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sundeep · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 1:21 am

1. presume the eye are not tack sharp ?
2. Is the poor lighting issue due the shadows under the arms etc or due the shadow on the right side of the upper body ?

kenny123 · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 1:59 am

correct

sundeep · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 2:04 am

hhltdave5 · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 7:34 am

Not sure if I mentioned it to you or someone else but always keep in mind when you are lighting someone that parts of the body, clothing etc will block light and cause the improper shadows to appear. Always look at the model and any props etc to see if there is something that will block the light to an important part. If so then you need to address that in some fashion. In this case you have the right arms as well as the shawl.

It can be done with additional lights, reflectors (remember that you may have to adjust the reflector so you get the proper fill), or move the object that is blocking the light.

Now also remember that having shadows is not always a bad thing. Shadows give definition and form to the model. You just have to make sure that the shadow is not there in a way that is negative to the image. Is your lighting terrible? No but like I always say it is the little things that make all the difference.

Often when we see people shoot when they are working with models and lights is that they forget about the lights and where they are. They will walk in front of them and keep snapping away. Light is magical but not so magical that it can go through something :)

So, remember what the lights are there to do and that is to illuminate something. If there is something that will hinder that illumination then make the necessary adjustments to fix it.

Oh BTW, I would like to see you expand your shooting a bit. You usually do a half body or 3/4 shot. Instead of just doing that Try doing some head shots. You could do some great things with head shots and simple props such as the shawl, a hat and so on.

She looks like a very thoughtful child, even a bit impish. Capture those emotions in her face. That is what portraiture is all about, telling an emotional story. Think about doing more than just putting them in front of a camera and telling them to look over there.

Here is a shot I got at one of the workshops we put on in Vegas at Bobby Deals studio. She was the daughter of one of the photographers and Bobby's friend. She looked so adorable eating her lunch that I just had to grab her and do some shots. It shows her personality very well. These are the things to shoot for with portraits.

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=27209314

sundeep · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 8:12 am

hhltdave5 · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 9:13 am

jhuls · Joined: 02 Jan 2012 Posts: 1046

promise them bubble gum it always works for my kids. My older ones work for a $ or 2 for modeling but my 4 year old prefers a pack of bubble gum.

I agree with Dave on mixing up your crops, there is something unsatisfying about a half or 3/4 body crop. I find myself either wanting it closer in so I can see the detail in the face or farther back so I can see the rest of the costume.

rinder99 · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 1:19 pm

robhainer · Joined: 03 May 2010 Posts: 2733 Location: Dallas, GA, USA

I understand the focus issue here, but not the lighting problem. The shadows aren't harsh at all. At most, it suffers from lack of contrast, looking a little washed out.

robhainer · Joined: 03 May 2010 Posts: 2733 Location: Dallas, GA, USA

kenny123 · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 4:33 pm

Seems light sources were to close to the subject

rinder99 · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 4:35 pm

kenny123 · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 6:57 pm

Model looks 2-dimensional-lighting doesn't give her any depth-too flat-just looks like a cut and paste onto a white background .

triceratops · Joined: 15 Nov 2006 Posts: 7856 Location: The other Nevada

On the lighting, on my monitor it looks like there may be a touch too much yellow in the face. You can see it best in the crop, particularly around the highlight area on her cheek. Not knowing what her actual skin tone may be, I took a shot at pulling much of the yellow out while enhancing the contrast to bring out better skin definition. Hopefully I didn't take this too far. Always a danger when you haven't seen the model first hand.

sundeep · Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2012 12:20 am

guy, thanks for all the useful tips. It really helps me think about what i did or rather did not do.

To be absolutely honest, am just starting to shoot people, using a 2x2 softbox on one side and and umbrella on the other. The techniques or light positions am trying to learn from online tutorials / videos. So yes, it is more than possible that a lot of what i am doing is , all part of the learning process i guess.

In this particular case :-
1. I set the white balance to cloudy to get a warmer look, so that probably accounts for the yellowish tinge.
2. The lights were 2-3 feet from Nikita, so probably accounts for the shadows etc.

However, having looked at many of the online images, i do see that many of them have a lot of shadows quite similar to this image, so not really sure why its an issue only here? Maybe its a combination of that + the other issues as well.