Dr. Randy Soloman : Professional Head Shot - for literature, articles, web presence

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Robert Mitchell

Senior Member
This is Dr. Randy Soloman. I shot a 'professional' head shot/portrait for him to use in published literature, articles and for his own web presence.I don't shoot many corporate or professional portraits but when I do I really enjoy the pressure of having to get it done in no more than 15 minutes.

Camera & Lens:
Nikon D700 & Zeiss 100mm f/2 Makro

Settings:ISO 200, f/11, 1/125s

Lighting:
Main Light- 36" x 48" softbox w/inner and outer diffusion [positioned at camera left]
Fill Light- 46" umbrella softbox [positioned directly behind me]

p1321177224-5.jpg
 
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gqtuazon

Gear Head
Great work Robert. Interesting and great choice of lens.

I'm trying to get my feet wet and would like to buy my first studio set up. I would like to buy things right the first time. Based on my location (Japan) which uses 100 VAC, the only stobes that would work well are the Elinchrome strobes.

What are your thoughts about this set-up for mobile set-up to cover events such as Christmas parties? The umbrellas look much easier to deploy compared to the other soft boxes but I prefer the character of the softboxes based on your website tutorial.

Elinchrom D-Lite 2/4 Starter to Go Kit (90-260VAC) EL 20813KIT

or

Elinchrom BX-Ri 250/500 To Go Set - 2 Monolight Kit EL 20752KIT


The haven't looked at the backdrops yet. Budget wise would be less than $1,500 including the back drops to get my set-up.

Would it be wise to start on on different thread? Thanks.
 
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Robert Mitchell

Senior Member
Hello Rick,

You're correct. Most often I'm working within the sweet spot of my lenses, typically between f/5.6 and f/11. Sometimes I'll stop down further and I've been known to shoot at wider apertures but the bulk of my work is done in that sweet spot.

Not only do most lenses perform and resolve better in that range but I'm very particular about depth of field and what is in focus and out of focus. I know a lot of people that just don't pay attention and it drives me crazy. I've never liked the look of a near eye in focus while the far eye is soft and most of the time I like to have everything on the facial mask as sharp as possible with slight falloff starting around the back of the ear.

I don't like having the eyes in focus and the tip of the nose soft and I don't like seeing the cheeks out of focus.

When you're using lenses that are 85mm or longer, it's surprising how shallow the depth of field can be when you're 6 feet from the subject and shooting at f/4, f/5.6 or even f/8. Sometimes when I do tight shots (which you may have noticed are a good deal of my shots), even f/9 can give me too shallow a depth of field.

I never shoot wide open just to say I did it and I give it a lot of thought if I am going to use a shallow depth of field, paying careful attention to the various planes and how to accomplish the shot I have in my head.

Like I said, I'm very particular. :)
 
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Rick M

Senior Member
Thanks Robert, good advice. I'm usually struggleing to get over f5 so I'll have to start bumping up the ISO along with some more lighting.
 
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gqtuazon

Gear Head
Robert - do you use Mup when shooting strobes or just use shutter speeds above 1/125 to counter any vibration caused by the mirror slap?
 
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Robert Mitchell

Senior Member
Rick M said:
Thanks Robert, good advice. I'm usually struggleing to get over f5 so I'll have to start bumping up the ISO along with some more lighting.
Click to expand...

Hey Rick,

May I ask why you're struggling to get beyond f/5? Are you using a Speedlight? How far are you placing your light modifier from the subject?
 
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Rick M

Senior Member
Robert Mitchell said:
Hey Rick,

May I ask why you're struggling to get beyond f/5? Are you using a Speedlight? How far are you placing your light modifier from the subject?
Click to expand...

No speedlight, just 3 85w flourescents with umbrellas. I do have an SB 400, but I did not think the direct flash would help. The setup worked pretty good for shots of my son, but was limited to f5, 1/100s at ISO of 500.
 
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Robert Mitchell

Senior Member
gqtuazon said:
Robert - do you use Mup when shooting strobes or just use shutter speeds above 1/125 to counter any vibration caused by the mirror slap?
Click to expand...

Hi Glenn,

I never shoot any portraits using Mirror Up. There's no reason to when using strobes. 1/125s is a standard and generic sync speed that works most strobes, triggers and DSLR's. In some cases you can push sync speed but that's most often done when capturing action or when trying to reduce the ambient contribution on location and outdoors.

Remember that even though the shutter stays open for 1/125s, the burst of light from a strobe is usually 1/800s or better and in many cases it's up around 1/2000s. That becomes your 'effective' shutter speed when there is no ambient contribution, such as when in the studio or an indoor location that doesn't have Sun pouring in through windows.

Shooting on location is another story but in a controlled environment, it's not a problem. You can demonstrate this for yourself by setting up a flash indoors in a room that doesn't have ambient contribution from the Sun. Typically a room lamp and ambient room light isn't a factor. Trigger the flash and take a shot at 1/125s. Next go to maximum sync. Again, this is a combination of camera, trigger and strobe that determines what your maximum sync will be. Let's say it's 1/250s. Take a shot. You won't see any difference between the first and second shot.

Now take a shot at 1/60s. And then take a shot at 1/30s. You should see not difference and all shots should give you a black frame.

As I stated above, this is because you have no ambient contribution, thus making the flash duration of the strobe the effective shutter speed. I shoot with Elinchrom RX series strobes and the flash duration is 1/2050s and the burst of light is only recorded for that time, not the 1/125s I use for sync.

BTW, got your PM. I didn't forget about you. Give me some time and I'll reply a bit later.
 
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Robert Mitchell

Senior Member
Rick M said:
No speedlight, just 3 85w flourescents with umbrellas. I do have an SB 400, but I did not think the direct flash would help. The setup worked pretty good for shots of my son, but was limited to f5, 1/100s at ISO of 500.
Click to expand...

Ah, ok. Low wattage continuous lights are very limiting. You can do static portraiture but as you've already found out, it's not all that flexible.

If you're going to use a Speedlight then you want to get it off camera, behind some diffusion material to diffuse the light and place it so that it acts like a large light source relative to the subject.

Of course, if you like hard light then you don't necessarily need any diffusion and smaller light sources work well, but it is a hard light with a great deal of contrast, and that's not always desirable either.
 
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AxeMan - Rick S.

Senior Member
Robert quick question when using speedlights can you recommend a DIY diffusion material to use.

BTW love you work and thanks for sharing you photo's and settings,
 
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Robert Mitchell

Senior Member
Hi Rick,

Thank you very much.

Diffusion can be accomplished even with something as simple as a white bed sheet or curtain but most DIY's I've made and those I see used use white nylon ripstop, available from places like Joann Fabrics or other fabric stores. I think it sells for about $7 per yard.

You can hang the material about 2 feet in front of the flash head or create a frame using 1/2" or 3/4" PVC tube. Simple and inexpensive and works great. No, it's not the same as using a lightbox but it gets the job done.

When I was first learning about light and lighting I made very simple frames with white diffusion and then advanced to more complex frames that added black panels on the sides to contain more of the light. I've even DIY'ed a huge lightbox with a grid, as seen below.

p1323443578-5.jpg


The most important part in all of this is to diffuse (scatter) the light and have the light source about as far from the subject as the size of the longest dimension on the front face of the panel or material. If we use a 36" square softbox as an example, the optimal distance from the subject is about 1 to 1.5 times the length of the longer edge, and in this case, it's square, which means that you want the front face of the softbox anywhere between about 36" to 54" from the subject.

The concept is to increase the relative size of the light source, thus softening shadow edges and transitions from shadow to diffuse value and from diffuse value to highlight. The larger the light source relative to the subject, the softer the light. This does lower contrast but in a very pleasing way and when it comes to photographing people, in most cases, soft light is pleasing and desirable.

Hope that helps. Any other questions, feel free to ask.
 
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