Need some help...please...

[jblackwell]

I just got some lighting for studio...continuous lighting...two light stands with shoot-through umbrellas. It came with 34(?) watt daylight bulbs. It's not putting off enough light for my cameraa flash to not go off and it's casting shadows. How do I get rid of the shadows??? I've attached a picture to give an idea of how it's coming out...

[smc1377]

Why are you using your flash? It also seems a little odd to be using continuous lighting with shoot through umbrellas. I would think that softboxes would be better/standard with continuous lighting.

I can't extract the EXIF from your photo, so these are just general suggestions below...

Don't use flash.
Bump up your ISO to compensate for lower light
Move background further away from subject as to not have such a harsh shadow right behind
Add more lights

[zona5101]

How far away are your lights? I’m guessing from the size of the catchlights they are too far away. The farther away the light, the more it acts like a single point of light and throws deeper shadows (because the light doesn’t wrap). Move the main light closer, closer like just outside the frame of your shot. That should also bring up the light level so your on-board flash doesn’t fire…but turn it off anyway so it doesn’t fire. There are plenty of lighting diagrams out there to help you decide where to place you lights in relation to the camera and subject but you may want to have your main light at about a 45 degree angle relative to the subject. Your second light will fill in from the opposite side. I do not know if your lights have rheostats to turn them down, if not, you will control the fill light by increasing it’s distance away from the subject so that it provides just enough light to fill in some of the off side shadow of the main light. Good luck and have fun!

[jblackwell]

If I turn my flash off...the pictures are blurry if the subject moves while I'm taking the picture. I tried that last night too, but it didn't do me any good because there was movement in the photos, especially when my subject is an 11 month old! LOL.

I'm using shoot-through umbrellas with continuous lighting because that is what came with the lighting kit.

I had the lights pretty close, like you suggested right out of the frame. It was my first time using, so I'll have to just play around with it and see what works.

Thanks for all suggestions...many more welcome!

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by jblackwell

If I turn my flash off...the pictures are blurry if the subject moves while I'm taking the picture. I tried that last night too, but it didn't do me any good because there was movement in the photos, especially when my subject is an 11 month old! LOL.

I'm using shoot-through umbrellas with continuous lighting because that is what came with the lighting kit.

I had the lights pretty close, like you suggested right out of the frame. It was my first time using, so I'll have to just play around with it and see what works.

Thanks for all suggestions...many more welcome!

Just curious, what fstop / shutter speed/ iso were you using?