Newby-Needing Suggestions Please!!!!!!

[kalvis917]

Hello All, I am new to this site and also new to photography. My wife & I have just started taking pictures of our friends & they have turned out very nice (outside) and now we want to start taking portraits inside. Our current equipment consists of a Nikon D70 & Nikon
D50. We have a hot shoe and an SB-800 & two 110 watt-second Strobe Light Sets and two backdrops. We have been playing around for a couple days now but still the pictures are not turning out just like I would hope for. Any suggestions on how to position the 2 ligths & the SB-800 to get the best lighting. Here are a couple of test shots. They are not terrible, but I can do much better. I believe these two shots were taken with just the two strobe lights and not the SB-800. Please provide feeback.

Thanks All.

https://home.comcast.net/~alviskv/KMA.htm

[cyberlord]

A couple things will help.

Set your strobes close to the subject at 45 degrees to the subject/lens and either reflect them off or through white flash umbrellas. You can also make a diffuser panel from PVC and white ripstop nylon. The closer the light source to the subject the softer the light will be.

There is probably a difference in temperature between your strobes and your SB-800. I'd get the 800 off the camera and on an optical slave as a gelled (colored) background or gelled (colored) hair light. This will solve incompatible light temperature issues. I'd fire the strobes via cable or some cheap wireless slaves.

You can also use white cardstock/posterboard for reflective fill light under the chin if needed.

Your photo looks a little red (as did mine) and needs a color balance. You can set your camera's color temp, use a RAW converter, or setup an adjustment layer in photoshop to do your color balance. The adjustment layer in Photoshop can be dragged via mouse to other photos and they will all have the same color balance.

Google strobist and see what turns up.

Tim

[yogestee]

Hi kalvis,,,,,the most important thing to remember is to keep things simple...I have seen too many studio portraits ruined by over lighting meaning too many light sources..In most cases one can get away with only one light source and a reflector...Anything white will do,,sheet of polystyrene or core board will do fine..

You can angle the light source at any angle to the subject but around 45 degrees is good and slightly higher than eye level to the subject..Place your flash around 2 to 3 meters away from your subject if you are shooting head and shoulders..Including a reflector on the opposite side of your main light source will add a touch of "fill" to the lighting set up..You can move the reflector back and forwards from your subject to increase or decrease the effect of the fill..The nearer the subject the stronger the fill will be..

I like to bounce my flash out of a "brolly" to get a softer more even lighting effect,,,your SB-800 will do the job here..The SB-800 can be triggered via a simple slave or flash lead..

Experimenting with a hair light is a good idea too but hairlights can look terrible if the placement or the strength is wrong..Hairlights can be difficult to control..A good rule of thumb here is to place the hairlight on the opposite side of the mainlight above the and to the rear of the subject..Hairlight power has to be adjusted for hair colour...Stronger for dark hair,,weaker for blondes..Be careful the hair light doesn't spill onto the subect's face..A condensed light source is best here..Use a "snoot" which is in effect a cone that slips over your flash head,,,easily made with a piece of black card board..

I have attached an image of our daughter shot with only one light source...I bounced my Canon 580EX out of a 40" brolly at around 15 degrees and just above the subject triggered via a Canon ST-E2 flash transmitter,,no reflector or hairlight...Simple lighting but effective...Some pundants will say the lighting is a tad flat but this image was shot for Cheridan's CV so I didn't want anything too fancy,,,just keeping things simple..

Jurgen
Australia

[kalvis917]

Thank you both for the suggestions. I really appreciate it. I think I will try the one light and see how it turns out. I will take some photos and post. I really like the picture of your daughter, it looks Great. My wife and I will be very happy if our pictures turn out that well. Thanks Once Again. Kevin

[kalvis917]

If you get a chance again, please review the page listed below and share your thoughts. I belive it is much better than the first one I did. I used an SB-800 mounted on my D50 and then used two umbrellas on each side of me. This is still not as crisp and clear as the above picture, but I am getting there. Thanks


https://home.comcast.net/~alviskv/KMA.htm

[yogestee]

Kalvis,,,,,a little better...You need to get in closer to your subject and use a small tele lens (what lens did you use here??)...I would try using only one umbrella at around 45 degree off axis from your subject...Also it appears the mainlight was placed a bit too high leaving bags under the eyes..

Keep experimenting,,,you are doing great..

Jurgen

[kalvis917]

Thanks, I thought it better than the last. I am still amazed by your picture. This is where my wife & I would like to be at. I am using the Nikon D50 with 18-50mm lens. My other lens is a 70-300mm. These are the only two lenses that we have. Would you suggest just using the sb-800 and bouncing it off the umbrella, or using the sb800 to trigger the umbrella? Thanks Sooooo Much for your advise. Kevin

[kalvis917]

O.K., I have added 3 more pictures. One is really close, using the 70-300mm lens. Let me know what you think. Still not as crisp & clean. I appreciate your thoughts.

https://home.comcast.net/~alviskv/KMA.htm

[yogestee]

Thanks, I thought it better than the last. I am still amazed by your picture. This is where my wife & I would like to be at. I am using the Nikon D50 with 18-50mm lens. My other lens is a 70-300mm. These are the only two lenses that we have. Would you suggest just using the sb-800 and bouncing it off the umbrella, or using the sb800 to trigger the umbrella? Thanks Sooooo Much for your advise. Kevin

Kevin,,I would suggest only using your SB-800 bounced out of an umbrella...Do some simple tests like moving the SB-800 plus umbrella through say 15,30,45 and 90 degrees off axis from the subject and check out the effects...You will notice the more frontal the lighting the less contrasty it is...That is to say the more frontal the "flatter" the result..At 90 degrees off axis the side of the face where the lighting is should be well lit,,the opposite side should be totally in shadow...Now try adding a reflector to bounce light back into the shadows...This will add some fill to the lighting..

Jurgen

[yogestee]

O.K., I have added 3 more pictures. One is really close, using the 70-300mm lens. Let me know what you think. Still not as crisp & clean. I appreciate your thoughts.

https://home.comcast.net/~alviskv/KMA.htm

Kevin,,,,as vast improvement over the first image you posted...In the first image (the tighter one) is well lit...You will notice some modelling effect meaning the right hand (as we view) is a touch lighter than the left hand side and this is the effect we are trying to achieve..

One important thing,,always focus on the eye lashes of the subject..The eyes MUST be sharp to in a successful portrait..

Jurgen

[kalvis917]

Thank You much for the advise. I really appreciate it. As time goes on, I'll be posting new images. I will eventually get there, just takes time. Thanks Once Again.