Still learning about portrait photography

[wallarooke]

Hi,
I'm still a noob in Studio Photography. This was taken on a birthday party.
I still have trouble positioning and using the light correctly.
Does anyone have any good links on how to use and setup lighting ?
Thanks in advance!!
Here are my shots:

Color:


B&W:


Exif:
Nikon D90
35mm
f-stop: 5,6
exposure: 1/200

Let me know what your thoughts are.
Cheers,

[sybren]

Can you describe your difficulty? What did you aim for, and what did you get?

[peeperita]

very nice portrait......if you don't mind please offer your exif for our members to work with in critique....

peeper

[Benji]

Two rules when photographing females. One, the main light should enter the face from the same side as the part in their hair. You did this, but two you should have asked her to turn the opposite direction with her torso. Why? Because when the main light and the torso are both pointed toward the main light it will not only illuminate the face but also the upper chest, (note how bright her chest is.) In portraiture it is all about the face. Had the torso been turned at a 45 degree angle to camera left the light would have skimmed across her chest instead of blasting it.

Benji

[sybren]

One rule of photography: there are no rules. They are more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules. (insert pirate face here)

Let the photographer tell us what he's having problems with, and what he's aiming for, before blasting away with rules.

[Benji]

Originally Posted by sybren

One rule of photography: there are no rules. They are more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules. (insert pirate face here)

Let the photographer tell us what he's having problems with, and what he's aiming for, before blasting away with rules.

He did, he said "I [am] still have trouble positioning and using the light correctly." That sounds to me like he is asking how to position the lights correctly, so I told him the rules of how to correctly position not only the lights but also the subject. Of course I could have ignored his request and let him flounder, but I didn't, sorry.

I've noticed most newbie photographers hate the tern "rules." They want to thumb their know it all noses at the rules and those who use them every day to produce outstandingly beautiful images. They brag about how they love breaking all of them and their images certainly show they can definately break all of them, but of course the only people who actually like those images are their mothers.

For those who are interested in portraiture and would like to improve their images I have written a free tutorial that over 110,000 people have looked at entitled "The Rules of Good Portraiture" and it can be seen at The Rules Of Good Portraiture - PhotoCamel - Your Friendly Photo Forum

Benji

[sybren]

Originally Posted by Benji

He did, he said "I [am] still have trouble positioning and using the light correctly."

Fair enough. I'm more in favour of letting someone describe their problem in detail first. That's often is enough to add one or two small hints to solve their own problem. That not only teaches how to light correctly, but also to think about and describe an obstacle more elaborately.

I've learned a lot from David Hobby. It wasn't the practical "do A to get result B", but the way he thinks about lighting, and how he approaches a problem. The first part of solving a problem is describing it in detail.

I've noticed most newbie photographers hate the tern "rules."

So learn from that and use a different term when talking to a newbie photographer.