Light Portrait
Continuous or strobe umbrella lights for portrait photography?
I have done some portrait photography...children, family ect. Don't have any lights yet, so I was thinking of buying a couple inexpensive lights with umbrellas....should I get the strobe lights or continuous lighting?
Get the strobe, more power, more depth of field for you. Don't go cheap, they will only frustrate you. There is no place to repair them or replace bulbs. Buy an Alien Bee and get more as you have the cash. One Bee umbrellaed and one bounced on camera strobe can be a wonderful start.
Light Portrait
1-Light Portraiture: Tony Corbell & Profoto D1
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Portrait $14.99 Portrait |
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A Portrait $14.99 A Portrait |
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Portrait Of $8.99 Portrait Of |
Do I need anything else for my one light portrait set up ?
Hi I have been buying a one light set up is there any thing else I need
Yongnuo 560
Light stand
RF602
flash & umbrella adapter
silver reflective umbrella
So is that it Ive got everything to get started I did see Like a sort of cover that wraps round the flash so the light doesn't escape dont know what its called.
And if your reading this screwdriver I did that photo with your help floating head and its great for my first go many thanks its on my flicker http://www.flickr.com/photos/55288774@N07/with/5897968010/
It's called a flag or Go-Bo (goes between the light source and where you don't want the light to be), just a piece of card held onto the umbrella with clip on clothes pegs is a cheap and quick method.
I like your 'Grandad' shot, but it could do with a little more light from the flash on Him. Up the flash power or move the flash/umbrella closer, BOTH effect exposure, watch your Histogram your wanting a nice 'hump' of exposed pixels as close to the right as possible without actually touching the right hand side of the Histogram, if you see what I mean.
Normally you use your umbrella really close to the subject, just out of shot. With 'floating Head' shots your lighting their ears, or just in front of their ears. You can try a large piece of white card on the opposite side of your subject to the flash angled to throw some light back onto your subject, or 5 in 1 reflectors are cheap on eBay. Play with different positions.
As funds permit you can do exactly the same on the other side and still have a 'floating head' shot, but with 'wrap around' lighting from both sides.
With what you have now you can play with table top photography, get a subject, a bowl of fruit is classic, set it on a table, now you can get any light angle you want everything from the flash behind the subject which will give you a silhouette (i.e. ALL shadow) to flash on the camera which will give you very 'flat' lighting (i.e NO shadows) and by altering the angle everything in between. You can light from above, and using a sheet of glass from below, just play and you'll find what does work and what does not.
Highlights reveal the subject, shadows define it, make it 3D, give depth. Note that all 'light modifiers' don't alter the light (the Highlights will all be the same) they modify the shadows, hard edges soft edges and everything in between. Now you know why there are so many paintings of bowls of fruit in art galleries, the artist was playing with light. A bowl of fruit has many advantages, they are colourful, they don't get bored, they don't need to go to the toilet (as Grandads do - personal experience LOL), and you can eat them. An all around win - win situation.
All that you learn about light applies to every picture you take, you'll learn that photographing a building at a certain time of day when the Sun is at a certain angle gives texture to the brickwork, just as it did to your orange. Table top photography is THE best way there is to learn about lighting. What applies to the small world of your table, applies to the larger world just as much. It's something I keep going back to again and again.
Chris
