Two light portrait

[ndwgolf]

This morning was raining so we decided to try our hand at studio portraits at home with 2 x Profoto B1 heads one with a beauty dish the other a strip box shot with my ZF plus Nikkor 135:2.0 ais manual focus lens........... shot at 1/200 ISO 100 F8
Ive been trying to tell Fon that my shirts are too big for her

 

[Garry Edwards]

A nice shot, but perhaps it would be better with a weaker fill, to accentuate the beauty dish effect? And perhaps tilt the face down a bit?

You'll be far too young to remember this, but back in the day there was a shirt manufacturer who used models wearing nothing more than a man's shirt. Strapline: "Looks even better on a man"

I see that you're ignoring my advice to avoid the smiling face - your choice of course.

 

[ndwgolf]

A nice shot, but perhaps it would be better with a weaker fill, to accentuate the beauty dish effect? And perhaps tilt the face down a bit?

I actually thought about that after we packed up for the day, and as soon as I saw the images on the computer made me think okay don't forget to do that next time...........we will see, at nearly 67 my memory is normally only good for a minute or so

 

[ndwgolf]

A nice shot, but perhaps it would be better with a weaker fill, to accentuate the beauty dish effect? And perhaps tilt the face down a bit?

Hay Gary...........is there a rule of thumb for what percentage the fill light should be? I was watching a few Peter Coulson youTube's and he takes lots of portraits in landscape mode, I did one today but think it might look better as a square crop...........the attached below has zero crop.

 

[Gav.]

I think Fon needs to be on the right of frame, looking into space, not away from.

I also think a tighter framing would be better, just below shoulders to top of head, even clipping the head/hair (some may disagree on head clipping but I think it works in some images, we all know what heads look like ).

 

[Garry Edwards]

I agree, I would crop off most of the empty space on the right hand side facing.

Hay Gary...........is there a rule of thumb for what percentage the fill light should be?

Garry thinks that a beauty dish, used correctly, is great for creating shadows under the cheekbone and lower lip. Any amount of fill will reduce that effect.
There are no 'rules' about fill intensity, if there were then lighting would be about as creative as painting by numbers but my working method is to use an on-axis fill, start with it switched off and effectively use it as a mile reflector, and if that isn't enough then try a shot at minimum power, and then go from there.

More fill will make her look 'nice' and less will make her look 'sexy' so, as always, it's a personal choice

 

[ndwgolf]

I think Fon needs to be on the right of frame, looking into space, not away from.

 

[juggler]

Hay Gary...........is there a rule of thumb for what percentage the fill light should be? I was watching a few Peter Coulson youTube's and he takes lots of portraits in landscape mode, I did one today but think it might look better as a square crop...........the attached below has zero crop.

View attachment 423584

The fill can go pretty much anywhere it doesn't cast an extra set of shadows.

That usually means in line with the camera or in line with the key.

 

[ndwgolf]

Here is one I shot this morning with the same beauty dish as the main light but this time the fill light on minimum power at about 45 degrees on the floor pointing up at Fon

 

[Garry Edwards]

Better, IMO but . . .

1.The beauty dish needs to be directly in line with her face, i.e. a fair bit to the right (facing)
2. It needs to be higher
3. The fill light contribution is much better, but still a little over-powered
4. The fill light should not be positioned where it can produce its own set of shadows.
5. But just my personal opinion - I would crop just below her right elbow

But you're getting there

 

[ndwgolf]

We had another bash this morning using the same two lights............there are a couple more over in the NSFW section