tainkc Loc: Kansas City

The first photo is of my 4 year old granddaughter taken on 27, January using natural light through a patio door and a 3 light overhead ceiling lamp (all incandescent) as the hair light. Not yet photoshoped other than to change the background and crop to an 8x10 format. Taken with a Sony A77 M2 using a very expensive 25-50mm F2.8 lens with which I am NOT too happy with. Settings are as follows: ISO 320 @ 100th sec. F2.8. I took several shots, liking this one the best.

The second photo is of my wife with absolutely no photoshopping yet other than to once again, crop to an 8x10 format. ISO 100 @ 1/50 sec. F2.8. I will do some adjusting such as to do something about the lower eye shadow and maybe correct the lighting somewhat and perhaps, sharpen. Which, by the way, was all natural light from an east facing picture window; nothing else. I do know better than to remove any wrinkles. As is, these photos are good enough for whom they are, which is me. However, I am never satisfied with as is.

Now then, the reason I am posting here is because these are the accumulation of learning from Captain C. and a few others on this forum. I also learned to use any available light from a man who is a professional photographer who travels worldwide and carries no lighting equipment whatsoever. He will look over his setting and then go to a local big box store or hardware store and pick up what he needs from there. He shoots for most major magazines. Most of his stuff appears on the covers of these magazines. He keeps things very simple.

I now do an occasional upper body shot for women realtors for their signs that they put out front of the properties they are showing. I get paid well for those. For those people, I usually take an octa softbox along with a rectangular softbox using speedlights to wherever they are.

Still learning.

Horseart Loc: Alabama

Looking good Tom! The granddaughter is a beauty and I think she looks like Julie! Hope you are all doing well!

tainkc Loc: Kansas City

Wow! I am sure glad to hear from you, Jo! Thank you! Yeah, she has those yes and unfortunately, she is full to the top with her mother. Lol.

wilikioti Loc: Deep South, USA

Two beautiful girls!

DebAnn Loc: Toronto

They are both lovely shots - well done!

tainkc Loc: Kansas City

Thank you!

tainkc Loc: Kansas City

Thanks! I appreciate your comment.

Naptown Gaijin

Photo 1 is superb. Granddaughter can be a model. Lighting on photo 1 is perfect.
Photo 2 lighting perhaps a bit too bright and direct.

tainkc Loc: Kansas City

That was kind of what I was thinking for #2. That can be fixed in photoshop or even lightroom. Thank you for commenting.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

No doubt, these are lovely subjects and you have captured good expressions.

What I would liik to help you with is better lighting and the good news is, if you are into natural lighting and don't want to get into a truckload of gear or just limit yourself to a single softbox and a reflector or two, you can still produce high-quality
portraiture.

It is best not to mix daylight and incandescent lights. Simple window light from a window with northern exposure can provide an excellent light source. A 24-inch softbox on a mono-light can simulate window light.

With window light, since you can't move the light source around, you need to move the subject into the existing lighting pattern. If you have the opportunity to study the basic classical portrait lightings, such as butterfly, modified butterfly (loop) lighting, Rembrandt lighting, and split lighting- you can create most of these with a window as described or a single diffused light source. If you move the subject away from the wall, the background can go naturally darker. You can use drapes as barn doors and a simple reflector can provide fill light.

PhotoShop or other post-processing programmes can be applied to portraiture especially in retouching of blemishes and smoothing but lighting aesthetics and background management are best addressed when shooting.

Posing, camera position are also elements to study, practice and improve on.

I'll attach an image that was done strictly with window light. I was shooting something else and had no portrait gear with me. I made a reflector out of a crushed and re-expanded sheet of aluminum foil stretched over a piece of cardboard. The background was the wind drapes pulled sideways.

When analyzing a lighting form, look at the shadow projected from the nose and the catch-lights in the eyes- those are some of the "landmarks" to guide you.

In a more complex studio-like situation you can add a hair light but it has to be the same color temperature as the window light or the strobe in the softbox and care has to be taken that the hair light does not spill onto the subject's forehead or the mask of the face.

Keep up the practice and post again whenever you like. We are pleased to provide you with critiques, tips and answer whatever questions you may have.

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tainkc Loc: Kansas City

Thank you very much for taking the time to comment and offer your advice. I shall use it. And yes, I saw straight away that the incandescent lights wreaked havoc against the natural light. And yeah, I will grab whatever I can to make a reflector. I have even used windshield covers. Oh, and feel free to critique me any time I make a post. After all Once again, thank you., this is a learning forum.

Rob48 Loc: Portland, ME

Nicely done, Tom.

tainkc Loc: Kansas City

Thanks, Rob, but I do think the one of my wife is a little harsh with the lighting. I could probably tone it down some, but I would rather start with a fresh shot keeping in mind to tone down the hard lighting from within the camera.

Rob48 Loc: Portland, ME

I see your point.