lonesomexloveus Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 i just started doing studio photoshoots in the past couple months and need some feedback. granted, these are from less than ideal conditions, shot in ridiculously cramped quarters in my boyfriends basement. BUT that's all i have to work with right now, haha. these are from a shoot i did last night of my friends brittany and matt. they just got engaged recently and her mom was bugging her for some pictures. i just have to photoshop all her tattoos out for the ones shes sending her mom, haha. anyways, these are pretty much straight from the raw files on my camera; just resized, and not edited or retouched in any way. let me know what you think! i'll have more to post tonite or tomorrow. any input is appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasonskanks Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 i think those look amazing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casey Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 The 1st and 3rd ones are my favorites. Did you just use a big sheet of white vinyl for the backdrop? What setting did you use on your cam and what did you use for lighting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhulud Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Pics are not coming up...I guess they're blocked at work. I'll check 'em out at home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mutinyzine Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Loooks good to me. Nice work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonesomexloveus Posted April 10, 2009 Author Share Posted April 10, 2009 i think those look amazing thanks! :] The 1st and 3rd ones are my favorites. Did you just use a big sheet of white vinyl for the backdrop? What setting did you use on your cam and what did you use for lighting? haha you got the photography bug already! ;] for the backdrop, i just used a 9 ft wide roll of savage white paper on a backdrop stand. the set-up is called 'seamless white', and it's actually a lot easier to have you read about it here than explain it: http://www.zarias.com/?p=71 and http://www.zarias.com/?p=77 plus, zach does a much better job of it than i would, lol. i was shooting in all manual, and methinks maybe at ISO 200, f/16, 1/250 but i could be very very wrong. haha. i'll check the exif data for you tonite when i'm home. the non-seamless white stuff i used the same white backdrop, but only one light (the new alienbee B1600 i just got, with a 20 degree grid, at between 1/2 and 1/4 power). the cool circle of light/fade to black effect comes from the grid, which basically directs the light. when you just shoot using the strobe, it has 80degrees of light output. using a grid just narrows and concentrates the beam of light (in this case to 20degrees) i hope that made sense; i'm still pretty new to the strobe lighting thing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kouka Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 watch the hands.. when they're half-balled up like that they ALWAYS look weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanehennessey Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 I like the first two more than the others. I'm not really a fan of the spotlight look for couples portraits and I think the last one looks a little flat and underexposed. The first one is really nice as well as the second. The only thing I'd change about the second is the composition since you cut off a few limbs. I just got an AB-400 and octobox. This is my first time shooting with it and I think they came out nice except that I partially cropped out the arms in every photos like an idiot. I think my roommate and I are shooting a band in some swamp this weekend though which will be cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonesomexloveus Posted April 10, 2009 Author Share Posted April 10, 2009 watch the hands.. when they're half-balled up like that they ALWAYS look weird. yeah, that's my fault. i wasn't giving nearly as much direction as i should have been and the 2nd and 3rd one are almost candids. it's my first time shooting someone that wasn't a. my boyfriend who does photography too or b. someone i'm related to, i.e. my sister, lol. I like the first two more than the others. I'm not really a fan of the spotlight look for couples portraits and I think the last one looks a little flat and underexposed. The first one is really nice as well as the second. The only thing I'd change about the second is the composition since you cut off a few limbs.I just got an AB-400 and octobox. This is my first time shooting with it and I think they came out nice except that I partially cropped out the arms in every photos like an idiot. I think my roommate and I are shooting a band in some swamp this weekend though which will be cool. i'm pretty pleased with how they turned out considering that's my first try at using the AB (i had to stop at radioshack on the way to my boyfriends to pick up a 1/8 to 1/8 mono cord to use the pocketwizards, even). i was sort of going for a slightly creepy underexposed look in the last two, because that's what they asked for. (well, her mom wanted at least one or two traditional nice ones for their engagement announcement in the paper and brittany said do the rest as 'badass and creepy as possible'). but since i shot in raw i should be able to bump the exposure up a tad in lightroom if i ever get it installed. and re: the arms being cut off, yeah i was having issues because of the small space i was shooting in and the fact that my 50mm is the best lens for shooting seamless white and i dont have much room at all to backup. i broke down and finally used my kit lens to shoot the first one. it's all sort of a learning process for me at this point. i took a loooot more that i'll throw up later; these are just a couple i picked out real quick, resized, converted to jpgs and emailed to myself before work to put up here. they'll look nicer after i do some post production work on them i hope. thanks for the feedback; it helps me a lot to get criticism from other photographers! keep it comin! oh and i like your photo, too! the alienbees are so nice, imo. i used dynalites in the seamless white, but they're technically on loan to my boyfriend and i at the moment so that sucks cuz they're not ours. :[ what do you use for lighting when you go outdoor/on location? (like the swamp you mentioned) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xlovecolouredx Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 i don't ahve any skill on photographing but from my rendering 3d perspective pic experience, i think you should adjust wider spot light on the third and forth pic. and becareful the hard shape of shadow by change your soft box. i'm not sure this recommend is good enough. hope it can help you.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanehennessey Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 what do you use for lighting when you go outdoor/on location? (like the swamp you mentioned) I haven't tried it yet but I'm just going to experiment with the softbox and ab-400. My roommate might get another lamp since we have another octobox but I doubt it'll be here in time. We also have a few external flashes I'll probably use and set up either on the camera or on a light stand and hope for some good natural light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonesomexloveus Posted April 10, 2009 Author Share Posted April 10, 2009 i don't ahve any skill on photographing but from my rendering 3d perspective pic experience, i think you should adjust wider spot light on the third and forth pic.and becareful the hard shape of shadow by change your soft box. i'm not sure this recommend is good enough. hope it can help you.... thanks, yu! :] it'd be easier to do that if i could extend the light higher, but the ceilings are pretty low. i'll try backing it up a little next time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonesomexloveus Posted April 10, 2009 Author Share Posted April 10, 2009 what do you use for lighting when you go outdoor/on location? (like the swamp you mentioned) I haven't tried it yet but I'm just going to experiment with the softbox and ab-400. My roommate might get another lamp since we have another octobox but I doubt it'll be here in time. We also have a few external flashes I'll probably use and set up either on the camera or on a light stand and hope for some good natural light. sweet. what are you doing for power supply? right now since i dont have a generator or battery pack i'm kind of limited to shooting outdoors either where extension cords can be run or using just speedlights, neither of which are ideal, lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
punkrudeboy Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 I totally dig the 3rd and 4th one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xlovecolouredx Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 i don't ahve any skill on photographing but from my rendering 3d perspective pic experience, i think you should adjust wider spot light on the third and forth pic.and becareful the hard shape of shadow by change your soft box. i'm not sure this recommend is good enough. hope it can help you.... thanks, yu! :] it'd be easier to do that if i could extend the light higher, but the ceilings are pretty low. i'll try backing it up a little next time! cool, keep posting. i ever took some photos by use 120mm camera when i worked my ba final project and i fall in love with 120mm camera. i will buy some in next 20 years when i have money enough and have time for studying in 120mm camera photographing.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonesomexloveus Posted April 10, 2009 Author Share Posted April 10, 2009 I totally dig the 3rd and 4th one! thanks! :] you too can recreate these photos with just one alienbee and a grid! i like the simplicity of shooting with just one light; i can't wait to experiment more with stuff like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FullCircleHook Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 I expected something totally different when I clicked on this thread. Yeah, the photo's look great! I wish I had more time to pursue such a hobby. Unfortunately the pictures I take are close to as bad as the pictures that I'm in so I would be totally wasting my time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
six42intheam Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 3rd ones a keeper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
controlthebleeding Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 I like the 1st one due to the camera angle and the fact that there's no bleaching in the pic. I love the tone too. I'm a sucker for high angle shots. and the composition is just awesome. They stand out so to speak. The 2nd is a bit flat, probably because of the lighting.. i love pics of people when they aren't paying attention. so you can catch the spontaneity of the moment. the pic needed just a little umph. cropping and intensifying the color a bit might help. in the 3rd photo, my eyes keep drawing toward that shadow underneath them. i tend to focus on that throughout the picture. maybe burning it in would help. it might lead me to believe there's something there, but what. i know it's a shadow, but it a bit distracting. love the dudes, face though... also i think with that fade would look so fucking awesome if it was done with a real fisheye lense.. i dig the 4th. i also hope i don't come off like a dick. i am super anal about critiquing photos. photography is awesome, and i wish i could have done more with it, especially now since it's not so expensive due to alot of it being digital. i rarely use my camera now, due to sheer laziness. if i had a studio, i'd be taking all kinds of photos. hopefully in the near future i can get a medium format and start up again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monk0nuggets Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Lookin' good! My gf just got her first photo studio job today actually! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonesomexloveus Posted April 11, 2009 Author Share Posted April 11, 2009 I like the 1st one due to the camera angle and the fact that there's no bleaching in the pic. I love the tone too. I'm a sucker for high angle shots. and the composition is just awesome. They stand out so to speak. The 2nd is a bit flat, probably because of the lighting.. i love pics of people when they aren't paying attention. so you can catch the spontaneity of the moment. the pic needed just a little umph. cropping and intensifying the color a bit might help. in the 3rd photo, my eyes keep drawing toward that shadow underneath them. i tend to focus on that throughout the picture. maybe burning it in would help. it might lead me to believe there's something there, but what. i know it's a shadow, but it a bit distracting. love the dudes, face though... also i think with that fade would look so fucking awesome if it was done with a real fisheye lense.. i dig the 4th. i also hope i don't come off like a dick. i am super anal about critiquing photos. photography is awesome, and i wish i could have done more with it, especially now since it's not so expensive due to alot of it being digital. i rarely use my camera now, due to sheer laziness. if i had a studio, i'd be taking all kinds of photos. hopefully in the near future i can get a medium format and start up again. criticism is good! helps me take better photos! and yeah, i need to lightroom the crap out of these. i'm going to go through and edit my favorites tonight and i'll post the results! sidenote: wish i had a real fisheye, but i just bought a whole bunch of studio stuff and can't justify spending the extra money on one right now. that and i love that look so much i'd probably way overuse it. also, i've found that the colors are a lot more vibrant when i'm editing them, then when i post them on the web, they lose a lot of their color/contrast for some reason. maybe i need to color calibrate my monitor haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goraiders Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 I like the 1st one due to the camera angle and the fact that there's no bleaching in the pic. I love the tone too. I'm a sucker for high angle shots. and the composition is just awesome. They stand out so to speak. The 2nd is a bit flat, probably because of the lighting.. i love pics of people when they aren't paying attention. so you can catch the spontaneity of the moment. the pic needed just a little umph. cropping and intensifying the color a bit might help. in the 3rd photo, my eyes keep drawing toward that shadow underneath them. i tend to focus on that throughout the picture. maybe burning it in would help. it might lead me to believe there's something there, but what. i know it's a shadow, but it a bit distracting. love the dudes, face though... also i think with that fade would look so fucking awesome if it was done with a real fisheye lense.. i dig the 4th. i also hope i don't come off like a dick. i am super anal about critiquing photos. photography is awesome, and i wish i could have done more with it, especially now since it's not so expensive due to alot of it being digital. i rarely use my camera now, due to sheer laziness. if i had a studio, i'd be taking all kinds of photos. hopefully in the near future i can get a medium format and start up again. mmm medium format Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonesomexloveus Posted April 11, 2009 Author Share Posted April 11, 2009 edits: they look so much better in photoshop than uploaded to anywhere. i upped the saturation a ridiculous amount and you can still hardly tell. oh well, haha. more tomorrow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhulud Posted April 11, 2009 Share Posted April 11, 2009 Finally seeing them...the first set that is. I really dig the first one. The view from the top really works. It fits the composition. To me, it's the best of the batch. The second feels a bit empty...and I mean that due to how the background is. It's way too white and washed-out I guess. On the third and fourth I see what you were trying to go for but maybe open up the lighting a bit more and not have the "dark" closed in around as much. To me, it will open up the subjects a bit more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonesomexloveus Posted April 11, 2009 Author Share Posted April 11, 2009 yeah, with the seamless white the goal is basically to blow out your background with so much light that it's, well, completely white lol but i get what you're saying, and agree! also, on my monitor in photoshop, they definitely don't look nearly as underexposed as they do when i uploaded them. the desaturation and things being way washed out is incredible vs. what's on my camera. i'm going to buy another grid that's not as severe, but until i do that because of the space constraints, it's hard to open up the light and still have the look i'm going for, if that makes sense. one day....i will have a studio that's not in a cramped basement! ...one day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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