GPoyner Loc: North Dakota

I'm taking a personal dive into posting some self portraits - now I'm looking for C&C on the lighting aspect of the portraits, nothing else.

Yes - I just took my hair out of a pony tail, I am wearing no makeup (I usually don't), my skin is porous, skin tone is uneven, there are some wrinkles (ok maybe a lot) and I appear to still get those darn zits we all thought would disappear as we got older.

I am trying to get a grasp on using lighting for portraits and since both of the kids are off doing their thing I could no longer make an excuse on not trying. And thus I became my own test subject!

I used my SB600 with a soft box (one that attaches to the lens via Velcro), the flash was mounted on a small tripod that was set up on the dresser in TTL mode.

My camera settings (I just realized my ISO setting - ugh! I did not change it from a theater shot)

ISO - 800
S/S - 250 (no wonder I had to up my shutter speed to get a decent light, my ISO was way too high)
f2.0

The questions are as follow:

How is the lighting?
Are these pictures workable, in the sense you could do something with them?
Did my high ISO kill it?
Any Pointers?

I should note - that as of right now this is my hobby, with yes possibly helping some kids with senior/audition pictures. I have been looking at getting another flash (but it would have to be an off brand per say...not Nikon), along with some umbrellas and reflectors. But budget wise - $200 would be my top, and getting something I could break just taking out of the box is not what I am aiming for; so I shall wait for the extras.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I have gone on strobis and goggled lighting - but it is actually getting into the field and doing it that I am trying now.

Thank you GPoyner

Light off to my left angled down at me about 45 degrees slightly in front


Light off to my left going straight out in front of me

CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver

You have the right idea, but the light is awfully hard. A larger soft box, a second flash roughly over the lens (at a lower power and with a soft box - to act as fill, or a reflector over to camera-left would help soften things. Better yet, all three!

While the light is not too low, it would benefit from being just a touch higher.

This lighting would work OK on a man, but for women, it is far to harsh and unflattering.

For indoor portrait work, if you are stuck with one flash, at least use a reflector to soften shadows a bit.

The style of lighting here is certainly one style, but if it is your only style, you are in trouble as this is not the best light for a female portrait.

Your soft box is either too small or too far away (or both). For beginning portraits I would suggest umbrellas. They are cheap, easy to set up, and their biggest fault (inability to control light) is there biggest advantage to beginners (not too picky on how they are aimed). And they do give you a nice, soft light. For location head shots, I use umbrellas and I have LOTS of cool softboxes in multiple sizes.

Keep at it. There is no substitute for practice and critique.

greg vescuso Loc: Ozark,Mo.

This is the same thing Cliff told me. Get a umbrella a shoot thru is easy to get started with and use only one flash at first. I tried using two flashes at first and I just got confused, using only one flash made it easier to deal with and be able to see the results from any adjustment I made. Your off to a good start and I hope you have fun.

kubota king Loc: NW , Pa.

I downloaded a copy of both , and used photoshop to make them both useable if they were mine . I have 12yrs experience using PS and reworking photos , so it was easy for me . Some may not agree , and tell you to reshoot . Tommy

GPoyner Loc: North Dakota

Thanks Captain C, I'll try again - am I correct to say this was more broad lighting then short?

I do agree with getting the umbrellas and reflectors, I'm trying to work with what I have first and not go overboard - as I did in my daughter's headshot.

The soft box is small I suppose - not the smallest you can get but is small compared to what you would get with an actual set up.

I'll reposition the light and work with what I have right now.

Thank you
GPoyner

GPoyner Loc: North Dakota

I also tried to do a headshot with all sorts of lighting, did not come out the greatest, so now I'm playing with one light. Thanks for the encouragement....GPoyner

GPoyner Loc: North Dakota

Thanks but my goal here is not to make the photo usable with pp, but to understand and get the lighting right. Unless I understand the lighting aspect so I have a photo that is worthy of my time to pp. GPoyner

CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver

I'm sure you can "fix" them, but she wants to learn how to light, not repair what should have been done correctly in the first place.

PalePictures Loc: Traveling

One other note to add to what Cliff(CaptanC) said on the lighting.
This is not a lighting issue but a camera setting one.

I would try to close my aperture to around F8 if possible.
F2.0 is really too open to shoot self portraits.
I am really surprised you were able to get one eye in focus without having someone else focus the shot for you.

Shooting at f2.0 can work when your a good ways back frm your subject. The closer you are the lower the depth of field(provided the aperture does not change). Look very close at your teeth. Compare the sharpness of your eyes to each other. It looks like your DOF is about an inch or less.

CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver

Short lighting will have the face turned more toward the light so that the ear facing the camera is in shadow. Here, you are facing the camera pretty much square. So yes, more broad, but almost split light.

GPoyner Loc: North Dakota

Thanks for the tip, I was trying to accomplish too much at once, getting the background to be out of the dof and trying to learn lighting

I am also surprised that I was able to get the focus as good as I did with f2 and just using my remote. I did focus in the sense of half pressing the shutter and then using the remote to actually take the picture.

I seem to keep trying to jump in the middle of the game versus starting from the beginning and going slow.

I'm going to try and just do some simple bounce flash and then adjust the position of the flash with the soft box - sadly we don't have any true camera stores in town to where I can pick up any other equipment (Bob's carry's very little in the means of accessories, it is mostly on line).

Right now I'm sticking with TTL mode, until I get a better understanding of the light and how to modify it with position. I have to keep myself from playing in manual and then forget what I did to produce the effect. Or should I just jump in with both feet and put it all on manual?

I greatly appreciate your input...thank you GPoyner

GPoyner Loc: North Dakota

Good to know....I do greatly appreciate you taking the time to comment. Thank you GPoyner

GPoyner Loc: North Dakota

So I tried again this afternoon, this time I went back to the beginning.

So I know that these are not technically good portraits, but again I'm just working with the light here and seeing if I am actually grasping the right concept.

I took about 70 photos - I tried to write down what I changed and did for each photo. I realized that I really need to get some transmitters so I'm not limited with my sync cord with my light on a small tripod and camera on another. Along with if I'm going to do this right, I really need to actually buy something!

So I played with TTL bounce, then added a white foam board for bounce. Next I switched and added the softbox to my flash at first with TTL (way to dark) and then switched to manual (which I should have tried when I bounced) and added the foam board for bounce.

The bounce is to dark, but then again I didn't try it in manual - which I should have.

The soft box, as Captain said is harsh - I played with it in manual and then all heck brock loose - I was switching the zoom, exposure comp, and power strength. Needless to say I have a lot to learn and I may be trying to do something impossible with what I currently have in possession.

Camera settings where:

Photo 1 - F8 - iso 400 - 250 (I wonder if I lowered the shutter speed if that would have made a difference in flash output when I was in TTL)
Photo 2 - F8 - iso 400 - 125 (I switched the shutter speed since at first I was getting dark photos with the softbox, which I should have switched back when I was playing with the flash strength and probably why some of them became blown out)

I appreciate everyone's input and advice, please feel free to knock holes in my above assumptions and statements.

I will hopefully get this right before to long.

Thank you GPoyner

TTL - Bounce off Ceiling - Foam Board on lap


Manual - wide adapter down - forgot to write down settings

CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver

I am busy right now, but here is one thing you need to know. The shutter speed has NOTHING to do with the flash exposure. The shutter ONLY controls ambient light. So as long as it is short enough to kill the ambient and below the sync speed (If in high speed sync, even that does not matter) you can ignore the shutter speed. ALL that matters for exposure is your aperture and the output of the flash(es). 1/60, 1/125, 1/25o...does not matter.

This is important to understand because it allows you to balance flash with ambient. Balance flash output, ISO, shutter, and aperture. You have heard of the "exposure triangle? This is the exposure square.

Your camera appears a bit too high...or you are too low. :-)

GPoyner Loc: North Dakota

That is good to know, I knew shutter speed had something to do with the light - but it makes more sense that it only effects the ambient light, thus how you can achieve the effects in your outdoor photos (particularly the hurdler).

Sorry to take up your time in setting me straight.

So I should have turned to manual for bounce and then adjusted the flash output or I could have changed my aperture or my ISO. Same concept in the sense when I take photos of the Ballet productions. I think I am making this harder then I need to.

Thanks for the help...GPoyner