Portrait lighting help
Lou
I am hoping that you good people will be able to help me out with setting up
for portrait photography. I am recently acquired some used studio equipment
that includes:
1- 36x48 soft box
1- 600w Plau Buff White lightning strobe
1- Gossen Pro meter
1- white umbrella
I have tried some shots and some were a little on the bright side, (hotspot
on parts of the subjects arm) my scanner is not working at the moment so I
can't display anything at the moment. What I was trying to get is a soft
natural even light on my subject that does not look like it has b
My setup was: strobe/softbox was about 4' from subject, set at f8.
How far should I place the strobe from my subject?
Where should I place the strobe, to get a good rapped around light on
subject?
How far should I have the camera from the subject?
What are the benefits of a softbox over an umbrella?
How far up do I need the softbox or umbrella above the subject?
I usually use f8 is that a good f-stop for portraits.
Thanks in advance of you help
Lou
Paul Ferrara
You can add/remove some of them to get softer/harder light. How was your
overall exposure? I can't answer this definitively since I use umbrellas.
As for your other questions......
> My setup was: strobe/softbox was about 4' from subject, set at f8.
> How far should I place the strobe from my subject?
The closer to the subject, the softer the light. With that size softbox, 4'
ought to work but I'd move it in a bit; say 3'.
> Where should I place the strobe, to get a good rapped around light on
subject?
You should let your modeling light tell you that. With just one light,
you're going to have to have it closer to the subject's nose axis than if
you also had a fill light. There's really no "correct" answer to this.
> How far should I have the camera from the subject?
Doesn't matter. It depends on the lens you're using and how much of the
subject you want to capture. A good length for a portrait lens is 85 to
135mm.
> What are the benefits of a softbox over an umbrella?
More directional so you get less spill.
> How far up do I need the softbox or umbrella above the subject?
Start a bit above eye level. Again, you have to learn to rely on your
modeling light to see what looks good.
> I usually use f8 is that a good f-stop for portraits.
It's fine.
If you're not going to buy another light anytime soon, I'd invest in a
reflector or equivilent to add some fill.
Paul / ColumbuSoft
www.columbusoft.com/photos
Lou <Loui...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:ZlQs7.47184$bT3.3267621071@newssvr15.news.prodigy.com...
zeitgeist
Lou wrote:
>
> Hi good people,
> I am hoping that you good people will be able to help me out with setting up
> for portrait photography. I am recently acquired some used studio equipment
> that includes:
> 1- 36x48 soft box
> 1- 600w Plau Buff White lightning strobe
> 1- Gossen Pro meter
> 1- white umbrella
> I have tried some shots and some were a little on the bright side, (hotspot
> on parts of the subjects arm) my scanner is not working at the moment so I
> can't display anything at the moment. What I was trying to get is a soft
> natural even light on my subject that does not look like it has b
> My setup was: strobe/softbox was about 4' from subject, set at f8.
> How far should I place the strobe from my subject?
most would say to place the softbox as close to the subject as you can
without having in the image. put a reflector on the other side to
bounce a bit back to the shadow side.
> Where should I place the strobe, to get a good rapped around light on
> subject?
a four foot softbox, (probably called large by the maker) is adequate
for head shots and half lengths and small kids, but general rule of
thumb is that the light source should be twice as large as the subject
(this is what I learned from commercial photogs) so yes, I am talking
about a 12 foot light, a old rant of mine. generally you place it at
45' but that is from the subject's nose. there are reasons to choose
to place the light at a 90' or hang it over the camera for a 0' light
(typical glamour light.)
> How far should I have the camera from the subject?
that is a creative choice don't you think? depends on the coverage,
(full length or head shot) the lens used (normal, tele) but generally
you want to get as far back to use the longer focal length for the crop
you want.
> What are the benefits of a softbox over an umbrella?
larger light source that can be placed closer, a 48 inch soft box is a
48 inch light source that can be placed as close as the image area
allows, a 48 inch brollie spreads light out more and has IMHO a smaller
area that is usful to the subject. Softboxes can have greater depth of
light, a concept that I have great difficulty explaining, is subtle and
perhaps doesn't really exist but ...(see below) To me an umbrella is
merely a slight improvement over the smaller metal parabolic reflectors
that where in use when lights were hot, literally as well as
figuratively.
> How far up do I need the softbox or umbrella above the subject?
you don't 'need' to. but generally it is placed slightly higher to 45',
a lot of photogs do shoot with a softbox at eye level, and dispite every
guide book on portrait lighting that says placing the light below the
subject is 'horror' light it is in fact a rather sensual sexy light with
a softbox unless you use the same flashlight directly under the chin
like the guide book does.
> I usually use f8 is that a good f-stop for portraits.
an artistic choice, I like to shoot one stop down from wide open so I'm
f/4 or 5.6 and that's because I can't trust my eyes to dependably shoot
wide open anymore.
keep in mind that hot spots can be caused by over exposure, overly
specular lighting (umbrella from a distance) the angle of reflectance
and are often naturally occuring. there is burning and dodging of the
image, or photoshopping, and using vignettes over the lens.
for excellent tutorials on portrait lighting check out any Dean Collins
Fine light video, www.zuga.net (ignore the wedding dresses, its
portraits on location) and of course the several years worth of my
bathering on about northlight and depth of light with lots of to-do
about why studio lighting looks like it is artifical and what to do
about it in the z-prophoto mailing list at yahoogroups.com
z-prophoto...@yahoogroups.com
photo35744
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"Lou" <Loui...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
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