My first customer under the new lights

[AC_Photo]

A while ago I was whining that my continuous lights couldn't do what I wanted. I bought a set of Alien Bees to use instead. Fortunately for me, I am still way ahead in terms of price since the stands and softboxes are compatible with the AB's.

Anyway, a friend of ours agreed to come over with one of her show dogs and let me try out the lights. This is one of her favorites and she's allowing us to use it on our web gallery. I thought I'd put it up and see what everyone else thinks. One thing I'm not sure of is the crop. I wanted their faces to be the focus, but I'm not entirely comfortable with the way I cropped the Irish Wolfhounds' legs.
Watcha think?
Mike

[gahspidy]

I think the set up looks very good, and this is a great looking image. I do have two nit piks. first, the lighting at the brightest area seems a bit too bright, compared to the rest of the image. I just feel like maybe a slightly more uniform lighting slightly, would enhance a warmer mood. Also, her hair ( maybe it's a combination of her hair type and the contrast between her highlights and the blac bg) looks as if she were cut out of another image and pasted into this bg. I'm thinking that an ever so slight backlighting would soften the edges and give a feathered look to the edges of her hair line.
I do not have a problem with the cropping of the dogs legs, as her legs appear to be cut off,(fade out) as well. It looks consistent and deliberate.
Don't get me wrong, I think this is very good, and praise be due for a good job here. Those issues I brought up are of my opinion only and truly nit piks.
Great work

[AC_Photo]

I've been wondering if anyone would comment about the light on dark. That's partly my fault, as I fiddled with the contrast to make it more black. There's actually more detail to show if I let it. I did have a little trouble with that pink sweater though. The dang thing was too bright compared to Arafel (the dog) so I had to compromise on the exposure in come pictures. The lighting is from two 32x44 inch softboxes turned sideways and something like 40 degrees to either side of them. I don't think I can get any more even. I was please with the amount of shadow that I still got on her face, in spite of the even lighting. Or am I barking up the wrong tree there?

[mpreslar]

The lighting looks great! The only cropping suggestion I would have is to crop it so the faces are a bit further to the left in the frame, maybe by bringing back the dogs legs. I seems a bit close to centered. I also noticed the "cut-out" look, but I understand the compromise that resulted in that effect!

[AC_Photo]

Good point! I meant to ask about that. Either way I'm cutting off legs somewhere, but the reason I did it this way, is the shape of the composition. It more or less forms a neat (not as in cool) triangle this way that I think makes it look balanced. I'm not a believer in the "never center rule", and I think it looks better this way and has less dead space to either side. Comments?

[mpreslar]

I think this part of your post says it all: "I think it looks better this way..." That is, afterall, the most important factor! (in addition to what the client likes, in the case of comercial photography!)

[AC_Photo]

I have to add that it's really great to be able to get feedback from people. I subscribe to another site for photographers, and I've noticed that I pretty much get ignored when I post a picture for critique even while everyone else gets lots of comments. Maybe I'm not considered to be "in" over there yet.

I'll add that I'm completely self-taught, (but a voracious reader and researcher) so I need all the help I can get!

[Lava Lamp]

A while ago I was whining that my continuous lights couldn't do what I wanted. I bought a set of Alien Bees to use instead. Fortunately for me, I am still way ahead in terms of price since the stands and softboxes are compatible with the AB's.

Anyway, a friend of ours agreed to come over with one of her show dogs and let me try out the lights. This is one of her favorites and she's allowing us to use it on our web gallery. I thought I'd put it up and see what everyone else thinks. One thing I'm not sure of is the crop. I wanted their faces to be the focus, but I'm not entirely comfortable with the way I cropped the Irish Wolfhounds' legs.
Watcha think?
Mike

This is a joy. It's why we take pictures. Almost everyone would relate to this, I think.

That makes the cropping secondary, but I would use a square crop like this. It makes a nice triangular composition that works a little better, IMHO.

I know almost nothing about lights, but one thing I would say here is that it seems to me that you might want the light softer on the lady's face, or maybe use a little wider aperture on your lens. Everybody has lines and wrinkles, but most of the ladies I've photographed want them to show a little less.

[AC_Photo]

That crop looks better, but where do you find a frame?

[Lava Lamp]

That crop looks better, but where do you find a frame?

Since medium format prints from a Hasselblad, etc. are often shot in a square format, square frames are not as hard to find as you might think...