Mesmerized

[Photo-John]

Is it just me, or does this girl have awesome eyes?

Think I'm gonna be branching out a little from just mountain bikes.

This was taken on location, with a white seamless and two 550 EX flashes with softboxes on stands, triggered by PocketWizards. The 550s did pretty well for what they are, but I'd rather have used my Photoflex hot lights with the 4 foot softboxes. I'm definitely feeling inspired, though. This was an experiment, set up by my friend, Johnny, at his hair salon. I've been wanting to do something new for a while. And lighting has always been something I've avoided. But if Johnny can keep setting me up with good models, I think I might find it worth my effort

[MJS]

Hey P.J., do you remenber what aperture you shot at. Nice and crisp on the eyes, yet a little soft on the hair at the top. If you are shooting for a hair guy, you might need more juice, or tighter light placement to get a smaller number and slightly better depth. Could be important for him to see his work.

Just a thought.
MJS

[Peter_AUS]

Hey Photo-John,

These are the type of results I have gotten from my 550EX and Sunpak 5000AF using umbrellas.

The lighting is harsh and also the main isn't high enough over the model, looking at the shadow falling across the face from her nose, should be more downwards at 45degree angle.

Also I think you could do a lot with the shot, adjust the levels, contrast up a little and Saturation up a little as well. Just a little unsharpen mask brings the eyes and hair out a little more.

She has dreamy eyes, but her lips need some lippy on there as well, looks very pale in contrast to the rest of her skin. Also the gap in the teeth and gap in the lips is a little distracting as well (just my opinion though).

Gee you have some good friends and connections.

The second one with the mask, she is too close to the background and therefore the distracting shadow, lighting again is similar to the first.

[Photo-John]

I agree with all the lighting advice. I was pretty limited by space and the lights I was using. But the levels and saturation are more a matter of personal taste. I actually desaturated these and lowered the contrast on purpose. And I did sharpen them, but not very much. I wanted to keep the skin smooth and soft-looking so I sacrificed a little on the eyes, I guess.

I definitely have a lot to learn with this stuff. I'll play with the 550s some more, but I think I'd rather just use the big lights. They have a much softer, smoother quality. And I think her face would benefit from softer light.

Oh yeah, I like the gap in her teeth, too :-)

[mtbbrian]

You Go John!
Good photo too...
;)

[Asylum Steve]

Pretty good attempt, John...

Yeah, as Peter points out, there's a definite harshness to your lighting, and a bit of an awkward "butterfly" effect from having the lights cross, the height of and quite possibly the width (or broadness) of your key.

You don't say how big your softboxes are, but if they're small, as most portable flash boxes are, it's almost the same as working with floods, making it very challenging to get a soft flattering light effect across your model's face, especially when you have one light on each side.

Most folks new to working wth studio lights place the key way too low, and if it's a small light, then it's even more apparent. Higher and broader (umbrella, larger softbox) is the way to go...

If you want to work with the smaller flashes, you should consider using them both together, either on one side, or even both in front together higher up. Then use a reflector as fill, either on the opposite side, or beneath. This will gve you a much better balance and softer ratio with better shadows.

Now I'm not saying a specular quality to any of your lights is bad. Far from it. But in this case the overall shot has a little (IMO) too much of that quality and it almost is as if you used shoplights.

I also agree with Peter that you should bring her away from the bg more. This way, the shadows won't fall on it. The bg will go to a light to medium gray and provide better contrast to her hair and skin. If you really want the bg white, it would be better to use a third light and light it seperately.

Great eyes? Perhaps. I don't really like the makeup much, so it's a little hard to tell. Then again, harsh lighting will almost always degrade the subtlety of good makeup, so perhaps that's what happened here. In any event, I'm sure they can be emphasized more, and her overall look improved with stronger styling and softer light.

To me the teeth are ok, but she needs to do a little more with her mouth and expressions. Of course that's a whole nother kettle of fish, and not at all related to the lighting.

BTW, with tigher shots such as face and headshots, if you raise the camera position a bit, your model's face and neck will elongate and look cleaner and smoother as they raise their chin to look at the camera.

BTW2, the answer to your sharpening dilemma is to use "selective" sharpening, normally on the eyes, lips, and hair (leaving the skin softer). It's pretty easily done with masking and painting in with a small soft brush.

Kid, we think you got potential. Can't wait to see more..

Oh, one last thing: does your model have a name?

[Photo-John]

I was working with a pretty limited space, and with someone else's direction. Some of the problems - lighting and shadow, were due to the space and what the other people were asking for. I told them that next time I want to use a real studio space.

Makeup, well, that wasn't under my control. It's not what I would have chosen. Same with the clothes in the first photo.

I like the idea of using both lights on one side. The background isn't really a problem because I just use Photoshop to get it white - that's what I did here. I left the shadow in the one because I kinda liked it, and because it would have been more trouble than it was worth to remove it. I'm also used to my big hot lights, where I can see all the shadows. It's so easy to move them a few inches and change the look because I can see the change. Not so easy to do that with the flash. Although digital makes it easy to check. I just have to look harder at what's actually happening. There are a of details to keep straight! I guess I have an unconscious method for keeping track of the details when I'm shooting mountain biking. I'll have to work on it with the studio stuff, though.

Thanks for all the feedback. I am excited about doing this stuff and am listening intently to all criticism.

[maplegirlie]

Nice work John.

I'm curious to know why a white background was chosen (by the client I assume) on the one where she's wearing a mask and a black shirt. Are they going to superimpose her on some other type of background?

To me, those two props -- black mask and see-thru shirt -- suggest moods you'd find in a dimly lit place like an alley or a nightclub, around Halloween, on Cat Woman prancing around Gotham City or on a jewel theif sneaking about in the wee hours.

So to dress her in that outfit and then put her on a white background and light her up seems a little contradictory. But maybe that's just my dark mood this evening.

I'm not crazy about something going on with her mouth but I can't pinpoint it. Maybe she needs some color/moisture as someone else suggested.

This is supposed to be about HAIR, right?



If that's true, then her mouth & eyes seem to be stealing the show. Can you make her hair shinier?

Thanks for the look. You've gotten our attention. ;-)

I love faces! Good job.

[natatbeach]

one down ...a fe thousand more to go...yeah I'm so excited you venture away from dirt
;)

I think she has beautiful eyes but too many elements keep me from focusing on them...will leave the advice to experts but I think a lot of what Steve said about the make up and expresiions I ahve to agree with....


yeah for tryingnew stuff.