I don't think the lighting works great with them especially the woman @ camera right, as the shadows under her cheeks is to much IMO. Also their teeth (brightness) overpowers their eyes. Even though the eyes have catch lights they still look dull.
Yep, agree with creativesnaps on the lighting. I think the main light is set too high. The person on our right has deep inset eye sockets, which makes it a little more difficult to get the light into. The dog's eyeballs tend to protrude out of the socket, and thus he has great catchlights and good lighting to his eyes.
Lighting looks good to me. For three portrait subjects, a main light over them is what I would've done to avoid having one blocked by lighting from come from the side.
The deep eye sockets may look unattractive, but I don't think this photo should be tossed because of that.
Presuming you were using a modifier like a softbox on the main light, I would have the bottom of the softbox in line with their chin. Adding a reflector below them, as you might for a beauty shot, wouldn't work here with the dog there, and isn't necessary. Just lower the main light, and I think it will do wonders for you.
Correct, I used a Paul C. Buff 64" soft silver PLM umbrella with the white diffusion fabric as a softbox camera left for the main light. Camera right was a 36" Westcott reflecting umbrella and I added a speedlight behind the subjects at 1/32 power set at wide angle.
Originally the subjects were standing but then I seated them to get the dog in the shot but forgot to lower the lights.
Thanks for the feedback all, will definitely make a note of adjusting the lights up and down as necessary next time I shoot.
Love the FM boards, I always learn something new on this forum.
joesfotosite wrote:
Correct, I used a Paul C. Buff 64" soft silver PLM umbrella with the white diffusion fabric as a softbox camera left for the main light. Camera right was a 36" Westcott reflecting umbrella and I added a speedlight behind the subjects at 1/32 power set at wide angle.
Originally the subjects were standing but then I seated them to get the dog in the shot but forgot to lower the lights.
Thanks for the feedback all, will definitely make a note of adjusting the lights up and down as necessary next time I shoot.
Love the FM boards, I always learn something new on this forum....Show more →
What did the subjects' eyes look like when they were standing closer to the main light overhead? Did you see a difference when they sat down?
I need to go back through and take a closer look. I can post one here for comparison. I literally just loaded them into Lightroom late Sunday night and picked this one out randomly to process so I could upload here for some CC.
I'll select one where the subjects are standing and post to this thread contrast the differences. I suspect the difference will be subtle but definitely noticeable.
Totally concur on the lighting but frankly the use of BW with greatly magnify even a small mistake and make the eye shadows horrid, spend some time and take it to color. A little dodge and burn with color will make a world of difference. Dark haired woman with dark clothes and dark makeup and you choose BW, no not a good choice IMO.
Okay, here are more from the same shoot for comparison. The first one is the same as the original post before conversion into a BW. The next two are with the subjects standing, one in color and one with the same BW processing as the others.
Let me know what you think of the lighting with the subjects standing as opposed to them sitting.
Look at the difference in the catchlights in their eyes, and how their eyes were lit, standing vs. sitting. So much better standing when the lights were at the right level. Hey, it was a good lesson for you and a fun discussion for all of us. The shots of them standing look good.
#1 & #2. Another thing to notice here is the crop and where it ends at the bottom of the frame. We see a slice of his knee, half of he dog's paws and a tiny bit of her midriff and white undershirt. It looks a little "unplanned".
#3. & #4 Good expression is these two. Again the crop is my complaint. I find it goes down too far and the viewer's eye follows his tie right out of the frame. Cropping off some of the bottom of the frame is what I suggest. Of course that ruins your ratios for standard size prints.
