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Lighting question for my portraits.

rollsman4
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Lighting question for my portraits.

I have always used a 42" softbox with inner diffusion and outer diffusion. Rapid Box
I keep the softbox about 3 ft from my subject and about 12-18" above the head. as I always do.
For some reason I am getting hot spots on the face and its almost impossible to get rid of it in POST
I will attach an image . I was going to switch to a big umbrella ( shoot through) and see if thats better or a 2x3 Ft Translucent diffuser and shoot through that. Thank you see attached

Edited on Sep 12, 2024 at 01:48 PM · View previous versions

Sep 08, 2024 at 09:08 AM

story_teller
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Lighting question for my portraits.

Have you tried “feathering” the light to use more of the side of the softbox?

Sep 08, 2024 at 12:43 PM

jportraits
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Lighting question for my portraits.

it looks shaked. what are expoaure parameters.l? looks like you have more sources of lights. could you post closeup of eyes. from the picture that is sharp.

Sep 08, 2024 at 01:40 PM

rollsman4
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Lighting question for my portraits.

Just a Main Light camera right. 1 Background light
This is another shot

Edited on Sep 12, 2024 at 01:48 PM · View previous versions

Sep 08, 2024 at 07:04 PM

story_teller
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Lighting question for my portraits.

Watch this -

#ddg-play
Also, you need to control oil and makeup on your subject’s face. Reflective surfaces make the light specular, not flat. You typically want non-reflective light on the face to control hot spots.

Sep 08, 2024 at 08:30 PM

rollsman4
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Lighting question for my portraits.

That was very helpful. I think the Makeup is also part of the problem Too shiny is NOT good. Ty I appreciate it

Sep 08, 2024 at 09:02 PM

CharleyL
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Lighting question for my portraits.

Three feet is a bit too close. Try moving your light back to about 5'. You will likely need a bit more light energy for the same brightness, but the shiny spots will improve. Make-up makes a huge difference, Feathering the light can help, but will slightly darken her face on her right side. This sometimes improves the shot though if not too significant. You need to experiment with shadows as well as light to get the desired balance and best looking portrait shots.

How far is she from the background? When lighting the background separately I usually place my model/subject about 5' from my backgrounds to separate the effects of the background and key lights
better.

Charley

Sep 09, 2024 at 12:10 PM

JBPhotog
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Lighting question for my portraits.

I disagree with ^^this^^ reply. Moving your main light further away will make it harsher and more specular.

If your soft box is a Westcott Rapid Box it is likely a silver interior, these by their nature are more specular, a white internal modifier will diffuse the light more and be less specular. To determine if your double diffusion is actually eliminating the centre hot spot, there are a couple of options. One, is to take some photos at -2 to -4 stops of the front face and check for a central hot spot. The second option is using a flat disk on your light meter and measure the centre to edge differences, under .3 to .6 of a stop means the centre isn't too hot. If it's more add more diffusion either internal or external. This was a common way of increasing diffusion in A. Leibowitz work.

Sep 09, 2024 at 06:47 PM

rollsman4
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Lighting question for my portraits.

Thank you for sharing that. I was going to add one more outer diffusion and try that. That would make 2 outer layers of diffusion. I use the round metal reflector with the Rapid Box( small Beauty dish)
My other thought is to try a Shoot thru white translucent umbrella and see if that is better and 2-3 ft from my subject. Thanks again

Sep 09, 2024 at 10:15 PM

rscheffler
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Lighting question for my portraits.

Is it a 42" light source, or 24"? You mentioned Rapid Box small beauty dish... If it's 24" IMO it's a bit on the small side for 'soft' light. The larger the light source and the closer it is to your subject, the softer, more wraparound the light will be. You can add as much diffusion as you want but the shininess of the skin will be a factor and I feel is ultimately the cause of your concerns here. If you're editing in Adobe, such as Lightroom, you could do an AI mask of just the skin tones (just face or also face and body) and apply negative texture and clarity values to moderate the shininess. But it will also kill the shadows. You could try brushing in negative texture and clarity just to the highlight areas, which I have done in the example below:

It doesn't totally remove the highlights, but I don't think you want to anyway. If you did, the skin may look unnaturally flat.

jportraits wrote:
it looks shaked. what are expoaure parameters.l? looks like you have more sources of lights. could you post closeup of eyes. from the picture that is sharp.

I think there is a reflector bouncing light from below based on the reflection in the eyes.

I agree there is something strange going on at the top and bottom edges of the photos that looks like a problem with the lens. Sharpness falls off rapidly and details look smeared. What lens, what aperture? If you're shooting wide open, try stopping down a bit.

Sep 09, 2024 at 11:21 PM

rollsman4
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Lighting question for my portraits.

I am using the 42" softbox and I am using a reflector from the bottom to open up the eyes more and minimize the shadow
and under the chin
I did use negative clarity . This was not the best picture to submit. In fact I will submit another one that is sharper.
I am going to submit a few other portraits I did previously and the Photos were ok.
I do appreciate all the Feedback I am getting to help me reduce the hot spots

I do see some hot spots BUT not as Bad as the Last shooting I did. Thank you

Edited on Sep 12, 2024 at 01:58 PM · View previous versions

Sep 10, 2024 at 07:06 AM

hiepphotog
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Lighting question for my portraits.

If you want the softest light, get the biggest Photek Softlighter you can get for your space. An inverse mount reduces hotspots and helps spread the light even much better than anything direct.

Sep 10, 2024 at 09:53 AM

RoamingScott
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Lighting question for my portraits.

Am I nuts or is every single one of these shots severely out of focus?

Sep 10, 2024 at 09:58 AM

rollsman4
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Lighting question for my portraits.

NO you are NOT nuts. I should submit additional ones that are NOT out of focus

Sep 10, 2024 at 12:42 PM

JBPhotog
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Lighting question for my portraits.

If you use Photoshop, reducing hot spots can be achieved a number of ways in post. Here is one way,

Sep 11, 2024 at 04:45 PM

jportraits
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Lighting question for my portraits.

all in all, makeup, photoshop could help. but most important is to learn lighting. practice it more, try different settings. you set ligts too far and it makes it more specular.

Sep 12, 2024 at 01:49 AM

sungphoto
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Lighting question for my portraits.

I'd suggest adding fill, maybe a large white interior or translucent shoot through umbrella and/or a bounce panel.

I think using the single source to light the entire scene makes the shadow side of the exposure a little dark, and the highlight feels too bright in comparison. Feathering the light will reduce the hotspot (I generally avoid having the softbox pointed directly at talent), but it will likely necessitate additional light for fill and background lighting, because the single source is no longer doing all of those things.

I am not a big fan of the westcott rapid boxes, though I do like the joel grimes beauty dish. The larger softbox interiors don't have a pebbled silver interior like the elinchrom and profoto softboxes, and the diffusion material tends to not be as thick, so they produce a trademark bit of punch/contrast.

Sep 12, 2024 at 02:23 AM


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