Lighting Comments

[d-studio]

Looking for feedback on the lighting for this portrait. I used a single flash, off camera left with a yellow gel. Thank you in advance for the feedback.

Nikon D80
DX 18mm-135mm
Exposure mode: Manual
Focal length: 48 mm
Aperture: 4.8
White balance: Fluorescent
Metering mode: Spot

[SusanH1970]

I think you could have upped the power a bit on the flash - he looks a bit underexposed. My eye goes naturally to the brightest point- the 23 on his jersey - and makes me forget about his face.

Quite honestly, I'm not wild about the yellow gel - it's making him very yellow/sickly looking. Out of curiosity, why did you have your WB set to fluorescent?

I do like the pose and expression, and focus looks pretty good, though.

[GadgetRick]

I don't mind the exposure, nice and dark for a dark sports photo. But I agree, I don't like the yellow in this one.

[lputman]

I am going to ask what was the thought behind the yellow gel? The lighting reminds me of night shooting in a stadium. If you can, shoot again and eliminate the gel. Set your white balance to flash and shoot in RAW. If you can't, try to adjust the skin tone and burn the whites a little to tone them down. I like the pose and the focus is good.

[d-studio]

Thank you all for the comments. Very constructive. The purpose of the yellow gel was to create the deep blue background. However, I agree that it is too much. I think I will play around a little with some other techniques next time and lose the yellow gel. Thanks again everyone.

[RLucas]

I am really enjoying this picture. I really wouldn't change anything about it. The yellow gel works for me, because it is very complimentary to the background. It causes the blue to recede, and creates depth to the whole image, which I think is a nice effect fwiw.
It has a nice edgy feel to it, and shows a lot of attitude. Overall, I think this is a well done portrait.

[zona5101]

i throughly applaud you for thinking outside the box, not only getting the flash off camera but thinking past the shutter button about the background and the use of complementary color in the main lighting. Well done. I like the lighting angle with the nice quick light falloff. Just a thought, but what about a blue gel? It might give the image a more menacing, dark broody feel.