DSLR Photography Forum

For the past few months now I've been taking a intro digital course at the local photography school. Today's class was a good one. We spent the full 3hrs in the two studio rooms. Each room was setup with different lighting (one with white background, one dark background) and we had 2 models to shoot. 45 mins each one, in each room, and they split the class up into two.



I briefly went thru all 250+ photos, but so far, the above picture is by far my favorite one so far. Lighting was good, and I really liked the relaxed look from the model. I found her easier to work with then the other model, who honestly didn't really seem like she wanted to be there. More pictures to come soon once I go thru them all. The tough part is going to be picking 5 to hand in.

Awesome stuff! One of the things I really want to do is take a course just like you have done and get some experience with shooting in the studio...

What was the shoot like? What did you find hard and and tips/techniques you can share?

Personally, (he said, with caution), I think the face is overexposed.... Check the histogram, it has a pile up on the right and left. :|

Look - it is a great effort and you are there to learn. But I have to agree with Rufus that the right side of the face is too hot - also appears to have some colour cast.

The pose is good and she does look nice and relaxed.

Very good attempt. The photos is quite good aside from the already mentioned lighting issue.

The pose is very good - very natural looking, whimsical smile and great eye contact - a keeper for sure.

Thanks all for your comments and suggestions! Greatly appreciated!

In regards to her color choice. I believe the school may of told her to wear it. As the other model was wearing much darker clothing (as you'll soon see once I post some pics).

Out of the 2 studios we shot in, one had a black background (above pic) and the other had a white background and more diffused lighting. Whereas with the dark studio, it was one direct lighting. There was NO flash used at all.

I believe the point in the two rooms, and switching the two models back and forth between them, was to get us to use our cameras better in different lighting. I found when I looked at my pictures last night, that the model wearing darker clothing, in the dark studio, I had more problems with exposure, specially on her face due to the lighting. All a learning experience, and I've learned a ton from it. More pics to come soon!

I did take one 'behind the scene' photo which kinda gives you an idea of what the studio looked like, so once I get home I'll post that.

It took me 30 years to take a picture that good btw. Please dont think I'm having a go.

I look forward to seeing lots more, (as I cant see too many pretty girls!!).


((Dont tell my wife)). :o

Rufus Wrote:It took me 30 years to take a picture that good btw. Please dont think I'm having a go.

I look forward to seeing lots more, (as I cant see too many pretty girls!!).

((Dont tell my wife)). :o

Wow, thanks!

I take ZERO offence to anyone trying to give me pointers. If I did, I wouldn't be posting my images up here.

Unfort my S5000 doesn't have the ability to check the histogram. Yes it really sucks, and thats the reason why I would like to upgrade (hint hint 20d). It would of really been helpful in these situations. However because I thought this might be happening, I was shooting using bracketing.

Considering you had no histogram that is a great effort.

Wedding Shooter: Thank you!

Here is another photo I made up in photoshop. I was kinda board last night, and thought I would fool around with the functions and see what I could make up. I dunno, I kinda like the end product, but again there is quite a bit of exposure issues on her face, not sure if it works in this edited photo or not.

Comments?

I like this pose and this concept. Depth of field and your subtle softening also work very well. The model is gorgeous and knows how to project the mood.

As you say, the exposure from your lights is a bit harsh. Do you shoot RAW? If so, exposure issues such as this can easily be corrected in post-porcessing. For relatively minor corrections (such as this photo) - the exposure of the entire photo can be tweaked to taste. For more extreme exposure issues, 2 separate exposures of the same frame can be done in your RAW converter - one which is exposed for the highlights and one for the shadows. The 2 exposures can be blended together with the gradient mask to yield a result that is exposed correctly throughout.

Toad: Thanks for your input and comments. Believe it or not, this actual photo was shot in RAW. I shot a few in RAW, then a few in JPEG (to save space). Working with exposure in PS is something I haven't fully learnt (and hopefully will in our next class which is advance photoshop skills). Do you know of a site that explains what you've written above? I'd like to see if I can fix the exposure issues, or I don't mind posting up the RAW and having someone do it, so I can see what I should be shooting for.

TIA!

Both pictures are really nice... I like the pose in both and the soft effect you did in the last one is great!!

Congratulations

Well - the face is too hot on the right hand side. But it looks like the effect has been exaggerated by your photoshop work.

Does the original look this hot on her face?

Chris

I Agree with Toads comments about your model. She's great and seems to be a natural. Aside from pointing out the obvious hot lighting again I think the soft focus is overdone.

Yes the more I look at the image I notice the overdoing with the soft effect. I was trying out a new plugin that automatically did this. I should probably play around with it more. Thanks again for your comments however!

Well I went thru some more (since I have to pick 5 to hand in tomorrow at class) and this was another one I liked. It was taken in the other studio (whic background) so exposure was much better (hopefully!).

I don't often convert my images to b/w but I ended up really liking this one in b/w. Comments? Or would you prefer to see it in color?

I love that last one the best! The exposure is perfect and the B&W treatment works really well. All the poses you've shown are really good, she's a great model, very natural.

That's very nice in every way.