Results from my somewhat ghetto studio setup

[te1221]

I'll show setup pics later and I need to finish cropping a few things.

http://photos-185.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v66/103/114/8810203/n8810203_33859185_4042.jpg

http://photos-186.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v66/103/114/8810203/n8810203_33859186_4378.jpg

http://photos-189.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v66/103/114/8810203/n8810203_33859189_5279.jpg

http://photos-192.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v66/103/114/8810203/n8810203_33859192_6109.jpg

http://photos-193.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v66/103/114/8810203/n8810203_33859193_6385.jpg

Facebook lowers the quality but I dont have access to my webserver... so for now this will suffice....

[RichNY]

Is that a two light setup- main and background with a reflector for fill?

[te1221]

Pretty much.. I still need to get more lightstands... I rigged a tripod to mount my Digital Concepts Flash as a slave with umbrella for the background light.

Used the AB800 for main, and had a piece of white foam board for fill... It wasn't used in this picture... the tripod for the telescope held my whiteboard in place...

It was pretty bad of a setup but in the end we made it work. This was the first time playing with the Alienbees and I must say it came out decent considering I didn't have enough stands or a lightmeter...

http://www.timeng.net/photos/setup.jpg

[cwphoto]

Great shots Tim, your model has the jaw/physique of a wrestler!

[cdifoto]

He looks like he wants to (and would) kick my ass just for looking at him. :eek:

The setup looks fine to me. It doesn't really matter how you do things but whether your methods provide the results you want. :)

Only thing that bugs me is the half face samurai[?] pic. You didn't have enough room with your backdrop so the edge is in the frame. You can crop it a bit though. Otherwise good stuff.

[RichNY]

Overall very nice job but I think you can make a few improvements.

The background light is too close to the backdrop; It is creating flare and not evenly lighting the background. Try moving it a bit further away from the background and make sure the light is perpendicular with the backdrop.

I personally don't like the way the main and fill lighting are working in the second image. It appears as though there is a dark face sandwiched between two artificial light sources. I believe you might have had a better results if your fill reflector was closer to the camera as opposed to being closer to the side of the model's face.

I think you did a great job with that last image.

I'm looking forward to hearing Peter's feedback on this as he knows a heck of a lot more about this than I do. If he concurs then this will definately go to my head :)

[cdifoto]

The only flare I see is in the very last image (of the entire set), which doesn't really matter. :confused:

I also don't really see anything wrong with the lighting, since not every shot has/is supposed to look like classic portraiture. If the goal is something like Rembrandt lighting then I can see where you're coming from. Otherwise I think it looks pretty good.

Depends what Tim's ultimate goal was though.

[te1221]

http://www.timeng.net/photos/jonlee/22.jpg

http://www.timeng.net/photos/jonlee/23.jpg

Some more... not scaled down.

My main problem is I need to either build a backdrop stand because we just wedged it in between two doors. I also need to really get a light meter so I know how much power I should be using off the strobe.

My real goal is to get into high key lighting and low key lighting with a plexiglass floor setup.

Thanks guys for your nice comments. Lately I've been reading a lot of posts on off camera lighting on Fredmiranda's "One light setups"

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/424115

I shot at F5.6 for all these shots with the 85 1.8... Maybe I should have stopped down to F9? I wanted some shallow DOF to make the wrinkles in the background less visible.

I'm assuming that can be accomplished by making my friend stand way further from the background?

[RichNY]

Do you want to keep the bkgrnd color the same but out of focus or would you like it to be darkened to black or almost black?

Wouldn't stopping down give you a greater DOF not a shallower one?

[te1221]

I basically just want the background blurry but the subject tack sharp.

I'm getting a white background and black one for the purpose of low key and high key

[24Peter]

My main problem is I need to either build a backdrop stand because we just wedged it in between two doors. I also need to really get a light meter so I know how much power I should be using off the strobe.

My real goal is to get into high key lighting and low key lighting with a plexiglass floor setup.

I shot at F5.6 for all these shots with the 85 1.8... Maybe I should have stopped down to F9? I wanted some shallow DOF to make the wrinkles in the background less visible.

I'm assuming that can be accomplished by making my friend stand way further from the background?

Tim - considering your setup, I think you did quite well. :) You convey a lot of emotion with this type of lighting and I think it compliments your subject nicely (esp. the second one - sorry Rich :( .)

With regard to the backdrop, if you don't want to invest in separate stand kit (two stands and a cross bar) you can get a $15 curtain rod from Target (or wherever), screw it into the back wall there an inch or two below the ceiling line and you have a good setup. Most full size backdrops (muslin/seamless paper) are about 9 ft wide. I don't know if you can get a 9ft long curtain rod (mine is about 7ft ;) ) but maybe two shorter rods? The advantage is you're real close to the wall: with stands you lose about 12-18" of space in what already looks like a small room. The disadvantage is you'll need to unroll your muslin/paper and clip it to the rod instead of placing the rod through the paper core/muslin loop.

With regard to the light meter, you did pretty well without one. I shot for at least a year before I bought one. Like I've said before it does help with multiple lights but isn't essential to good shots - esp. once you get used to your lights and your camera's LCD.

I've been looking into the plexiglass thing too. Right now since I shoot in my living room and the floor is carpeted I need to place plywood below my paper. Otherwise, when my models wear heels, they poke right through the paper and it's a mess. :eek:

With regard to the wrinkles, the best way to get rid of them is to iron the backdrop. Otherwise, it usually has to be pretty blurred for the wrinkles not to be noticeable. This is why I use paper most of the time. (I have two muslins I barely use for that reason.) Rich is correct on this though: if you want to throw the background out of focus, a wider apeture (lower f-stop) is needed. (You can also move your subject further away from the backdrop as you suggested but you'll quickly find the edges of it creeping in ruining your shots.)

[adam75south]

yea i could use a decent background or two. the wall just isn't cuttin it. and i'm having difficulty minimizing my dof since i rarely get my aperture larger than f/5.6. i just don't have enough room to move the lights back.