline of their own photos and when I edited the thread for my web site it was easier to draw an illustration than find a model and try to duplicate the shot. What I also discovered from working interactively from the baseline of what each person already knew, was that people actually learn faster from their own baseline + conceptual understanding of what worked and what didn't than following rote examples of lighting patterns on mannequins, etc. Lighting is very situational, and each situation is really a complex problem, so rather than providing photographic examples to imitate I stress concepts and learning how to solve a problem with goal setting and finding the best strategies to meet the goal. I think its a quicker path to understanding how the variables interact to affect outcome in the holistic sense. Its a different, unconventional approach, but one that seems to resonate with "engineer" types and those with programming experience who are accustomed to solving other complex problems that way with goal setting and strategic planning.

Michael H: The thing you are asking about is the AB wired remote control box attached to a PW receiver which I attach to a light stand so I can move it around and have the remote where its convenient. I don't have two med. SBs so I used the dish and med SB interchangeably as key and fill. When I got the dish I compared the two directly and found that the dish work well as fill from over / under the camera because from about 8' it fills the room with light and at the same time creates only a very tiny catchlight. I always retouch out the fill catchlight, and the dish makes that task much easier.

Chuck

Thank you for the information. Between you and Steady I have been learning alot with the help of different points of view. I liked to see the labors of your work and the explaination that have and I'm sure will continue to be given.


Thanks again

Seems to me that the white snowman and the santa toys lead your eye away from the faces of the kids which should be the center of interest....and mom's choice or not, the acid green bg is also distracting.
The shots of the girl in the riding outfit are cute. IMO there is a bit too much light from below, they have a snowlight effect almost a ring flash look.

Haha, that second one is wonderful! Great job!

Jenna

The second one is great!! I think it will be an excellent holidays card!

The first one is very cute, I don't care for the color of the background but that's just personal preference. The second one of the girl alone is really well done. I can't imagine any parent not loving it.

Great shots