My Sister the Rockstar

[Toolz]

So...I was playing with some new/old stuff over the weekend. I recently picked up a few used light stands and a backdrop. I have my PW Flex TT5's, my Metz 58 AF2 and my 580EXII, a Westcott 28 Apollo. That's all I could throw into this experiment that my sister and I thought of...after a few bottles of beer...and whiskey for me. LOL!!

Light set up image is below.


Jazzy Jo setup by JFrancisco Photography, on Flickr

Metz was behind subject set at 1/16th, no modifier
580EXII set at 1/1 in a Westcott 28 Apollo softbox, on a boom, 5'11 above the ground on a 45 degree angle towards the subject


Jazzy Jo by JFrancisco Photography, on Flickr

Image details at:

Shutter Speed: 1/125sec
Aperture: f6.3
Focal Length: 28mm
ISO: 100


Anyway, I just wanted to get your feedback on it. Knowing what I have, how could I have improved on this image? Personally, I wanted more catch light in the sunglasses but I was only working with 2 flashguns and didn't know how to reproduce a brighter "catch" without overexposing too much.

Thanks,
Jeoff

[chopper]

Hey Jeoff,

A good image, and thanks for putting up the diagram for lighting so people can see. I like the shot.

As for any feedback, some minor comments:

- you chose to go wit black as the background. That works with moodier, edgier, shots. Your's is a bit of more rocker-energy. A better color might have helped;
- you lost a lot of hair detail due to the black background and lighting. some tweaking of the angle of the light might have helped.
- your rear light was a little low, causing a shadow across her cheek from her shirt/shoulder;
- as for catchlights, you can make some with a simple lamp pointed in the right direction. Basically, adding very little, if no real lighting, except for a catch light to place in the eyes, glasses.

[Toolz]

Hey Jeoff,

A good image, and thanks for putting up the diagram for lighting so people can see. I like the shot.

As for any feedback, some minor comments:

- you chose to go wit black as the background. That works with moodier, edgier, shots. Your's is a bit of more rocker-energy. A better color might have helped;
- you lost a lot of hair detail due to the black background and lighting. some tweaking of the angle of the light might have helped.
- your rear light was a little low, causing a shadow across her cheek from her shirt/shoulder;
- as for catchlights, you can make some with a simple lamp pointed in the right direction. Basically, adding very little, if no real lighting, except for a catch light to place in the eyes, glasses.

Hi Ed. Thanks for the feedback man! I really appreciate it.

- you chose to go wit black as the background. That works with moodier, edgier, shots. Your's is a bit of more rocker-energy. A better color might have helped -- Yeah. I went with the black background. I didn't have anything else with me. Spur of the moment really. Folks had brought back from the Philippines some gifts and one of them was a bag of cloth backgrounds. Black being one, but very glossy. The others were your standard graduation pic blue/marble background, white and some weird gun metal colour with splattered orange blobs in the middle (/shrug). I went with black instead as my sister is really more into contemporary, acoustics and jazz. So what would you recommend for a better background?

- you lost a lot of hair detail due to the black background and lighting. some tweaking of the angle of the light might have helped -- I realize this after the fact. I lost more than the hair. She's actually wearing a very cool hat/fedora that I wanted captured. If I had maybe brought up the back light more, it would've captured it.

- your rear light was a little low, causing a shadow across her cheek from her shirt/shoulder -- Yeah...see above.

- as for catchlights, you can make some with a simple lamp pointed in the right direction. Basically, adding very little, if no real lighting, except for a catch light to place in the eyes, glasses -- Hmm...damn. I wonder if my super high LED flashlight would've worked. Will have to try next time!!

[chopper]

Nothing wrong with black, but it doesn't add too much to the image. Some colored gels on your flashes might have added some simulated "stage lighting" effects to the background too. For this image, my preference would have been shot outdoors with a blazing red/orange sunset behind her

- you can play with masks and curves and recover some of her hair detail in the final image. Just isolate her hair and adjust without making it look fake.

- your LED would work, but the color temperature would be off i am guessing.

[Toolz]

Interesting idea about the sun being behind her. would the flashguns be powerful enough to fill in the foreground/subject lighting?

Gels...yes. I should pick these up. This would definitely have added a little more colour to the image and would also correct the LED if I had used one.

[chopper]

yes, depending on clouds and how close the flashes were. You could also use the sun as the main light and have the orange sky behind her instead. The normal problem with squinting is eliminated because your subject has sunglasses on, so you can face her towards the sun. Better yet, you'd get a kick ass sun-burst as her catchlights in her glasses.

[Toolz]

Interesting...I will definitely have to try that. Thanks man!