Critique The Boy

rusticblonde

rusticblonde

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Kirsty
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A recent shoot i did. I am aware the light is harsh (from other feedback) and i will look into getting a good softbox for the speedlite. (Suggestions welcomed). Would u use a static light for this or speedlite to softly light his features? (I have also noticed after the shoot that he had food round his mouth.. .... nightmare!!! XD)View attachment 93749 View attachment 93750 DSC_4325.-1jpg.jpg
 
Phil V said:
More important than what you lit with, the light is too low (by about 4 feet).
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Ah ok, I know this was on the floor (i think), at a fair whack of power, so i guess on that note its a learning curve. I will look into an Octobox next time for these.

Thanks
 
Sir SR said:
The light is just too harsh.

You seem to know what's wrong with it, what critique were you wanting/expecting?

Also careful of chopping through joints and awkward arm positions. Difficult with kids I know.
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I wanted someone to confirm my suspicions (im learning lighting and composition slowly lol). No thats a great point. Thanks for this feedback reference his stance :)
 
rusticblonde said:
ok so on this note. The boy is about 4ft id say (not much more), so i guess this needed really to be shot double his size?
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No, the top of the light should have been touching the ceiling (ish)

Whenever you're considering lighting...

Remember there's only one sun and it's above us.

When you were having sleepovers, did you used to put a torch under your chin to tell scary stories?

We do that because lighting from below looks unnatural, it makes us look 'odd', so not really a look we'd choose for a portrait, unless we're doing a Halloween shoot.
 
Phil V said:
No, the top of the light should have been touching the ceiling (ish)

Whenever you're considering lighting...

Remember there's only one sun and it's above us.

When you were having sleepovers, did you used to put a torch under your chin to tell scary stories?

We do that because lighting from below looks unnatural, it makes us look 'odd', so not really a look we'd choose for a portrait, unless we're doing a Halloween shoot.
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Good analogy. So wished i had some natural light in this room i did it in, the light was meh hence the speedlite. I will bare this in mind however. I am looking at octoboxes now. Would you suggest a 130cm is a good size?
 
Phil V said:
Whenever you're considering lighting...

Remember there's only one sun and it's above us.
Click to expand...

Also remember that not everything has to look as if it's lit by the sun (highlighted here by people saying the light is too harsh and suggesting softboxes, etc. which is nothing like the sun).

As long as you know what you want to achieve you can light from anywhere you like. Just look at these you've taken. Look at the highlights and the shadows, and note the effect they have. Work out and understand why they look the way they do given how you lit them.

In a similar vein, there is nothing at all wrong with 'harsh' lighting, unless you were aiming for soft lighting.
 
Of course we don't always want 'soft' light James is perfectly correct, but in England 'sunlight' is soft except for 5 days in the summer when the clouds disappear :p

The lighting section has much more detail than I'd posted here, I think of 'natural looking' light as being the default position we use as a start point.
 
Phil V said:
Of course we don't always want 'soft' light James is perfectly correct, but in England 'sunlight' is soft except for 5 days in the summer when the clouds disappear :p

The lighting section has much more detail than I'd posted here, I think of 'natural looking' light as being the default position we use as a start point.
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Do we have sunlight in the UK XD.... i hadnt noticed lol! No thanks for this, I will have a read over it :)
 
Jayst84 said:
Also remember that not everything has to look as if it's lit by the sun (highlighted here by people saying the light is too harsh and suggesting softboxes, etc. which is nothing like the sun).

As long as you know what you want to achieve you can light from anywhere you like. Just look at these you've taken. Look at the highlights and the shadows, and note the effect they have. Work out and understand why they look the way they do given how you lit them.

In a similar vein, there is nothing at all wrong with 'harsh' lighting, unless you were aiming for soft lighting.
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Thanks for that outlook, its made alot of sense :)
 
A good starting point, whether using hard or soft light, and whether lighting from the front or the side: aim to have the nose shadow falling downwards but not touching the top lip. In this case it falls upwards and touches his eye.

As always, even this isn't a hard and fast rule - but be aware that as soon as you break it that you're going off piste.
 
juggler said:
A good starting point, whether using hard or soft light, and whether lighting from the front or the side: aim to have the nose shadow falling downwards but not touching the top lip. In this case it falls upwards and touches his eye.

As always, even this isn't a hard and fast rule - but be aware that as soon as you break it that you're going off piste.
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Someone suggested to me to get a 3D program and play around with light to get a little idea of casting. Its the 1st real time ive played around with OCF in its entirity, so this is a total new thing for me :) Thanks for the above thou, i will look out for this.
 
juggler said:
A good starting point, whether using hard or soft light, and whether lighting from the front or the side: aim to have the nose shadow falling downwards but not touching the top lip. In this case it falls upwards and touches his eye.

As always, even this isn't a hard and fast rule - but be aware that as soon as you break it that you're going off piste.
Click to expand...

I will also "try" and not break it. I want to be a good photographer XD
 
While I don't suggest lighting with an anglepoise desk lamp, they are very useful for seeing how light from differing angles affect modelling on faces. and working out where to set your speed lights. as you can see the changes as you move them about.
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
While I don't suggest lighting with an anglepoise desk lamp, they are very useful for seeing how light from differing angles affect modelling on faces. and working out where to set your speed lights. as you can see the changes as you move them about.
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Or a studio head with modelling light
 
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