First Low Key Portrait Attempt

[sebthedog1]

I have recently got some off camera flash gear and wanted to have a go at a low key portrait. I took this last night and am fairly happy with it apart from having cut off part of his hand. I'd like to know if I got this right or wrong as far as the lighting goes. It seems slightly harsh along the underside of the arm, making the skin look too sharp. I did try shooting through an umbrella but too much light was falling on the background and as we took this in a very small space there wasnt much room to manouevre. All/any comments on how to improve this either via the lighting or in PP would be appreciated. Thanks.



Shutter Speed 1/160
Aperture F9
ISO 100

[Niresangwa]

It's pretty good as far as I'm concerned, even the 'hot' part of your arm isn't glaring. You might want to add your EXIF data per the forum rules.

was 1/160th the fastest you can sync to? Just that speeding up the SS may prevent some over-spill to the background...either that or just move further away from it. What power were you shooting at that you needed to go to f9? For this kind of shot you may want to look into making a DIY snoot to give some control and direction if you're looking for that.

while you're playing around there may be a couple of things you might want to try.. you might want to look into providing a little rim lighting to give a little more shape to things. I don't mind when one side merges with the background, but a littl more definition around the top of the head or the upper side of the arm on the 'lighted side' of your body might help. you can either use a reflector or second light on low power below and across from the key..

as far as processing goes, just use a levels adjustment layer to clean up the blacks and whites.

[sebthedog1]

Thanks Steve for taking the time to provide such an helpful response. I'm chuffed that you think it's quite a good shot, apart from some smoke photography this is the first time I've used off camera flash and the first proper portrait shot I've done.

I can sync to 1/200th so will try that next time - it wasn't possible to move any further away - I took this in our very small lounge :-)

I am not very structured in my approach to things so I was changing the power setting constantly whilst taking these and can't remember what setting this was taken at but I went to F9 to cut out the ambient light.

I never even thought about using a reflector or a rim light to give a bit more shape so thanks for that, I am brand new to flash photography and have still got stacks to learn about even the basics.

Once again - many thanks for your reply - much appreciated

[Niresangwa]

Originally Posted by sebthedog1

Thanks Steve for taking the time to provide such an helpful response. I'm chuffed that you think it's quite a good shot, apart from some smoke photography this is the first time I've used off camera flash and the first proper portrait shot I've done.

I can sync to 1/200th so will try that next time - it wasn't possible to move any further away - I took this in our very small lounge :-)

I am not very structured in my approach to things so I was changing the power setting constantly whilst taking these and can't remember what setting this was taken at but I went to F9 to cut out the ambient light.

I never even thought about using a reflector or a rim light to give a bit more shape so thanks for that, I am brand new to flash photography and have still got stacks to learn about even the basics.

Once again - many thanks for your reply - much appreciated

No problem, happy to help...

as far as always playing ad putzing with settings, its the best way to learn, so keep it up...as you go on, you get a much better feel for things and work with more surety, trust me.

I guess one thing I would impart to you is to remember that your ambient light is controlled by shutter speed, and the flash intensity is controlled by your aperture...

so for low key, get your SS as fast as possible so cut down as much ambient as possible.