Beginner Learning my way.... Need help/opinions.

[Tom CH]

Hey Guys,

I'm sorry if this is in the wrong place, I've just joined up to talk photography after reading the forums for months and months as a non-member!

Basically what I'm doing is re-creating a number of popular portrait/full portrait shots using my home studio, purely to improve my understanding of lighting and studio set ups (Diving in at the deep end is how I roll).

Now these 2 pictures below are my next self-set project....

My opinion on this would be a single light located to camera left, slightly above head height of the model. With the model being about 2 metres from the background????

The things that stump me are...
- Is the background A) a poorly lit white seamless or B) a dull lit grey/black seamless. OR is the background infact vinyl (I guess from the slight floor reflection)??
- What attachment is on the light (my first guess was a barn door with some sort of diffuser).
- What clear visible Photoshop/manipulation work has been done apart from the obvious monochrome effect.
- What Focal length has been used? (approximately)

I have willing models in my area that I am friendly with and are always up for improving their own portfolios, so that is not an issue.

My equipment is limited with me just starting out but I currently own:
Nikon D3300 with standard 18-55 mm lens
Nikon AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G
2 300w Strobes with 2 70x70 softbox.
2 45w slave flash bulbs in a E27 Clamp stand (I use for background)
2 x 85 cm Shoot through white umbrella's
2 x 85 cm Silver reflective umbrella's
2 yongnuo speedlite's with GN 58
1 Seamless Chroma Green backdrop
1 Polar White seamless backdrop



P.S. I am probably going to get laughed at by the more advanced forum members but hey ! Everyone has to start somewhere

Thanks in advance.

 

[sk66]

- Is the background A) a poorly lit white seamless or B) a dull lit grey/black seamless. OR is the background infact vinyl (I guess from the slight floor reflection)??
White Vinyl

- What attachment is on the light (my first guess was a barn door with some sort of diffuser).
My guess is bare bulb/reflector

- What clear visible Photoshop/manipulation work has been done apart from the obvious monochrome effect.
Nothing terribly obvious IMO. Probably contrast.

- What Focal length has been used? (approximately)
Guessing ~35-55mm unless the studio was huge.

 

[Garry Edwards]

Yes, white background and probably vinyl, you can see that it's white from the spilled light on its floor.

With respect, you can work out the rest of it just by looking at the shots, and deconstructing the image in this way is the best way of understanding it.
You can see that the light is pretty small by the harsh shadows, so either a standard reflector or a small beauty dish.
You can see how high the light is by where the shadows fall
You can see how distant the light (relative of course to its size) is by again looking at the shadows, and especially on the floor

Focal length? Don't know and it doesn't matter much anyway