Last night I met with three other members of my photography group to shoot smoke trails. It was the first time I’ve ever done it. Aside from nearly getting smoked out of our leader’s garage studio, we had a great time. The first two were shot using my Speedlite. The others were shot using Michael’s studio strobe (after Susan let me use one of her Pocket Wizards).
I had the house to myself last night, so you know what that means! I was looking to explore broad soft lighting but at the same time decided to try shooting myself in a ball cap, just to see what challenges the brim would provide.
Ah! Lipstick! Better…
One, sans cap. Pretty pink nails.
And one with Nina, for fun. She was squirmy and didn’t cooperate for the timer!
Last Wednesday night was the last night of our three-session portraiture class. After critiquing our fluorescent lighting homework, we turned to playing in the studio. Previously, we’d asked Jeff to give us some tips on lighting, how to work with different facial structures, etc. We did some work with fluorescent, direct, diffused, and reflected lighting.
Here are some of my shots taken that night. I’m sorry that it looks like the class was mostly men. Our class actually had five men and four women. I was holding reflector cards when one of the other women was being shot. Others took my photo but I have none of those. Female #4 didn’t get a chance to be photographed, and only one of us photographed male #5.
Whaddaya nuts? At least, that’s what we were all thinking when Jeff Ross challenged us to use fluorescent lighting for a portrait as our final assignment.
So I did a little Googling and saw that it could be done, and in fact, fluorescent lights can create a soft light that wraps nicely. I learned that I’d have to account for a couple of things. One would think getting the white balance right would be the biggest challenge but that was easily taken care of using the fluorescent light setting on my camera, shooting one image with a gray card and tweaking the white balance adjustment in Bridge. The bigger challenge is the flicker of the fluorescent light and the site I found said that could be taken care of by making sure my shutter speed was at 1/125s. That would mean a higher ISO and wider aperture, but okay. Doable.
I picked up a simple 48″ double fluorescent shop lamp (with plug) and two T8 bulbs. Cost: around $22. I chained the fixture to a lighting stand, and at first had it positioned vertically, to see what it would do. I rolled out my white backdrop, positioned a large white poster board for a little fill to the subject’s right (camera left) and started shooting. Most were shot between 640 and 800 ISO (a few at 400), f/4 and f/5.6. All at 1/125s. In Photoshop I tweaked the curves a bit, and used the unsharp mask filter ever so slightly, if needed. That was it.
Kind of dramatic, but not what I had in mind…
I wasn’t crazy about the way the light was falling so I used the boom arm of the light stand to position the fluorescent shop lamp at about a 45-degree angle to camera right and just in front of me (and just out of frame). The critters wanted to get in on the act, and Sweetie even volunteered to sit too (Jack Daniels and all).
So there you go.
I haven’t forgotten any of you, but I haven’t been able to visit any of your blogs in the past few days. Wednesday night was the second night of our portraiture class, and last night I went to my first meet and greet with a group of northern Nevada photographers. Between that and work and something else that you will hear about soon, I’ve been up to my eyeballs. For now, here are a couple of photos from Wednesday night. I still have more from the shoot to process, but aforementioned life is getting in the way.
I’m taking a portrait lighting class on Wednesday nights (just three sessions) through the Nevada Museum of Art. We were given the option of shooting someone with a single continuous light source (direct, diffused, and reflected). I gave it a go using some lights I haven’t used in awhile (no flash, no umbrellas, etc). The results were mixed.
Diffused light.
This one is my favorite. I used my humble little cheapie soft box (Cowboy Studio) to camera right at about a 45-degree angle to Sweetie. No fill on this one. I like the shape of his face in this one, and his very strong jaw line is clear. Nice catch light in his eyes.
Same light with a bit of reflected fill on the left. Not crazy about what happened to his jaw on the left, but I think it’s because he’s a bit scrunched. He tends to do that sometimes and I just didn’t catch it this time.
Reflected light.
I sat Sweetie near the wall with a white muslin backdrop, clamped a shop lamp onto the back of a tall chair and shined it onto the white backdrop. I was definitely handicapping myself with this light, but I made a point to go “old school.” That is, I wanted to use the same lighting I was using way back when I first started my lighting class at UNR last spring. So, shop lamp it was.
Light reflecting from the right, fill on left provided by white foam board (handheld by your humble photographer).
Reflected light, no fill.
I had Sweetie turn his head a bit to get more light on his face. Fill on left with same white foam board.
Direct light.
One thing I learned? Sweetie does not look very appealing in direct light. He does not have the kind of chiseled features that this kind of lighting would accentuate. Frankly, most people don’t look good in it, and that’s why I tend to reserve it for creating rim lighting or lighting a backdrop.
This one was my best one of the batch, and for me it’s definitely “Meh.” Like I said, I can see how this kind of light could be used for great effect, but on Sweetie’s face, not so much. Then again, maybe I just didn’t manipulate the light source enough. And yes, I used the same shop lamp for the direct light shots too.
Another one that’s not horrible, but really, can you see that direct light is just not for him? He shines like crazy and every wrinkle is accentuated. His face is too soft and kind for this kind of treatment.
So far I’m enjoying the class (after just one session). Some of it is information I’ve already gotten before, and some information is new to me. The people in the class are all about my age (some younger, some older), all with a passion for photography. Tonight we’ll have models in studio to shoot, and I can’t wait!
Another photo from my “Nina shoot” a couple of days ago. She’s conked out next to me right now. Love this little doggy! Now, if I could just get Buddy to pose for me!
Maya nibbles . . .
Carissa Snedeker Photography 