First studio portrait shoot

[feppe]

I recently had my first studio portrait shoot. I've done some portraits in available light, but this was the first one with studio lighting.

Lighting was an Elinchrom softbox on camera left, fill light for shadows on the right bounced off a large reflector on the ground in front of the model, and a ringlash adapter (Ray Flash) on Canon 580EXII Speedlight.

First and last pictures shot with Canon 85mm f/1.8 at f/5.6, middle one with Canon 24-105mm f/4L at f/11. Exposure 1/200 sec in all, AF. Camera Canon 450D.

I was really struggling not to blow highlights with this setup even with the Elinchroms at lowest power setting, so next time I'll know to bring some thicker diffusers. I was going for highkey, so any hints appreciated!

Post-processing in LR and PS. First picture has very little adjustments, some glow effect on highlights and eye catchlights fixed.

Also, ran out of batteries on the Speedlight, fortunately towards the last 15 mins of the shoot  The shoot was 4 hours and 385 usable photos which is low frame count for me. I really enjoyed how I could control the light, build it light by light, and how sharp the pictures came out with proper setup. I'll definitely get back to the studio for next portrait shoot!

Any input, tips and critique very welcome!

[Dave Hall]

I recently had my first studio portrait shoot. I've done some portraits in available light, but this was the first one with studio lighting.

Lighting was an Elinchrom softbox on camera left, fill light for shadows on the right bounced off a large reflector on the ground in front of the model, and a ringlash adapter (Ray Flash) on Canon 580EXII Speedlight.

First and last pictures shot with Canon 85mm f/1.8 at f/5.6, middle one with Canon 24-105mm f/4L at f/11. Exposure 1/200 sec in all, AF. Camera Canon 450D.

I was really struggling not to blow highlights with this setup even with the Elinchroms at lowest power setting, so next time I'll know to bring some thicker diffusers. I was going for highkey, so any hints appreciated!

Post-processing in LR and PS. First picture has very little adjustments, some glow effect on highlights and eye catchlights fixed.

Also, ran out of batteries on the Speedlight, fortunately towards the last 15 mins of the shoot  The shoot was 4 hours and 385 usable photos which is low frame count for me. I really enjoyed how I could control the light, build it light by light, and how sharp the pictures came out with proper setup. I'll definitely get back to the studio for next portrait shoot!

Any input, tips and critique very welcome!

Hiya Feppe.
I do like your pictures. Very pretty model and good lighting.
But, I understand 'High Key' to mean a predominance of light tones, so a blonde model dressed in light clothing would have been my choice.
Dave.

[dalethorn]

In the first and third images, the facial skin texture appears to be completely gone from burnout.  The second seemed a little better, but also problems there.

[feppe]

I do like your pictures. Very pretty model and good lighting.
But, I understand 'High Key' to mean a predominance of light tones, so a blonde model dressed in light clothing would have been my choice.

Thanks! Yes, you are of course right about these not really being high key... I'm trying to find a balance between milky highkey skintones (and not losing all texture as mentioned below) and Minna's dark hair and clothes.

In the first and third images, the facial skin texture appears to be completely gone from burnout.  The second seemed a little better, but also problems there.

Deliberate - the original has texture, and there's still some left in the full-res version. You are right, though - the low-res versions look burned out, and I'll try to get it to look more like the full-res version!