Vertical Full length Portraits: film or digital, just tell us how you lit it!

Let's celebrate the full length portrait!

I had an unexpected call for a portrait today for a musician trio's publicity pictures.

Lighting: Unfortunately, I had only one Lumedyne 50-200 W/S/ light working. I used 50 W/S setting with one light in a 7" reflector shining into an 8ft vertical V of white styrofoam (two panels of 8ftx2 ft hinged to form a V) and the reflected light comes baqck through a large white umbrella. The umbrella is above and 45 degrees to subjects and to one side and the other side is another vertical V of white styrofoam card to reflect light back from the other side of the subjects who stand in from to white seamless.




This is part of a set of images I'll prepare. I thought I'd share the image as processed from Phase One's Capture One software. The main work to be done is whitening background, no big deal.

Asher

Please dig up your film/digital full length vertical portraits and tell us how you achieved the lighting! come on guys! Let's see the range of work we can share together!

Asher

Hi Asher,

As my experience with studio shooting and lighting equipment is next to zero, I had initially chosen to wait for the experts to chime in here. In the meantime, I can say that I like the pose and the smiles they wore. The picture is as such a successful portrait for sure. The thing I am curious about is the uniform distribution of luminosity! The upper part is much lighter and the faces are a bit washed out and the WB seems to be a tad off too? I am sure this can be corrected easily in the pp. Thanks for sharing

Cheers,

Well to set the bar fairly low and thereby make it very easy for everyone to participate – tell me what you think of this (aside from its being a tad on the dark side... I lightened it up for printing)...


Nill

Nill Toulme said:

Well to set the bar fairly low and thereby make it very easy for everyone to participate – tell me what you think of this (aside from its being a tad on the dark side... I lightened it up for printing)...

Nill

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This is a picture of a delightful and likely well educated young woman in a home where folk worked hard and had good values. The red dress is likely the most aggressve she has and is not representative of her nature, which I feel is a tad more reserved.

Asher

I thought I'd boost this thread by adding another picture take with just 50 watt.seconds of energy but split this time to two 7" lumedyne heads bounced of styrofoam cored board through large white umbrellas as is my custom.



This picture is processed in Capture One from RAW with slight exposure adjustment only and no other processing as yet save a tad of sharpening. It's part of a far larger series of candidate images for a new program for advanced and especially talented younger music students to give them access to world class Conservatory level faculty, even though they are not of college age. This new program is for the most exceptional students and will be a prestigious and valuable source of experience for those few who make it through selection performances.

Asher

] In the meantime, I can say that I like the pose and the smiles they wore.[/quote]

These guys are actually so nervous as they are trying to put together an application for a competition the deadline to met that night!

Cem_Usakligil said:

The picture is as such a successful portrait for sure. The thing I am curious about is the uniform distribution of luminosity!

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She's in a uniform lighting "bowl".

Cem_Usakligil said:

The upper part is much lighter and the faces are a bit washed out and the WB seems to be a tad off too? I am sure this can be corrected easily in the pp. Thanks for sharing

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Yes, I light evenly but it does drop off lower down, but not a lot. Its difficult to do the output for 3 different skin types. In this version, I compromised for now as it had to leave immediately.

Thanks for dropping by and your support!

Asher

Asher I ran off about 110 of those that night — up-against-the-wall-and-shoot-'em. Lit only with on-camera 580ex with original Gary Fong Lightsphere, bounced off ceiling. And that was just the warm-up — then I shot the dance.

The worst thing was I forgot the watch-your-background rule. See the brass light on top of the painting? For more than a few of the taller kids, it appears as some sort of strange headgear. Fortunately nobody has complained about it yet... and for some of them, like this one, it provides a salutary "halo" effect. ;-)

Nill

Nill Toulme said:

Asher I ran off about 110 of those that night — up-against-the-wall-and-shoot-'em. Lit only with on-camera 580ex with original Gary Fong Lightsphere, bounced off ceiling. And that was just the warm-up — then I shot the dance.

The worst thing was I forgot the watch-your-background rule. See the brass light on top of the painting? For more than a few of the taller kids, it appears as some sort of strange headgear. Fortunately nobody has complained about it yet... and for some of them, like this one, it provides a salutary "halo" effect. ;-)

Nill

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Nill,

The lighting is wonderful. Gary Fong did a great job. It makes me wonder why Canon, Nikon, Pentax and the rest haven't figured out a way to do it better themselves. I love the effect of the brass. It is a great accent and so are the two lights one either side. We should take note of this and it proves that yet another one of the so-called "rules" of basic photography are worth ignoring from time to time. If the background were changed, the value of the portrait would be decreased considerably.

So is she a good student?

Asher

I don't know... I didn't have time to exchange many words with her or the other 109 other than "a little to the left please dear," or "button that top button young man." ;-)

It wasn't a matter of ignoring the rule, it was forgetting it. I did in fact choose the location and background reasonably carefully, as the best I could find in that club. But if I'd been paying closer attention, I could have moved the camera up a bit as necessary for the subject's height so as to avoid the "funny hat" syndrome, or worse yet the dreaded "robot ears," see below example. But I was lazy and sitting in a chair...


But yes I do love that Fong Lightsphere, even if it does look like a tupperware salad bowl sitting on top of the camera (speaking of "funny hat syndrome") ...

Nill

Nill,

I was told by a professor, "If the patient does well, take credit, if the patient is really screwed up, get off the case so you don't get the blame!

You should take credit for the Nill Toulme angel effect as it is wonderful. I plan to use it myself! The picture with the brass bar going through this guys head is his own fault for standing in the wrong place! However, if need be, you could remove it with no sweat, blood or anesthetic!

Asher

Asher Kelman said:

I was told by a professor, "If the patient does well, take credit, if the patient is really screwed up, get off the case so you don't get the blame!

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Reminds me of my Criminal Law professor, who told us on the first day of class, "If you only remember one thing from this course, remember this — when that big green door slams shut, make sure you're on the outside!"

And sure enough, that's the only thing I remember from that class. ;-)

Nill

Asher Kelman said:

Asher Kelman: Cellist Age 14 in Green Dress​

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This is a beautiful portrait Asher, she´s very charming and your lighting technique works quite well.

Asher Kelman said:

I thought I'd boost this thread by adding another picture take with just 50 watt.seconds of energy but split this time to two 7" lumedyne heads bounced of styrofoam cored board through large white umbrellas as is my custom.

Asher Kelman: Cellist Age 14 in Green Dress​

This picture is processed in Capture One from RAW with slight exposure adjustment only and no other processing as yet save a tad of sharpening. It's part of a far larger series of candidate images for a new program for advanced and especially talented younger music students to give them access to world class Conservatory level faculty, even though they are not of college age. This new program is for the most exceptional students and will be a prestigious and valuable source of experience for those few who make it through selection performances.

Asher

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What an absolutely lovely image! In my mind this works so well for so many reasons. Here we have an obviously gifted young lady. To reach her level of musical ability requires immense talent, maturity, and focus.
And, you have also managed to capture a wonderful image of a young girl. It's present in her pose, in her smile and with the tilt of her head!
Nicely done and I'd like to see more!

Ruben Alfu said:

This is a beautiful portrait Asher, she´s very charming and your lighting technique works quite well.

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Thanks, Ruben, for visiting. This was one of the most enjoyable shoots I've done. It's one thing to photograph a nice person. That's always satisfying. It's, however, a special privilege to be able to work with talented people whi are at the beginnings of blossoming in their music career. I really am so impressed by the level of music. She played from 3 concertos, Dvořák, Bach and Shostakovitz and then , be be more fun and less "formal", the Cello part of a trio. I was simple inspired. So the picture represents to me so many facets of this young player's talent.

Asher

Well Done

Asher,

The Cellist shot is pretty close to perfect. The three musicians is ok - the multiple skin tones isn't as even as you could make it but that is not an easy task sooc.


Niel, The brass earmuffs are pretty funny. Every so often we forget something so basic as looking
beyond the subject for object that may appear bigger in the rearview mirror.

Off to process today's ballerina who refused to remove the princess dress prop and put on the tutu.

Miss Wells County

Lighting. Fill light behind and above the camera (a 4 x 6 softbox turned horizontally) a 24 x 36 softbox at camera left up high aimed down, a hairlight (a 12 x 12 softbox) above and slightly behind her head aimed down and forward, and a home made background light above her aimed toward the background metered to give me the same exposure on the background as the fill light is. Lastly a strobe in a pattern projector aimed at the background and metered the same as the main light

Benji

Ben,

Great setup with sparkle verve and good separation from b.g. and nice hair too. Just the right mood for such an exciting win for the elegant girl! What distance is she from the b.g. Are the steps real or projected?

Asher

Asher Kelman said:

Ben,

Great setup with sparkle verve and good separation from b.g. and nice hair too. Just the right mood for such an exciting win for the elegant girl! What distance is she from the b.g. Are the steps real or projected?

Asher

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asher,

Thanks. Ashley was about six feet (1.8 meters) from the steps, which are real!

Ben

That projector is very nice. Which one do you use?

Asher Kelman said:

That projector is very nice. Which one do you use?

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I used product # 914769 from www.photographerswarehouse.com. It costs $76.00 + shipping and uses the standard (small) Rosco patterns. I think they list over 300 patterns of which I have about 8!

Ben

Ben Jones said:

I used product # 914769 from www.photographerswarehouse.com. It costs $76.00 + shipping and uses the standard (small) Rosco patterns. I think they list over 300 patterns of which I have about 8!

Ben

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A bargain! Needs a 3.5" monolight.

Thanks for the info

Asher

Asher Kelman said:

A bargain! Needs a 3.5" monolight.

Thanks for the info

Asher

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I bought the required strobe on ebay for $100.00. The strobe also works great as a background light too without the projector!

Ben

Asher Kelman said:

I thought I'd boost this thread by adding another picture take with just 50 watt.seconds of energy but split this time to two 7" lumedyne heads bounced of styrofoam cored board through large white umbrellas as is my custom.

Asher Kelman: Cellist Age 14 in Green Dress​

This picture is processed in Capture One from RAW with slight exposure adjustment only and no other processing as yet save a tad of sharpening. It's part of a far larger series of candidate images for a new program for advanced and especially talented younger music students to give them access to world class Conservatory level faculty, even though they are not of college age. This new program is for the most exceptional students and will be a prestigious and valuable source of experience for those few who make it through selection performances.

Asher

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Hi,

I am not very familiar with this kind of studio portraiture photography... but i find this picture of the "green cellist" fantastic. Fresh attitude, smooth smiling and evident happiness, well served by a good post-treatment which enhances the sweet light and clear tones. The first picture you have presented is nice but a bit flat, this second one is really very good.

Cedric.

Cedric,

It means a lot to me that you visited my picture of the young cellist. Thanks!

Asher

This picture is excellent. Another "détail qui tue" (killing detail) : the multicolored bracelets on the left wrist of the girl have colors which make a tonal transition between the flashy dress and the darker cello.

...and they echo the pattern of the strings, as does the pattern of her skirt. Good eye Cedric, and amazing, Asher, that you had the vision to contrive these excellent touches! ;-)

Nill

The expression of the young lady with the cello is excellent, and as Monte Zucker used to say ESP, Expression Sells Portraits. As far as the technical part of the image it is lacking in several areas. It is slightly underexposed, it is not really all that well lit (shadow on main light side of her face) and the pose, while cute IMHO just doesn't cut it, especially her hands which were not posed and are quite masculine.

Benji

Benji,

I like your feedback! It's exactly the standard for OPF that we need: first the good, then courteous real usable feedback that highlights areas for optmizaton that help folk do better. I would feel deprived to have anything less than that. Taking pictures optimally is the most efficient approach and the closer we get to this, the better!

Ben Jones said:

The expression of the young lady with the cello is excellent, and as Monte Zucker used to say ESP, Expression Sells Portraits.

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That's great to hear, since she must draw in the prospective students and philanthropists to commit to the program.

Ben Jones said:

As far as the technical part of the image it is lacking in several areas. It is slightly underexposed, it is not really all that well lit (shadow on main light side of her face)

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Quite right! This comes from basic simple wiring and lack of modifiers and space to alter the lighting ration. I deal with such issues with local changes in subsequent processing. However that's not the right way and too labor intensive. Even 50 Watt seconds divided between two lights in my "light nest" is too bright for the f stops I like. The lumedyne power packs I have now have symmetrical output. I cannot reduce the power. I have purchased another pack that can be trimmed down to 3 Watt seconds and then adjusted to fractions of one stop. I'm moving next week to a larger studio and will use a 7 foot octadome so I can deal with this by a larger main light source and the ability to alter the lighting rations between man and fill lights.

The main issue is to do what I cannot control in photoshop easily and that's the reflections in the cello. The face I can correct but will do to the images chosen for the brochure.

Ben Jones said:

and the pose, while cute IMHO just doesn't cut it, especially her hands which were not posed and are quite masculine.

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The stronger, (perhaps masculine), hold is part of the double job of having this student appear as a young fun student and at the same time determined and focused on her goal. In addition, the instrument is itself a masterpiece to be held with more professional purpose. So there are contrasting thematic elements needed. I have made an array of different poses for the new Colburn Academy to select for the front page. Some will be totally young and feminine, others more like a diva and everything in between. How to express the mental attitude the school wants is not clear so I have been venturing into unchartered waters and therefore have made a line of choices. This strong male grip you picked up is pleasing to me as it shows it's noticed. Whether or not t conveys my concept optimally we'll have to find out. Maybe we should use focus groups.

Asher

Asher,

I hesitated to critique one of your images since you own this site but you have shown your true colors. As one of my favorite proverbs says "In the end, people appreciate frankness more than flattery." (Prov 28:23) I believe it does a disservice to a fellow image maker to extol the virtues of his image when the fact is his image is lacking. On another website I frequent one of the posters there always says exactly the same thing on every photograph that is posted, and that is "that's a fine photograph." I'm guessing he is following his mother's teaching of, "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

Benji