Victorian Dress in Studio

[AristonPhotog]

Hello all,

Still learning the details of using strobes in my living room studio. This is a friend of mine in her Victorian dress. Lighting is a pair of 24"x36" softboxes next to each other, 150w/s each. Hair light is a gridded 110w/s strobe about 8 feet behind and to the right of the subject. Since I don't have access to a larger softbox, I figured placing the two smaller boxes together would do the trick. Overall I am pretty happy with the image. The NEF file is brighter and the darkness is caused by the post-production actions I used (Kubota actions LOTR Everyday and Daily Multivitamin). The backdrop is a 10x20 painted muslin and works with the time period of the dress but not necessarily the color. Overall I think the lighting and the composition worked out pretty well, any comments and critique are welcomed.

EXIF:
Nikon D300
Nikon 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6
1/250s @ f/10
ISO 200 minus 1 stop (D300 doesn't have an ISO 100 perse)

[Digidave]

I think your lighting would be okay if the background was lighter on the left side of your shot. We lose her right arm in that dark background & the light falls off at the bottom also but I wouldn't be to concerned about that. Some may even prefer it. I suppose all these concerns would've been improved with more lighting though. So, I guess what I'm saying is, you need more lighting or a brighter background to highlight your subject a little better. What do you think?

[AristonPhotog]

Originally Posted by Digidave

I think your lighting would be okay if the background was lighter on the left side of your shot. We lose her right arm in that dark background & the light falls off at the bottom also but I wouldn't be to concerned about that. Some may even prefer it. I suppose all these concerns would've been improved with more lighting though. So, I guess what I'm saying is, you need more lighting or a brighter background to highlight your subject a little better. What do you think?

Most likely if I had shifted her to the right a bit there's a much brighter area of the background that would have been more suitable. I agree, though, that losing her right arm kind of creates a bit of a blackhole in the image. The alternative would have been to feather the lights more to her right to illuminate that area, however, the backdrop on that side is pretty darn dark as it is, and I don't think the strobes I have would have been enough...

Thanks for the comment.

[ttosifa]

This picture is interesting, but it is a bit puzzling to me. The title suggests the Victorian dress is an important part of the picture, but it gets lost in the shadows. Also, one 24x36 softbox by itself is a pretty big light for this subject. I've gotten more light from a bare speedlight in similar pictures. How far away were your lights? The hard shadows suggest they were pretty far away. (edit) It depends on the look you want, but maybe experiment with moving one of them in closer?

Also, it's hard to tell from the low res file, but it looks like the area of her face around her eyes and forehead are slightly out of focus, even though her chin, nose, and lips do not seem to be. Does it look that way in the high res file too?

[ReflectingGrace]

I think its very nice. I do agree that more light on the left, by her hand would improve it.

[AristonPhotog]

Originally Posted by ttosifa

This picture is interesting, but it is a bit puzzling to me. The title suggests the Victorian dress is an important part of the picture, but it gets lost in the shadows. Also, one 24x36 softbox by itself is a pretty big light for this subject. I've gotten more light from a bare speedlight in similar pictures. How far away were your lights? The hard shadows suggest they were pretty far away. (edit) It depends on the look you want, but maybe experiment with moving one of them in closer?

Also, it's hard to tell from the low res file, but it looks like the area of her face around her eyes and forehead are slightly out of focus, even though her chin, nose, and lips do not seem to be. Does it look that way in the high res file too?

Thank you for your comment. I do need to lighten the image up. When I can get my hands on the NEF file I will adjust the brightness and repost. The lights themselves were maybe about 2 to 3 feet from her at 45 degrees up and to camera left (ala Rembrandt style).
As for the focus, the lens I was using isn't the best and the post-production I did had a Gaussian blur. I erased around the eyes and mouth. I will go back and redo the post work and see what I can come away with.

Thanks

[MAQ]

One thought a bit off topic: I think you could have enhanced the victorian theme by having the model place her left hand on her belly, palm flat, arm stiff at about a 90 degree angle at the elbow. Otherwise, in B&W with some retouching to make it look old it could pass for victorian ... nicely done.

[AristonPhotog]

I brightened up the image a bit, but event with the NEF I couldn't bring it up much more without blowing out her skin. There is at least a little more detail in the dress, but in general I like the more subdued lighting as it lends itself to an older time in history.