Headshots...

[kevy73]

Something a bit different for me. I have been involved in amateur theatre since forever... I was approached by a member of The old Mill Theatre to take some pics - some for front of house, some for the program etc...

These are a 2 flash setup.

1 45 degrees to the subjects right and one at 90 degrees to their left shoulder. The director asked them to wear black for some reason - probably because the play is quite a dark production but it made it a little difficult getting decent separation from the black curtain background though - hence the 90 degree light.

I will also have to spend god knows how long cleaning up one of the females tops - she wore a jacket with a fluffy interior - made a mess of her black top...

I was pretty happy with pics, I don't usually do this kind of thing...

Then we had a play around with darker, more moody side lighting only.....

 

[RocketCowboy]

These turned out well, in my opinion.

The only thing you might have been able to do differently would have been to throw a 3rd light just on the backdrop, maybe with a gel for some dark color. Otherwise I thought these turned out good!

 

[kevy73]

yeah I agree, I was trying to angle the side one enough to illuminate the black curtain a bit too, I only had 2 SB-900's on me, but when I did that the fallof on the shoulder was too great... ahhh well, they were free - they are happy, and I got to try something I don't normally do - was fun.

 

[singlerosa_RIP]

Nice pics. Portraits are a different kinda shoot, although your subjects seemed willing enough. Were you shooting in close quarters? Curious as to why you used the 24-70 vs 85 or 70-200.

 

[Scott Murray]

Very nice shots, I would try with a light directly behind though acting as rim lighting to seperate the person from the backdrop.

 

[kevy73]

24-70 is probably just habit - it is my true and most infinitely trusted lens. It rarely misses, and if it does, it is so miniscule only I really notice it. I was pretty close quarters too. Probably around the 6' mark away from the subject.

 

[kevy73]

Cheers Scott, I had them shotting through an umbrella so behind wasn't that much of an option... unless I lost the brolly...

It was all experience though - next time I would take all 3 speedlights...

Very nice shots, I would try with a light directly behind though acting as rim lighting to seperate the person from the backdrop.

 

[rocketman122]

wow you have alot of cloning to do. for men the moody light is ok, not so good for women though. the side directional light makes them look older than they are. accentuates all imperfections. shape is exaggerated. so if she has a big nose, it will look bigger. even eyebrows look bigger because it makes a shadow that makes it look bigger than it is. I actually like the black background with no light there. u used the rim lighting which gave separation to the hair from the background.


aaand, what was the last guy taking?

wow, I love studio work. even before shooting a single person I was shooting still life like skittles flowers and even fruit. a photographer can never be great without knowing to use flash. good you did something you dont have experience with. always good to get better at our weak areas. most people dont want to deal with the flash.