my Precious...

[candleman]

well, after the guy i bought my stuff from, finally sent me the right thing (white shoot through wth black silver lined cover)
i created this portrait of my lovley wife.



Shutterspeed: 0.05 sec (1/20)
Aperture: f/4.5 (thats wide open for this hunka-junka-matic)
Focal Length: 38 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Program: Manual

flash at 1/16th power fired into umbrella almost directly above her. . stand pole was just to the left of the frame
(Go impromptu beauty dish!)
white reflector under her chin... just out of the frame ald by my left hand

i have couple questions,

is the neck and chest a tad dark?? i think it is for my liking.. but i dont know about lightening it as it would detract from the face.
does it make the tan line more pronounced?
is it annoying enough to warrant fixing?

i had a reflector just out of frame under her chin, so i think that helped... but not enough obviously

for the strobist/model experts out there.. does that exif make sense?
i'm 95% sure i'm not working the flash too hard..

any other things a young strobist should consider?

thanks

[mdruziak]

My only suggestion is to bump up your shutter speed, 1/20 is too slow. Any subject motion and you will get blur.

[sarahgirl777]

I would also say bump up your shutter speed, remember it only controls the ambient light so it shouldn't effect the light on your subject. If it does then your using some ambient to light your subject meaning you would want to increase the power on your strobe so that is what lights your subject. You could up your strobe power and raise your f stop and that should allow more of the light to bounce off of your reflectors. However I don't think that the shadows are too dark, I think it looks real nice!

[SusanH1970]

The lighting looks good to me! Definitely not to dark on her neck and chest. The tiny bit of shadow play adds depth to the shot.

I wouldn't have even noticed the tan line if you hadn't pointed it out. You could always clone it out if it bugs you that much.

By the way, your wife is indeed lovely!

[candleman]

Originally Posted by mdruziak

My only suggestion is to bump up your shutter speed, 1/20 is too slow. Any subject motion and you will get blur.

hmm. ok, thanks,
in theory i needed 1/50th for that focal lenght, but i wasnt getting any blur as the flash overpowers the ambient and freezes the motion.
i did a 30 second exposure this week, same thing frozen motion no blurring.

i appreciiate the input, thanks.

Originally Posted by sarahgirl777

I would also say bump up your shutter speed, remember it only controls the ambient light so it shouldn't effect the light on your subject. If it does then your using some ambient to light your subject meaning you would want to increase the power on your strobe so that is what lights your subject. You could up your strobe power and raise your f stop and that should allow more of the light to bounce off of your reflectors. However I don't think that the shadows are too dark, I think it looks real nice!

hmmmmmmm.. fascinating.
yes, i got caught up with posing, aperture, shutterspeed, reflector plaement.. and only adjusted the strobe a couple times for power/zoom.

i should mention it was a very dark room. (so dark it was hard to get a focus)

what i DID notice was faster shutterspeeds were increasing the contrast across the face.
so by what you say here about the strobe lighting the subject makes sense.
i THINK my reflector isnt up to grade for studio stuff..
(not reflective enough) its just white cotton cloth over a spring steel frame..
its great for backlighting in the sun tho'

SO, i may need to try a more reflective surface next time. that should stop the shuterspeed fro killing my fill light.

as you say, more flash power
this 1 strobe was indeed acting as key light, hair light and fill light..

so in essence i needed to decrease contrast caused by raising the flash power, by using a smaller aperture.
so easy in hindsight

Originally Posted by SusanH1970

The lighting looks good to me! Definitely not to dark on her neck and chest. The tiny bit of shadow play adds depth to the shot.

I wouldn't have even noticed the tan line if you hadn't pointed it out. You could always clone it out if it bugs you that much.

By the way, your wife is indeed lovely!

why thank you Susan
the shadow from the head darkens the tanned chest, while the "untanned" shoulder is highlighted by the flash.
if you didnt notce it then its sweet, i'll leave it.

[Drax]

I am not to strong on these photography calculations and maths (and the like). LOL!!!

But i suggest to your wife to have a better and joyful poise. With the way she carries herself, i have the impression that she is kind of nagging or not ready.

Cheers!!!

[Jim Bryant]

Everything;s fine, but your wife does not look like a happy model.

[FGPhotography]

Great job Jared! The tan line isn't distracting IMO - although, she looks like she's giving you the same look Tanisha gives me after my camera's in her face for a while... LOL But regardless, she's beautiful I like the back-drop too

[yolanda_b]

It seems she should be glancing back at the camera, like you caught her in a moment and she just noticed you. It would be less posed and her lovely eyes would be highlighted. The other thing you might want to fool around with is a blurring trick like a soft focus lens, vaseline on a UV filter, or nylon stocking over the lens, to soften the harsh edges a bit. A slightly more golden tone to warm it up would also be nice, it seems a bit cool. I like the red curtain ground, the lighting angles and general pose, and the black frame works well too.

[candleman]

Originally Posted by Drax

But i suggest to your wife to have a better and joyful poise. With the way she carries herself, i have the impression that she is kind of nagging or not ready.

Originally Posted by Jim Bryant

Everything;s fine, but your wife does not look like a happy model.

You’re both right, she wasn’t amused..
This was about “shot” # 200 and 2 hours in…
We’d tried the couch, chair, several lighting arrangements from shoot through, bounce all from different angles.
….and she was getting bored and cold.
We did get lots of smiling ones and cute stuff.. I just liked the light in this as she was looking up it filled in the eyesockets a bit more… plus it was our "last" arrangement that actually gave us a hairlight so it naturally looked better then the rest.


thanks for pointing it out

Originally Posted by FGPhotography

Great job Jared! The tan line isn't distracting IMO - although, she looks like she's giving you the same look Tanisha gives me after my camera's in her face for a while... LOL But regardless, she's beautiful I like the back-drop too

Hehe.. thanks Fawn.. she endured 2 hours of this.. she had fun, I had more.
But Fall means its getting cold so that’s what turned her into Mrs.Grumpy.
She did give some other very very good poses… as above this shot was the best to fill the eyes in to my liking.

Originally Posted by yolanda_b

It seems she should be glancing back at the camera, like you caught her in a moment and she just noticed you. It would be less posed and her lovely eyes would be highlighted. The other thing you might want to fool around with is a blurring trick like a soft focus lens, vaseline on a UV filter, or nylon stocking over the lens, to soften the harsh edges a bit. A slightly more golden tone to warm it up would also be nice, it seems a bit cool. I like the red curtain ground, the lighting angles and general pose, and the black frame works well too.

Thanks Yolanda, I’ll do some fiddling with PS and see if I like the soft focus thing. I was going for a “clean and pure” look.