Hi Richard and Steve,

I hope you guys don't mind a thought from the peanut gallery on spot metering.

Richard, successful spot metering depends on you picking the closest color you can to 18% gray, A.K.A. medium gray. It will work even better if you can use a Kodak gray card or some card that you know is medium gray. Of course if you are good enough, which I am usually not, to find a color in your scene that equals 18% tonality than you can spot meter on it. If you are not going to spot meter for 18% gray than you would be better off letting your camera choose the exposure by using matrix metering and then you can adjust the aperture or shutter speed to achieve the creative effect you would like to see.

Also, something else you may be experiencing is a latitude issue. You mentioned your friend/model is very fair, which translate to me as ghostly :o , (No insult intended my wife is too. In fact when we first started dating my pet name for her was Casper. But I digress.) Just like with slide film digital capture, as you already know has very little latitude in which case your friend/model is at that high end especially in a scene dominated by darker colors. I have the same issue when photographing my wife in certain situations. It's like photographing a black tuxedo and perfectly white wedding dress in full sun and trying to get detail in both.

Steve, do you agree?

Well here are the results from the first try at mixing strobe and constant lighting.

Tess



Sarah



After playing with the strobes for the past couple of weeks I am most likely going to be switching over to stobes for the more traditional portrait shots. I was able to control the quality and quantity of light much better than with constant light.

Nice. What specifically did you learn from this experiment?

StephenDantzig:
Nice. What specifically did you learn from this experiment?

The first thing I learned was that I should have picked up your book before I did the first session. BTW... Softbox Lighting Techniques is a "must have" to anyones library.

2nd; on the the first session I was relying too much on the standard distances for subject to backdrop and was not able to blow out the background the way I wanted. I added an extra 2 feet between subject and backdrop in the second session and had better control. This was due completely to the fact that I have lower ceilings and forgot to adjust for the added light intensity.

3rd; my hairlight was not matched up to the other lights which resulted in the first image not having the color pop the way it should.

4th.; my hairlight, even if it had been the right size and intensity, was placed incorrectly for these type of shots. I replaced the spot light behind the camera with another softbox set at a full stop below the main. This provided a more complete coverage on the face and elimiated all shadows.

5th.; when possible have the subject standing when doing shots that include the upper torso unless they have a very appealing figure. The model in the bomber jacket was only 12 and had a little belly in several of the shots. This belly would have smoothed out if I had had her standing.

6th.; My studio is a little too small for 500 watt system. The second session with the subject in the bomber jacket was done with fill and main switched to 300 watt strobes turned down a couple of steps. This resulted in a better quality skin tone and allowed the kicker light behind her to show up and provide an excellent rear fill light.

7th.; I will be going to a makeup class very soon. The MOM (mother of model) for the subject in the bomber jacket was putting on too much makeup in the first session and many of the shot make here look like she had a black-eye.

8th.; In the first shot I was not controlling the light on the backdrop effectively. It would have been more effective, IMHO, if I had used a gel sheet and spot light to create a streak in the opposite direction of the main.

9th.; mixing constant and strobe lights is OK..... IF YOU MATCH THE LIGHTING TYPE OF THE UNITS. I didn't realize it until after the sessions that the hair light had florescent and the other lights had tungsten.

10th.; Set up the PC Link cable during the session so that I can verify shots as they are taken. About half way though the second session the focus motor in the lens quit working and I didn't catch it until the next day at another shoot.


In the second shot I used a modified version of your three light layout on page 62 of your book. I replaced the spotlight behind the camera with another softbox. If was at a lower setting than the main and was about 12 inches higher. This gave more coverage on the face and reduce the shadows more.


Did I miss anything?

WOW--intense! It's been another 14 hour day here so I haven't got the energy to respond in detail...give me until the weekend to get back to you. Shoot me an e-mail reminder if I don't post by Sunday afternoon. it sounds like it was a great self assignment!

Mahalos for the comments on my book. I'm glad that it's been helpful.

RichardG:
The first thing I learned was that I should have picked up your book before I did the first session. BTW... Softbox Lighting Techniques is a "must have" to anyones library.

2nd; on the the first session I was relying too much on the standard distances for subject to backdrop and was not able to blow out the background the way I wanted. I added an extra 2 feet between subject and backdrop in the second session and had better control. This was due completely to the fact that I have lower ceilings and forgot to adjust for the added light intensity.

3rd; my hairlight was not matched up to the other lights which resulted in the first image not having the color pop the way it should.

4th.; my hairlight, even if it had been the right size and intensity, was placed incorrectly for these type of shots. I replaced the spot light behind the camera with another softbox set at a full stop below the main. This provided a more complete coverage on the face and elimiated all shadows.

5th.; when possible have the subject standing when doing shots that include the upper torso unless they have a very appealing figure. The model in the bomber jacket was only 12 and had a little belly in several of the shots. This belly would have smoothed out if I had had her standing.

6th.; My studio is a little too small for 500 watt system. The second session with the subject in the bomber jacket was done with fill and main switched to 300 watt strobes turned down a couple of steps. This resulted in a better quality skin tone and allowed the kicker light behind her to show up and provide an excellent rear fill light.

7th.; I will be going to a makeup class very soon. The MOM (mother of model) for the subject in the bomber jacket was putting on too much makeup in the first session and many of the shot make here look like she had a black-eye.

8th.; In the first shot I was not controlling the light on the backdrop effectively. It would have been more effective, IMHO, if I had used a gel sheet and spot light to create a streak in the opposite direction of the main.

9th.; mixing constant and strobe lights is OK..... IF YOU MATCH THE LIGHTING TYPE OF THE UNITS. I didn't realize it until after the sessions that the hair light had florescent and the other lights had tungsten.

10th.; Set up the PC Link cable during the session so that I can verify shots as they are taken. About half way though the second session the focus motor in the lens quit working and I didn't catch it until the next day at another shoot.


In the second shot I used a modified version of your three light layout on page 62 of your book. I replaced the spotlight behind the camera with another softbox. If was at a lower setting than the main and was about 12 inches higher. This gave more coverage on the face and reduce the shadows more.


Did I miss anything?

I'm not sure that I understand your "2nd" comment. Did moving your subject give you more room to dial in the background light or were you controlling the spill from the main?

"3rd" Yup. Different light sources have different color temperatures which result in different color shifts...sometimes these shifts can be very interesting.

5th--I am always saying "Arch the back and suck in the belly!" It happens.

6th--??? Do you mean 500ws bulbs, or strobes? Do your strobes have control dials to reduce the output?

10th--Ouch!!!

Again, nice self-assignment. It sounds like you learned a lot.