At Home Photo Studio (Page 2): Thank you,so many things to learn. I also have to get some brighter bulbs for my umbrella stands, I don't think those I have are bright enough. Do you...

toptrainer Loc: Wellington

Thank you,so many things to learn. I also have to get some brighter bulbs for my umbrella stands, I don't think those I have are bright enough. Do you have a suggestion what wattage I should go?

berchman wrote:

TopTrainer, you're not asking about this, but in your low key portrait, the nose should not be outside of the edge of the cheek in a 3/4 pose. The head should be turned a little more to the subject's right.

toptrainer Loc: Wellington

I also need a brighter light, any you can suggest? Can I buy in my local store.

berchman wrote:

TopTrainer, you're not asking about this, but in your low key portrait, the nose should not be outside of the edge of the cheek in a 3/4 pose. The head should be turned a little more to the subject's right.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

GoofyNewfie wrote:

I think I hear Barry White.

and CaptainC for "Well...not THAT low."

Interesting isn't it that we all remember Barry White (1944 - 2003) for his ultra low voice. We have all heard of the horse whisperer; well little known is that Barry White was an Elephant whisperer. Barry White having a huge barrel like chest, resonating like elephants, surly went as low as 12 Hz more than 3 octaves below a typical man's voice. Long live his romantic music.

Back to the subject, it is threads like this one that are such great exchanges of practical wisdom of photographic how-to. I will copy down this one and add to my archive in doc file under... Photo light. Thank you TopTrainer for asking and the rest for your contributions of knowhow.

toptrainer Loc: Wellington

OK thank you for the history lesson :-) but, I still need to know what light to buy. Does anybody know what I should get.

dpullum wrote:

quote=GoofyNewfie I think I hear Barry White. /q... (show quote)

toptrainer Loc: Wellington

OK thank you for the history lesson :-) but, I still need to know what light to buy. Does anybody know what I should get.

dpullum wrote:

quote=GoofyNewfie I think I hear Barry White. /q... (show quote)

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

toptrainer wrote:

OK thank you for the history lesson :-) but, I still need to know what light to buy. Does anybody know what I should get.

Sorry for the off topic detour ( but I really did hear Barry White- guest voice on the Simpsons as I wrote it)
I don't use continous light, but it seems to be the current trend. Be interesting to hear the recommendations

toptrainer Loc: Wellington

So you just use flash, 2 should do the trick yes?

GoofyNewfie wrote:

toptrainer wrote:

OK thank you for the history lesson :-) but, I still need to know what light to buy. Does anybody know what I should get.

Sorry for the off topic detour ( but I really did hear Barry White- guest voice on the Simpsons as I wrote it)
I don't use continous light, but it seems to be the current trend. Be interesting to hear the recommendations

CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver

Based on what I have seen, you do NOT need more light. Just bump the ISO to 200 for the equivalent of twice the light. Or to 400 for 4X the light. With today's cameras, 400ISO should still give you a noise-free image.
Bonus - it is free!

toptrainer Loc: Wellington

The problems is with the first picture i had the light close to her shadowy side and it did not light her.

CaptainC wrote:

Based on what I have seen, you do NOT need more light. Just bump the ISO to 200 for the equivalent of twice the light. Or to 400 for 4X the light. With today's cameras, 400ISO should still give you a noise-free image.
Bonus - it is free!

CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver

toptrainer wrote:

The problems is with the first picture i had the light close to her shadowy side and it did not light her.

CaptainC wrote:

Based on what I have seen, you do NOT need more light. Just bump the ISO to 200 for the equivalent of twice the light. Or to 400 for 4X the light. With today's cameras, 400ISO should still give you a noise-free image.
Bonus - it is free!

If the lights are the same power, and you have the light that you do on the camera right side, but the light at camera left did not light her enough, then the light was too far away.

It sounds like these lights are just bulbs with no output control - a tough way to light since you have to move lights to vary exposure, but moving the lights also changes the quality of the light.

toptrainer Loc: Wellington

What I had was a flash on the right side of that picture and a light in the left

CaptainC wrote:

quote=toptrainer The problems is with the first p... (show quote)

Shakey Loc: Traveling again to Norway and other places.

Danilo wrote:

In the specific example you posted (your next phot... (show quote)

So right! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

mtnredhed Loc: The part of NorCal that doesn't move

Check out "Light: Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting". Great book

CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver

OK - full explanations at the start would help. You said you HAD a flash, not that you were USING a flash and where it was placed.

First - mixing flash and continuous is possible, of course, but not a great idea, IMO. If you want to use the Canon eTTL (a decent system for getting good exposure) then you MUST NOT use any continuous lights as those will interfere with the eTTL system.
I have said this before on this forum MANY times: if you want to do studio lighting, get an incident light meter - one that is also a flash meter. You can fuss around shooting and moving lights, shoot/move/shoot/move, or you can meter the lighting and get what you want with the first shot. Or at least REALLY close.
There are TONS of books on lighting available from Amherst Media. Look that up, and buy some. That will be far more helpful than asking questions on a forum. Then after you take some images, you can post some here.

To answer your specific question - I have no idea what light to buy.

MS

toptrainer wrote:

Thank you, how is this one I took the other day?

CaptainC wrote:

toptrainer wrote:

I am very new at photography, I am able to take go... (show quote)

OK - This lighting requires a dark background. Few things worse than a wrinkled white background anyway. If you go white it must be with no detail.

I'll come back to that. I think the lights are perfect for what we would call a low-key image. That is one in which there are relatively dark shadows - BUT it needs a dark background. Looking at the nose shadow, I think your main light is about the right spot. You could do with a small amount of fill close to the camera and just a bit higher than the lens. This needs to be a stop maybe stop and a half less light than the fill as measured AT the subject. Just enough to soften the shadows a bit and put some catchlight in her eyes. A reflector over to camera left and no more than about 30 degrees or so off the camera-to-subject axis could also work well. In any case, a fill light never casts any shadows, that is the job of the main light.

You have what is known as a mixed-key image - subject and lighting is low-key, background is high key. Not a horrible thing, but one should know the rules before breaking them so when you DO break them it is for a reason - not a mistake.

Let's get back to the background: If you go white, that is high key and you need to light the background so that is is just a bit brighter than the subject - 1 to 1 1/2 stops usually works well. NO DETAIL in the white. THEN you generally want to light the subject a bit flatter (more evenly - not so much shadow). Subject then would wear lighter clothing - whites and pastels.

Try this: exact same image with the same lighting but use that black background. Her hair may well blend into the background since she has dark hair, but the flower in the hair should help. Forget the hair light for now. Get good images with ONE light - may one and a reflector - before adding a second light. Trust me- if you cannot get good images with one light, adding more is not the answer.

Always get that umbrella as close to the subjects as you can, that will give the softest light. The shadows I see are a bit hard - not horrible, but getting the umbrella closer will give a more gentle highlight-to-shadow transition.

I do not think you need more light - exposure on her face looks perfect.

It is easier to show sometimes than to describe. Here is an example of each.

quote=toptrainer I am very new at photography, I ... (show quote)

Thank you, how is this one I took the other day? q... (show quote)

i would suggest to use reflectors. 48" white. That might help u out. Adorama has a kit for $79.00 with stand !!!