2nd go with my strobes ...

[WsW-WYATT-EARP]

Well I learned quite a bit from my last time shooting with my strobes (distance from bg / shutter speed sync / smaller dof ) - I got my cousin to let me shoot him yesterday for a class assignment. He does triathlons so I included his bike and went for a dramatic lighting.

Any comments - good / bad - things to try - things to stay away from ... would be greatly appreciated ...

thanks !
Ben

here is one of the best ones I got .... I will post some of the others when I edit them - just minor level adjustments and a bit of saturation -

[Asylum Steve]

Any comments - good / bad - things to try - things to stay away from ... would be greatly appreciated ...

Great looking shot, Ben. IMO, close to advert quality. And while it's tough to be super critical of web shots looking at a monitor, from what I see, I have a few comments.

One, the top tube of the bike (and top of the seat tube) is a bit hot. That's a tought one to control without photoshop.

Also, I'd like to see a little more seperation of his head (ooh, that sounds painful!). From the bg that is. You made nice use of the side light on the right. Maybe aim it up a little higher and move it more to the back to give a more noticable rim effect on his head.

Finally, it looks like you intentionally positioned your subject's head so there would be no reflection in his glasses. In these kinds of stylish shots, it's often looks very cool to see the large catchlight in the sunglasses. So don't be afraid to let that show. Here it almost looks like his face is in darkness a bit too much in an effort to hide any reflections.

Still, overall, well done...

[gahspidy]

I agree, this looks real fine to me, Ben. My first thought was as Steve noted about the light on the right side of his face being moved up higher and aiming down to catch more of the top of the head to bring it out of the dark. Personally, the hot area at top of the tube does not bother me and gives the feel of the steel/alloy texture. I guess it is a bit too bright, but on metal like that for me it seems to be one of those things that can slide. I would imagine it would be very hard to control that.
btw, those poles you linked me to from Harborfreight are working out great.
Looking good, Ben

[MJS]

I 'm going with Steve on the rim light look, maybe just a little more around the right back to bring his head off the BG a bit.

Cool shot.

Hey Steve, don't forget to give me a call to plan a lunch or dinner. Don't forget, you can make use of a pair of AB1600's plus some umbrellas and or a 48 inch Octobox if you need them while down here.

[WsW-WYATT-EARP]

I really appreciate the comments and critiques here. I knew I had to get some lighting on his backside to seperate him from the bg (rim lighting) - I need to get a snoot or grid to get that effect (at the moment I only have 2 umbrellas - shoot through and reflected) I ended up using my speedlight with a bounce card to keep the light from coming to the camera.

I agree with getting a light in the glasses - even without his glasses the catchlight is not in the eye (10 oclock position) it is further out in the white. I had him too far forward.

As far as the hot top tube - I seen it blown out in camera but it didn't look too bad. So I kept it and kinda torn on it. Maybe I will try and tone it back a bit in ps and see what it looks like.


Thanks again for taking the time here with this shot - I really appreciate it.

Glad to hear them b/g poles are working out for ya Gary!