Photo setup help

[dan_yorkshire]

Hi all.

Last week I bought a lightstand/umbrellas/reflectors and have already been given a chance to use them in anger.

Its only a week away and could do with some guidance. It doesnt need to be anything special but a nicely lit sharp photo.

My mates wife teaches dance to girls in our town and this weekend they are going to perform at the village hall and would like someone to take a photo of each of them to sell to the Mums/Dads and to help pay for their costumes.

The Mums are aware I will be there and I have already been to the venue with my mate quickly to photo his daughters and get some ideas.

Were hoping to get a white background.

(These shots have been heavilly compressed so ignore the quality)

This was the first shot which I like but we need to probably light it more evenly to make it more appealing to Mums

I then tried this setup and it has given more even light but I'm not sure about the shadows

I think the whole setup has been too close. i.e girls too close to background and flash to close to girls. What I think would improve it would be to get them further away from the background and using the bounce umbrella directly from the front rather the shoot-through.

I'm going again tomorrow to get more ideas.

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

 

[mh photography]

My advice here would be to keep it simple. And I dont think a white background is simple, you'll need to light a white background which brings problems of its own.

How many lights do you have?

 

[dan_yorkshire]

I only have one which I fire with CLS.

I totally agree about keeping it simple, its just that I've only just got this gear and am still to discover what simple is... if you know what I mean.

I did have my worries with the white background and thought by moving the girls away from the background and using a suitably low f number that I'd throw whatever background used into a blurred darkness.

 

[dan_yorkshire]

Another shot I tried.

 

[Alastair]

If you bung "portrait lighting" into Google there's a lot of hits, this one has some very basic set-ups illustrated.

How many lights, brollies, stands, etc have you got available?

If you're production-lining through a dozen or more girsl of roughly the same height then mark the spot on the floor, spend a bit of time setting it up while they're getting ready and it's just one after the other.

If you are getting a white background, then reserve one light for the background to get it nice and clean.

If you can't get a white background.. what colour are the curtains in the hall? as long as they are clean they are usually the same colour all the way up. Having said that, I quite like the background of the first one, setting the girl within the room - if the notice in the background was the poster advertising the event rather than what looks like a safety notice then that could be a nice touch. Put a chair in the background and you'd almost have a modern take on the Victorian portrait - either as an unused prop, or a mock ballet bar for the girl to pose with.


The Strobist 101 is the starting point for using off-camera flash.

 

[dan_yorkshire]

Thanks for your reply.

As I only have one light I think I am gonna have to use it straight on, with enough power to light the girls yet not too much so it doesnt light the background.

Have the girls stand a decent distance away from the background and use a smallf number to blur it out.

Need to decide whether to have bare flash, with stofen, shoot through umbrella or bounce umbrella...will have a practice.

Cheers