applying learnings from workshop

[Oz_Beachside]

Hello,

Last night, had a shoot, with great success. Shot 347 images, with over 1/3 as publishable, very happy with the results, applying the learnings from last weeks workshop.

Set up was challenging, I really had to think carefully about lighting this shoot, as one wall had a giant mirror (2x3meters), which initially I saw as my enemy, since I (or my gear) would be visible in most of the shots.

After a few test shots, I thought to myself, a mirror is my best friend, as I can use it as a full power reflector, and from there was able to place three studio flashes on one side of the room, and backlight the subject using a snoot (to narrow the light) and bounce it off the mirror. Found the medium softbox to be too small for full length shots, and the "beauti-dish sunlight reflector a little harsh. Trusty umbrella had a good workout.

Synch lead failures gave me the s%$ts, so the wireless is sooon!!!
C&C lighting, hair, makeup, posing.

One of the ones I like, suitable for this forum...

[Glen]

Oz, very even lighting, came out very well, looks a little soft (though that was probably intentional). You didn't waste time in putting it all into practice

[casnell]

Very nice, only thing I wonder about is the join in the background just behind Kylie's head?

Chris

[bwhinnen]

Love the intensity of Kylie's look. Great capture! Lighting works really well...

[drifter]

Hey OZ . Your getting some great setups and nice looking models too . But your white balance is off . The skin tone looks to have taken on a shade of the wall on her right .
Are you setting WB on each setup or using auto? I think for the type of shooting your doing you should get yourself a grey card for custom WB.Either that or shoot RAW and adjust it later. PS. I'd like to see some of the unsuitable for this forum shots I'm pretty sure anything goes in here provided its tasteful , not gratuitous yada yada yada .

[casnell]

Yeah,I think we need to see more shots to really get a handle on your setup...

Chris

[Oz_Beachside]

Hey OZ . Your getting some great setups and nice looking models too . But your white balance is off . The skin tone looks to have taken on a shade of the wall on her right .
Are you setting WB on each setup or using auto? I think for the type of shooting your doing you should get yourself a grey card for custom WB.Either that or shoot RAW and adjust it later. PS. I'd like to see some of the unsuitable for this forum shots I'm pretty sure anything goes in here provided its tasteful , not gratuitous yada yada yada .

I generally use D70s Cloudy (which is technically "flash"). I have a nice grey card, but havent added it to the set up yet (wanted to remove some variables while I learn some of the new areas); and being only 6 months onto digital from film, WB is another language to me. I understand it, but need to improve.

Um, on point two, I'll take a look at the other pics so you can better appreciate the lighting setup...

[Oz_Beachside]

Yeah,I think we need to see more shots to really get a handle on your setup...

Chris

Ok Chris, for your critique...

This shot shows how I set up a light, with a snoot to concerntrate the light, on the red wall (while hiding my 3 lights from the mirror!!!)

You can see the big mirrow I was talking about, took a lot of concerntration in composition to avoid my mug, or my gear in frame...

Umbrella over camera, round soft box camera right, snoot behind camera left, bouncing to wall camera left.

[drifter]

Really should give it a whirl .Its dead easy to do (even i can do it ! and i'm the worlds worst when it comes to following instructions ) .Do you mind if i do a quick edit with levels ?

[Oz_Beachside]

go ahead, edit away, I like the help

[drifter]

Skin tones in that second shot look a lot better . I'll have a quick levels adj. on your first shot

[Oz_Beachside]

Skin tones in that second shot look a lot better . I'll have a quick levels adj. on your first shot

the first shot I had increased contrast by +10 in PS. And brightness too, by +5, that changed the skin tones, but I think the white dress is a good base for WB, and they look "ok" to me.

[casnell]

Nice second shot as well, I like the highlight on the shoulder and the skin softness effect.

Chris

[drifter]

Manually adjusted levels in the individual chanels (red,green blue not the combined RGB). slight sharpen in USM also .Hope that helps .

Your model looks great .

[drifter]

Skin tones in that second shot look a lot better . I'll have a quick levels adj. on your first shot

the first shot I had increased contrast by +10 in PS. And brightness too, by +5, that changed the skin tones, but I think the white dress is a good base for WB, and they look "ok" to me.

Better to use curves and levels for adjusting contrast and brightness .Yep its more fiddly but you have 100 times more control over the minor details .
The brightness/contrast levers in PS are pretty harsh and should be avoided along with the saturation and sharpness buttons . Shoot a couple of sets in RAW +JPEG and you'll be amazed at the difference in control over your images . I know its a pain when your shooting hundreds of frames but if it gets you the money shot its worth the pain .

[Antsl]

Hi Bruce,

I fell that you are trying to get too much warmth into your images... sometimes it is worth "implying" a colour, usually by having one set of lights at the normal colour balance and then another one warm... often by gelling the light or just using more of the tungsten component. Getting the colour balance and exposure right at the start of the shoot makes life a lot easier down the track when it comes to processing images.

The other thing... what is your monitor setup like and do you have a calibration device on it. I am using an iMac G5 however the one thing I have bought to make it smarter is the Gretag "Huey", a small USB calibration device that takes about 10 minutes to install and it does make a difference to the screen. Worth thinking about.

Cheers for now, Ants

[Oz_Beachside]

thanks for the input all, I'm learning lots fast.

My monitor is straight out of the box, basic samsung 19". I have not looked yet at a calibration device, but I can see by changing from factory settings that WB is presented very differently.

I'm thinking too, that the warmth from a softbox, sunshine ref, umbrella (white/silver/gold) will all be differnt temperature light sources, so all the more reason to measure on site, through grey card.

now, where's that shopping list...

[Oz_Beachside]

Gels have been on back order for a month, so looking at that as a source of color also.

[gstark]

PS. I'd like to see some of the unsuitable for this forum shots I'm pretty sure anything goes in here provided its tasteful , not gratuitous yada yada yada .

Tony,

While this is true, we also need to hold in high regard the respect Bruce (all photographers, really) holds towards his models, plus of course the photgraphers' own choices as to what they believe may or may not be suitable for posting here.

If, for whatever reason, someone chooses to not post an image, it is not our position to second guess that person's judgement.

I know you understand this; I'm merely stating this for clarification and reinforcement.

[Oz_Beachside]

actually, I was looking at dress for WB, but the wall in the background was almost white paint!!!

I can see now how "too warm" my settings are, thanks heaps
Oz

[drifter]

PS. I'd like to see some of the unsuitable for this forum shots I'm pretty sure anything goes in here provided its tasteful , not gratuitous yada yada yada .

Tony,

While this is true, we also need to hold in high regard the respect Bruce (all photographers, really) holds towards his models, plus of course the photgraphers' own choices as to what they believe may or may not be suitable for posting here.

If, for whatever reason, someone chooses to not post an image, it is not our position to second guess that person's judgement.

I know you understand this; I'm merely stating this for clarification and reinforcement.

No worries .

[Oz_Beachside]

Very nice, only thing I wonder about is the join in the background just behind Kylie's head?

Chris

Yes, agree with you Chris, it was in my mind at the time, so some others had that wall/ceiling intersection further from the subject. It is a little distracting I know...

[Oz_Beachside]

PS. I'd like to see some of the unsuitable for this forum shots I'm pretty sure anything goes in here provided its tasteful , not gratuitous yada yada yada .

Tony,

While this is true, we also need to hold in high regard the respect Bruce (all photographers, really) holds towards his models, plus of course the photgraphers' own choices as to what they believe may or may not be suitable for posting here.

If, for whatever reason, someone chooses to not post an image, it is not our position to second guess that person's judgement.

I know you understand this; I'm merely stating this for clarification and reinforcement.

Thanks Gary, thanks Tony. I have no worries either, its fine.

I guess I select carefully primarily beacause I value the wonderful feedback I get in this forum, and want to make sure feedback is based on the lighting (and other technical areas of improvement) rather than the content. And I also do not want to compromise the appropriateness of material in this helpful environment.

Best Regards,
Oz

[Oz_Beachside]

Manually adjusted levels in the individual chanels (red,green blue not the combined RGB). slight sharpen in USM also .Hope that helps .

Your model looks great .

My monitor deffinitely is too cold, as this adjusted version from Tony looks cold blue on my monitor...

[Oz_Beachside]

I am sincerely greatful for all the help I get in this forum, your feedback steers and guides my development, so thanks to all!

I thought I should show what I have learnt through this thread, and the adjustments I have made.

Thanks to Antsl, and WB feedback from Tony, I have just calibrated my monitor with a Pantone/Gretag "Huey". Makes a big difference. My monitor was too cold, and therfore I was compensating by pushing levels to warm up my pics, but they must have been bright orange on other monitors. (FYI, was $159 from http://www.streetwise.com.au/product_info.php?products_id=4852 )

Then, I took the original, cropped the top a little due to the red/white intersection of wall to ceiling paint above models head - thanks Casnell.

From the camera, using preprogrammed "D70s-Cloudy" was too warm, so adjusted levels in PS-CS2, simply using "Auto Levels".

I have practised and am now comfortable with WB-PRE with my grey card, so will be using it next shoot.

So, in conclusion, here is the first post, followed by todays adjsutements after above steps; whaddya think?

thanks in advance, Oz

[Antsl]

Hi Bruce,

Pleased to see that you bought the Huey, I think they are good value for the money. I will probably go out and buy something more advanced one day however I do not see much point for the moment while I am working in an office space that is afffected by variable daylight.

Now, having the screen calibrated is just the start of things for you! Having achieved a neutral result the next task is to learn to apply colour temperature back into the image for creative effect. To do this you are better off getting the image looking good and then gently tweaking a little warmth back into the image until you see what you like. It is not easy!

Talk soon,
Ants

[Oz_Beachside]

Agree. I thought it was too cool for the look I was after, when "auto levels" was applied. I think it was, as you say, "neutral."

Bumped a little with contrast and brightness.

Closer to what we are after.


Just thinking ahead, are there ways I can make these changes in camera? Say if I was on location, and images were cool, could I bump them in the camera? Or am I better leaving them raw, and batch processing, with say a batch conversion package liek iRFanview?

how this look?

[drifter]

Just thinking ahead, are there ways I can make these changes in camera? Say if I was on location, and images were cool, could I bump them in the camera? Or am I better leaving them raw, and batch processing, with say a batch conversion package liek iRFanview?

how this look?

Hey Oz .Great to see things coming along nicely .

I'd shoot RAW and batch them if your shooting under the same lighting conditions .But if you want to fine tune on the job you could with a light meter set the WB according to kelvins (the 'K' setting in the WB setup ,may be different on a Nikon ) Then you could raise or lower the 'K' level till you get the desired effect .Kelvins are the light level reading thingamajig . As an example daylight (according to the WB register in my RAW convertor) is 5500K and a fluro light source is 3800K . Lowering the 'K'number from the cameras interpretation of white the bluer the picture looks .The higher the 'K' number the yellower it gets .I don't know the intricacies of it .(That'd be crossing over into nerd /pedant territory )and that is a really rough guide and i hope someone else chimes in with a more technical post .

[gooseberry]

Oz, I missed your original posting.

Good work with the portraiture, and with the reworked image. Although I think your reworked image does have a touch of too much yellow in it. I hope you don't mind, but I thought I'd have a little play at adjusting your original image - I'll take it down at your request, but just wanted to show you something I came up with. It's a little posterised as your original jpeg image had some posterisation in it due to jpeg compression and my playing with the image brought it out more.

[gooseberry]

Also, you might want to consider adding another flash or light onto the wall in the background to reduce/remove that shadow that is being cast by the model.