Nursery Shoot

I've found a Lastolite HiLite can be pretty handy to take to a really tight location... it has its own challenges of course but stops your bg lights getting on your subject.
 
great poses but you need to work on the exposure difference between foreground and background. Probably too much reflected light from the background.
 
I think a little work in camera raw would save these quite easily. If you have CS4, you could use the adjustment brush to lower the exposure on the faces while keeping the background white.
 
This one suffered from the same overly bright backdrop so have toned the raw file:

3997027917_e45d9ae561_o.jpg


Gary.
 
Mum and Daughter will love that last one! They both obviously have a thing for pink so the chair will go down a treat. Ok there is some light bleed issues but I highly doubt that will affect your sales as otherwise its a great shot.
 
Thats a great shot Gary, very natural pose and expression.
 
some really good poses (posers?) there!
 
Im not sure if it's my mac, but the skin tones look odd, the last one is very pink in the face.

Some nice poses but the over bright background and blown areas of skin spoil the set.

Keep practicing :)
 
digitalfailure said:
Im not sure if it's my mac, but the skin tones look odd, the last one is very pink in the face.

Some nice poses but the over bright background and blown areas of skin spoil the set.

Keep practicing :)
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A bit too pink in the face here to, but other than that it's :clap:
 
EdinburghGary said:
This one suffered from the same overly bright backdrop so have toned the raw file:


Gary.
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I love all the poses, I think you have captured the kids really nicely and their folks will love them.

This shot is better for the PP work you have done to it. Be interesting to see other shots to compare the skin tone (that don't have a huge - but cool - pink chair in it).
 
Guys what's the low down on skin tones? What do I need to know? :).

Gary.
 
EdinburghGary said:
Guys what's the low down on skin tones? What do I need to know? :).

Gary.
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The last shot with the chair looks much better but still not quite right.

I think the faces have lost detail through simply being overexposed, I remember reading something about skin and specular highlights but I could be wrong. Had similar problems myself when the studio lights we up a notch or two too high. Have you got a light meter? I'd concentrate on getting the exposure of the faces spot on, even if it means the floor needs more PP...
 
^^^^^^^^^^^
I would agree - the tendency is to concentrate on getting a white bg - and sort the faces out in PP - should be the other way around - get the face right in camera - sort anything else in PP! It's not easy.
 
EdinburghGary said:
Guys what's the low down on skin tones? What do I need to know? :).
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How do you set your WB, Gary? Do you do a reference shot of a grey card at the start of the set to sync to?

I suppose it's possible you may even be getting a little bounce of red light from the pink chair/top onto her face, maybe getting her to hold a grey card in front of her face for the first shot may come in handy later on... :shrug:

FWIW, it doesn't look a million miles out on my monitor (a new Mac 30" which 'should' be pretty accurate... I hope!), assuming she's got a fairly ruddy complexion to start with.
 
As a 1st attempt I suppose they aren't too bad - if we allow you some give on the way overexposed bits; the background having too much effect backlighting the subject; some slightly odd skin tones (you didn't set your WB to flash did you? That's rarely right); the 'Grey mopping' being sloppy so you've actually bleached onto the subject; and what looks like red-eye in the first shot especially

The poses - well with kids this small you rarely get direction making sense to them, so it's often a case of just shooting what they give you; though for those slightly old enough to take direction I have a series of poses that they all go through, and it's more of a 'Can you do what I'm doing' way to gain direction & control (sometimes:D)

As for PP - aside from dealing with the Grey mopping - this should be a batch process only, if it needs more specific PP than that you're not shooting it right in the first place

This white-room stuff is soooooo easy isn't it :)

DD
 
psenior1 said:
The last shot with the chair looks much better but still not quite right.

I think the faces have lost detail through simply being overexposed, I remember reading something about skin and specular highlights but I could be wrong. Had similar problems myself when the studio lights we up a notch or two too high. Have you got a light meter? I'd concentrate on getting the exposure of the faces spot on, even if it means the floor needs more PP...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice - I will google the things you mention...

awp said:
^^^^^^^^^^^
I would agree - the tendency is to concentrate on getting a white bg - and sort the faces out in PP - should be the other way around - get the face right in camera - sort anything else in PP! It's not easy.
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Nope, not easy. With time I hope, will get easier.

pearce_jj said:
They are too washed out for my own taste.
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Thanks for the feedback dude.

sheridant said:
great poses from the kids
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Ta, these guys were cool. A few of them were absolutely NOT wanting photos taken, completely withdrawn and shy. It was a little frustrating at times.

Flashman said:
How do you set your WB, Gary? Do you do a reference shot of a grey card at the start of the set to sync to?

I suppose it's possible you may even be getting a little bounce of red light from the pink chair/top onto her face, maybe getting her to hold a grey card in front of her face for the first shot may come in handy later on... :shrug:

FWIW, it doesn't look a million miles out on my monitor (a new Mac 30" which 'should' be pretty accurate... I hope!), assuming she's got a fairly ruddy complexion to start with.
Click to expand...

Ta,

I shot my lowerpro bag, and I had it on "FLASH" in camera...I think there is some reflection from the chair.


DiddyDave said:
As a 1st attempt I suppose they aren't too bad - if we allow you some give on the way overexposed bits; the background having too much effect backlighting the subject; some slightly odd skin tones (you didn't set your WB to flash did you? That's rarely right); the 'Grey mopping' being sloppy so you've actually bleached onto the subject; and what looks like red-eye in the first shot especially

The poses - well with kids this small you rarely get direction making sense to them, so it's often a case of just shooting what they give you; though for those slightly old enough to take direction I have a series of poses that they all go through, and it's more of a 'Can you do what I'm doing' way to gain direction & control (sometimes:D)

As for PP - aside from dealing with the Grey mopping - this should be a batch process only, if it needs more specific PP than that you're not shooting it right in the first place

This white-room stuff is soooooo easy isn't it :)

DD
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I will need to pick you brains I think :D I feel like I am getting close at times, and other times I feel completely lost. I will master it, as I won't be able to run the shop if I don't!

Thanks for all the help and comments guys.
Gary.
 
Guys,

Can I ask how I would use my light metre to help measure the correct lighting? This will sound extremely noobish, but how does the light metre take account of the flash?

Gary.
 
The flash meter will advise you what F stop to set. Shutter speed has little effect on the exposure as long as its longer than the synch speed of the camera and fast enough not to allow the available light to have an effect.

Is that what you were asking?

stew
 
artona said:
The flash meter will advise you what F stop to set. Shutter speed has little effect on the exposure as long as its longer than the synch speed of the camera and fast enough not to allow the available light to have an effect.

Is that what you were asking?

stew
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Not really. I literally have ZERO idea how to measure light for a studio shoot.

Gary.
 
I've not used a meter with speedlights but think you need a PC-hotshoe adaptor, plug into the meter via sync lead and fire the strobe that way (after setting shutter speed and ISO)...
 
psenior1 said:
I've not used a meter with speedlights but think you need a PC-hotshoe adaptor, plug into the meter via sync lead and fire the strobe that way (after setting shutter speed and ISO)...
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Most flash meters have a function where you can make them 'wait' for the flash, so you don't need to sync the test for firing - but having 2 people would make it easier

DD
 
I might be over simplifying this, but why do you need a meter. Can you not just play around with no customers to get it right, and then use those settings for EVERY shoot thereafter?

BTW... we have some Venture pics of Holly, and the background isn't actually white, it's a very pale grey.
 
68lbs said:
I might be over simplifying this, but why do you need a meter. Can you not just play around with no customers to get it right, and then use those settings for EVERY shoot thereafter?

BTW... we have some Venture pics of Holly, and the background isn't actually white, it's a very pale grey.
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If you ALWAYS have the same set-up (or even a fixed range of set-ups) then yes, you can do without a meter - as Schools photographers do - but it's a Hell of a lot easier, especially when you're starting out and working on those set-ups, if you have a meter

The Venture shots I'm used to are white - maybe your chap got it wrong??? :p

DD
 
DiddyDave said:
The Venture shots I'm used to are white - maybe your chap got it wrong??? :p
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Well, I do look at them now and find them a lot less impressive than when they were taken 4+ years ago.
 
artona said:
If we are talking about how to actually use the meter. I just set my lights up, switch them on, walk over to the subject, switch my meter on, point it back to the light source with the invacone on and then use one of the below to fire the guns. I then put the prolinca back onto the camera hot shoe to trigger the flash/s

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-elinchrom-prolinca-i-r-transmitter/p1004773

stew
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Me too - exactly in fact - I was just pointing out you didn't need a separate trigger or a long sync lead too :D

DD
 
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