First "Studio" Attempt

[fbroschart]

I have a "real" photo shoot to do on Sunday with a pregnant friend. I borrowed a softbox (TD5 Spiderlight) for the main light, I used my SB600 as a hairlight and used a reflector to bounce back a little fill light. Please let me know if the lighting looks acceptable and if there is anything else I should be doing. I've been doing a lot of research on the web on different techniques using a black backdrop. I did a little editing in photoshop to boost the blacks and covert to BW. Comments on the conversion are appreciated too as I plan to do the maternity shoot in BW.

Please pardon my daughter's tears, she was not too happy about helping me out and she had a boo boo on her toe that was giving her (and me) fits!



Camera Nikon D300
Exposure 0.077 sec (1/13)
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 82 mm
ISO Speed 200

[zona5101]

I think your lighting looks fine!
If you are looking for a little tweak you may want to reposition the sb600 so it rims the hair/shoulder. In particular if you look at the left side of the image, the hair and background kinda of meld into one big dark area, Using the sb as a hair /rim light will give separation between the subject and background.
Right now, that sb600 is doing a great job as a hair light, it's doing a really nice job adding dimension to the hair...in a perfect world, I'd leave the sb exactly where you have it and add another light in the back left to rim the shoulder area.
Its hard to tell in this shot but you may have a little spill of light from the sb600 creaping through the hair and onto the right side shoulder/neck. Watch for that and flag it or add a snoot to the flash to control the spill.

nice work as it stands.

[fbroschart]

Thanks so much for your feedback. I may have another light I can use for a rim light. I'll play around with that today and see what I get. At least I know I'm on the right track. I've got to work on the full body shots today. Hopefully my daughter will pose for me without issue today!!

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by fbroschart

Thanks so much for your feedback. I may have another light I can use for a rim light. I'll play around with that today and see what I get. At least I know I'm on the right track. I've got to work on the full body shots today. Hopefully my daughter will pose for me without issue today!!

cool - good luck with it. Love to see what you end up doing.