Skin tones =( (1 Viewer)

[JohnRice]

Well, Sam. That is NOT split lighting. I didn't look back at the previous posts to see if split lighting is what I was talking about. BTW, split lighting is bad, unless you are doing it for an editorial reason. For example, it was used very effectively in the movie "Persona" to depict the splitting of the main character.

 

[Sam Posten]

Yeah I stated that badly, I meant that I still only had two lights, one high and to my rear and one off to camera right to try to knock down the shadows the main light was still causing to fall on the right side of the face. I think I understand what you mean by the difference, now, better than when you first noted it. I wasnt trying to bisect the faces in either of the two sets tho but thats what it looked like that first round...

Either way, I liked the look of this one a whole lot more being over my shoulder than more off to my left like it was at christmas. But it still feels like baby steps =) I may try to get some classic lighting books out of the library for my trip next month...

 

[JohnRice]

I edited my last post, which had some extra words mysteriously dropped in, causing it to make almost no sense.

This shot has better positioning and ratio of the lights, though I still think the fill is a bit too strong. Let the light ratio increase a bit more, aka, less light to the shadow side of the face, however you do that with these damn automatic strobes /img/vbsmilies/htf/smiley_wink.gif. I still find the overall exposure to be a bit high as well. This might be the actual exposure, but is more likely post-processing.

 

[JohnRice]

BTW, since you knocked out the background above the flag and replaced it with black, you, in effect, created a subtle hair light, without an actual hair light.

 

[Sam Posten]

The strobes were both on manual, the AB was triggered via the standard cable and was set down under half power and the SB800 was optically slaved and firing at 1/16th power since you cannot combine CLS and the hard wired trigger.

I get what you are saying about the hair light effect, its just that my crude editing made it look very unnatural to me.

 

[Marianne]

I know you are asking about lighting but here are a couple of my attemps to edit your originals using PSE6.

Original

Edit 1

Adjusted levels using black dropper (click on black area) and white dropper (click on white area) then grey dropper (clicked on dark grey in sweater diamonds). Then lightened shadows a bit, then adjusted saturation (each color individually).

Edit 2

Same image as Edit 1, but with some Topaz 4 Plug-in (Clarity 70%) and sharpening.

 

[Sam Posten]

That was very kind of you, thanks Marianne. And continued thanks to John for his insights as well, I do appreciate them a lot!

 

[Sam Posten]

Man, I hope my next model is better looking than THIS dumbass:

13-Studio-9585 by Kadath, on Flickr

A, I think I am losing pigments in my cheeks
B, Yum, I'm a dumbass
C, No this was not a serious shoot, just monkeying around in my basement playing with remotes and mixing a few bare lights.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I guess this gives a whole new meaning to zombie thread.

 

[Sam Posten]

LMAO good one. Man I think my new iMac's built in calibration might be off. That image is seriously pink on this screen in the office.

 

[Citizen87645]

Yes, it looks overly pink. The background looks pinkish purple.

 

[Sam Posten]

I really like how this one of me came out, was taken by a 'pro' (actually a kid with a turn key backdrop and wireless lighting setup), and it inspired me to really look at lighting again. But it too looks a bit over pink on both of my boxes... Maybe I'm just that flush all the time heheh!

Starting to read and experiment more....


NEP-130307-P_-_LSP-7573136 by Kadath, on Flickr

 

[Citizen87645]

The white seamless looks white, but your skin does look kind of ruddy.

 

[Sam Posten]

Illuminating (ha!):
http://boingboing.net/2013/04/16/face-lit-from-many-angles.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter