Sandy's profesional studio. New pix again!!!!

[Ceej]

Hello:)

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a lazy photographer, camera set to auto, and flash, Point and shoot, but there have been instances where I needed to use ambient light (no flash) but I never got satisfactory results, been quite frustrating really.
Sometime last week I was in chat and mentioned this.....a few minutes later Gren showed me this on Amazon. Thanks Gren for showing me this set of lights, they work very well.



its only $49 US, $65 Canadian. it seemed too good to be true, I read through all the comments and there were some negative ones as well as positive ones....I decided to take the gamble and order the set.
It arrived a few days ago and I took some preliminary shots...its much better than just using ambient light, but I still have a lot to learn, positioning etc.


Here are a few shots comparing different lighting,

I did not set the camera's white balance for these shots though I will try that in the future, this is a shot with the studio lights no post colour balancing:


The same shot after adjusting the colours a bit with photoshop:


and the same shot using the studio lights with the camera's flash, no post colour adjustments:


And here's a long shot showing Sandy hard at work in our new studio:


you may notice that lights have a back reflector, I made these up using a cheap bowl from the dollar store. they do help direct more light through the umbrella and make a noticeable improvement.
They can be set up such the light reflects off the umbrella instead of shining through, but set up this way less light shines on the subject than letting the light shine through the umbrella.
In certain instances I may end up using both the lights and the flash. The brilliance of the sequin dress seems to shine best this way. I also want to comment that using the studio lights or studio lights and flash, the colours of the dress show up more accurately, the way they appear when you see Sandy in it in person!



After this test shot we tried another few pix. again I used the camera's auto white balance and post colour processing.

[mannequindisplay]

I have two flashes as I will set one somewhere on a little base for back light sometimes and I have a umbrella as well .. I was thinking on getting a second one so I can have another on the other side of my subject and will get no shadow at all on my subject    limited space in a Condo to set them up     Her dress lights up more then just using ambient lighting




 

[grenouille]

It looks fabulous Ceej !

Colours pop and shines and sandy too 

I can see more contrast and definition to your pictures already 

That kit rocks

[incred]

What really makes the difference is the color of the light. Full spectrum bulbs are around 5200K in color. I use 23watt florescent bulbs 5000K in color.

I think your best picture is the one with the lights in it. Sandy has the best skin color in that pic. How or where you position the lights will make a difference in the colors, shadows, and brightness.

Another thing to play with is the +/- button. That will make the picture lighter or darker. (respectively)

[Ceej]

Thanks for the compliments and tips guys
Advice is always welcome

Inced, the kit comes with 5200K lights and maybe that's why there is a slight bluish look vs the 5000k lights you use. atleast I can work with this. Next I'll try the manual white balance.
I might also try a set of 5000k lights to see if that helps too. May I ask, how many lights you use when you do a photo set?

I'll admit I do have to learn a lot about how to best position the lights. and I'll have to look for a +/- button, cause that would sure help.

I looked though some old camera equipment I got when I was young and found a remote flash that screws into a light socket. so I might also experiment with that on one of the umbrellas.

[incred]

Here are a couple pics showing different light, or how light position effects the picture.

This one is just natural light coming through the window with sheer drapes, and indirect sun light;



with the light through the sheers the light is defused, so you don't get harsh shadows, and even though it was sunny the sun wasn't shining through to make the light intense. That is why the light looks more blue.

This next one I added a light to the front and side. Actually it is one light that I moved from the front to the side while the picture was being exposed. I set the camera on a tripod, and the exposure is about 1/2 - 1 second long.



This still has the natural light at her rear, but as the bulb light moves around it will light the rest of her body but not make hard shadows. However this will also mean you loose some definition. It will make her butt look flat.

I solved this in the last picture by keeping the bulb light more on the side, and higher so a shadow will show in her butt cleavage, and under butt 



The number of lights depends on what you are looking for. I know it isn't much help, but the look and situation changes the lighting positions, and number.

In the above pics there are two light sources. The natural light and one clamp light.

In this next pic I used one light, but I used a shade, with a 3-4 inch hole, held a few inches away to make a soft spotlight.
I think you can see the effect I was going for 



Sometimes I use a light just for the background, this way the there are less of a shadow on the wall with the lights from the front, or sides. Dottie is close to the wall, but with a light to her back facing the wall it moved the shadow to her front, but I also "waved" a light to her right side to make soft shadows, and to make shadows in the right places (cleavage) 



This is what happens when you don't. See the modifier shadow on the wall:



Sometimes I want a shadow so you have to either take the modifier out, or hide it 

[Ceej]

Thanks Incred:)

I'll have to try some of those ideas. often I cant get Sandy's bum to look as good on photos, and what you say makes sense.
As you show, every situation is unique.

[Camp]

Prepare for more !!!...

[life-is-plastic]

Just a suggestion Ceej: consider lining those bowls you added with alu-foil; that way even more light will be thrown into your umbrellas, plus you might even be able to use them as standard reflectors without umbrellas for more directional light (harder shadows).

[Ceej]

Thanks. That's not a bad idea!

[Ceej]

Part 2! With the kindly advice that I have been able to try today I have much better results.
Life-is-plastic, I haven't yet had the time to alter the bowls, but I intend to and thanks for the suggestion.

Ok  This time other than resizing, cropping, and the "CJD" stamp, there is NO post production, no colour changes! no brightness/contrast/exposure changes!
This time I used the camera's manual white balance instead of the auto white balance. Upon the advice from the photo store, I used an 18% grey card to set it.
Also I found Incred's kewl little +- button on my camera. Thanks Incred for introducing it to me! I'll be using it all the time now when ever I use the studio lights.
I set up the studio in the den where there is more room to space the lights out further and vary their placements, which helped greatly.

Though I still have a lot to figure out about light positioning I think I'm off to a good start.
For a "base setting" I placed the main light High and to Sandy's right. another was placed to her left, lower and further away from her than the main light. the accent light was placed low and far, slightly off center to Sandy's right, except for 2 photos where it was placed to Sandy's far right and low. I placed it as far away as I could, but it was still too close as its glare washes over the image in the 2 photos.

Ok to the photos, the first 3 show the same photo. first is with the studio lights and flash ( the flash over powers the lights ), the second is with the studio lights only and AWB as in my previous set, and the third is with the studio lights and using the manual white balance.









The next 5 are all photos taken with Sandy in various outfits, using the studio lights and using manual white balance:


This one I used the image where I set the +- to minus 2 clicks.


+- button set to minus 1 click.   IMHO best colours on that dress yet!


+- button not adjusted. accent light placed to reveal the "See thoroughness" of her dress.


+- button set minus 2 clicks. again accent light set as in the previous photo.


+- button not adjusted. IMHO skin tones turned out beautiful!


Next thing I need to try is to lock the shutter speed at a faster rate, so long as the aperture can open up more. because even on the tripod (not the strongest of tripods) and hands off the camera, (shutter set on a timer) some photos came out blurrier than others.

[litlluvr]

That one came out really good Ceej! Nice skintone and the colors come out nicely
on Sandy's dress.

Keep up the great work!

litlluvr, Yoshe, Amiko, Marla, and Michiko.

[Ceej]

Thank-you LL

[Polaroid]

what is the amazon link ? Forgive me if it is posted and I just missed it.

[Ceej]

Sorry, I never did post it.

here it is for US customers: http://www.amazon.com/LimoStudio-Photography-Portrait-Umbrella-Continuous-Lighting/dp/B005FHZ2SI/ref=sr_1_1?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1402185786&sr=1-1#productDetails

and here for Canadian customers: http://www.amazon.ca/Cowboystudio-Photography-Umbrella-Continuous-Lighting/dp/B003WLY24O/ref=sr_1_25?ie=UTF8&qid=1402274153&sr=8-25&keywords=light+umbrella