Thanks for all the tips and the kind words, Bruce!
I will definitely keep them in mind and use them for the next shoot I
do. And, you're right -- what artificial lighting there was came from
very small incandescent bulbs (probably in the 30-watt range). The rest
was sunlight. There's so much variance in the lighting in that room
that the camera really doesn't know what to do from one shot to the next.
I have to say that even the pictures that turned out fairly well don't
do this young lady justice. She is an absolute joy to photograph. If I
could spend every day photographing Megan from 9 to 5, I'd show up early
and beg for overtime.
Thanks again for the pointers! I do appreciate all the input I get from
the experienced hands on the list.
-- Walt
On 10/16/2010 10:50 AM, Bruce Walker wrote:
On 10-10-15 5:55 AM, Walter Gilbert wrote:
Hi all,
Well, I had my very first photo shoot today. All things considered,
I think it went fairly well. I did get some good shots, a couple of
great shots, and many that will wind up being salvageable. Here are
a few shots to give a reasonable approximation:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/walt_gilbert/sets/72157625167892920/
Nothing went as planned, and I hadn't the foggiest notion what I was
doing. But, somehow, I managed not to lose my friend (Megan, the
model) -- at least until she's seen the images. There are a few that
have clunky backgrounds that I intend to obscure at some point.
Beyond that, does anyone have any hits or tips that I might use to
make the images look better?
Comments, critiques, and advice are, of course, welcome.
Best,
Walt
My faves from this set are 5257 and 5369, the jeep window shot.
I get the impression that your scenes were mostly lit with tungsten
(incandescent) lights, perhaps bare or likely with their shades still
on. In some of them I can see window light added in.
That shininess issue on your model's face is largely due to the small
light source that you're using as your main light. My advice for your
next shoot is to make your light sources larger and so softer. You
need to use some sort of diffusion between your small (point-like)
light source and your subject. If you can afford a shoot-through
umbrella ($25) and a stand, get one. Otherwise you can get a nice
effect by just hanging a white sheet or sheer curtain material up.
You'll lose a stop of light so you'll need to compensate for that.
Where window daylight enters the scene it appears blue (eg LHS of
5257). To avoid that you'd need to gel the entire window with orange.
You could just hang an orange sheet over the window instead.
You'd do very well in this situation with some flash. A single flash
with a CTO gel through a shoot-through umbrella together with the
incandescent lamps in the room could get you great results.
Anyway, great first attempt, Walt. You are very lucky to have such an
attractive and keen model to work with. An excellent learning experience!
-bmw
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