Evening with Lindsey (8 images)

[texxter]

Lindsey, a 19 year old girl, and I got together in Frisco to make some photos. She's cute but new to being in front of the camera, so it took a bit of time and patience to get her to relax and be genuine. The main purpose of the shoot was to do stock images, but we also did a few more dramatic images for fun.

Comments and feedback are very welcome!

#1. This natural headshot was done in the Frisco Public Library using nothing but ambient light coming from a window right in front of her. I didnt touch her skin, to create a natural looking yet pretty portrait of her.



#2, Also in the Frisco Library, ambient window light. I like her pensive mood.



#3. This is at the Firehouse sandwich shop close to the Frisco library. Lighting here requires some explanation. The light was provided by my EX600 strobe at the lowest power setting, placed on a stand with the small reflector it came with, outside the sandwich shop. The flash light is coming thru a large window pretty harsh. I had Lindsey's friend place a diffusion panel close to her to diffuse the hard light hitting her. This diffusor ate up close to 2 f-stops of light from the flash outside and I was able to shoot at f/2.8. Ambient light contributed a little to the exposure too. Without the diffusion panel I would have gotten some pretty hard light on her.



#4. Same set up as above, I got this genuine expression and look from her.



#5. This is in front of Babe's, a restaurant on Main St. in Frisco. It was at about 8pm and there was still ambient light, but not much. I underexposed ambient and used a Xsmall Photoflex softbox with an SB800 inside as key light. I like the Rembrandt style lighting here - the flash with the softbox was hand-held by Lindsey's buddy.



#6. This was done in front of the old train on Main St. in Frisco, as the sun was already down. This image was shot at 1/13 sec to capture whatever ambient light there was. Same light as for #5. I desaturated the blue sky and the blue on her blouse to create a simpler color palette.



#7. This is the last image we created tonight, she sat on the porch of the old cabin near the Frisco museum, when it was already dark. The small SB800 at 1/32 power did the lighting, and I like the pictorial quality of image, probably a combination of the quality of light and the movement of her hair,,, reminds me of Boticelli's women.

[texxter]

And here is the lighting diagram for images #3 and #4.

[tukaniray]

Love the shot at the library of her listening to her ... (ipod, is it) and the shot outside with the SB800 and photoflex Softbox. Could you direct me to a link of that softbox you are using. I want to get some nice soft light from SB800 as well. And looking for a good softbox for it.

Thanks for the diagram. And good looking work as always Paco.

-Ray-

[j1mmyj4m]

Beautiful model and great shots. I like them all.

[ukneeq]

Paco another great set! #2 is my favorite. Her look is great and I like the out of focus object in front. I don't know if this is just my monitor here at work or not, but on #6 her hair above her right eye (camera left) bugs me because of how dark it is and it blending into the train.

[d2creative]

I really like #2 and #4. Great lighting, exposure, dof, and expression.
They have a nice warm inviting fuzzy feeling to them.

[texxter]

Hey guys, thank you so much for your comments!

Ray, yes, that's my iPhone... I gave it to her to use as a prop to make it more real... the book in front of her is also mine I bring my own book to the public library I agree that #2 is nice, and this time I remember to include a foreground and a midground to create more dimensionality. I think her hair looks nicer like that.

I talked about how I have this Photoflex xsmall softbox configured here:

http://www.texasphotoforum.com/forum...its-today.html - towards the end of the thread.

Also, if you want to see other images created with this softbox, here is a list of threads from the past:

http://www.texasphotoforum.com/forum...ion-today.html
http://www.texasphotoforum.com/forum...tml#post867515
http://www.texasphotoforum.com/forum...portraits.html
http://www.texasphotoforum.com/forum...bacconist.html
http://www.texasphotoforum.com/forum...-full-sun.html

[kkingdallas]

Hi Paco,

Amazing - as usual! I've never been to the Frisco library, but I can see a "road trip" is in order. I love the small softbox. It's on my "to get" list - sooner rather than later.

A couple of quick questions: When you set the light up outside, do you have someone to mind it for you? I would imagine wind and passersby could be an issue. Also, was the Photoflex on a stand?

Thanks so much for sharing these.

Kathy

[texxter]

Hey Kathy! The Frisco library has big windows on both sides, north and south, and I always prefer northern light if I can get it.

Concerning this small box, I like its size, but it's appropriate for upper body portraits, as its coverage is limited. Sometimes I mount the small Photoflex strip box, which give me a little more coverage, but it's a bit larger. Also, check out the Wescott Apollo boxes, they have a clever design and are well built.

Concerning the light outside the sandwich shop, we could see it from inside because it was behind a large window. I didn't have anyone monitoring it, but I could see it myself. In order to make it stable I hung the power pack onb the light stand and also added a sandbag. It was a bit windy, but because I only had the head with a small reflector, the stand was not offering much resistance to the wind. An umbrella would have been a problem. That's why I separated the production of light from the diffusion of light - I placed the light outside but did the light diffusion inside. I broke an umbrella once because of wind, and I am determined to not let that happen again!

The small photoflex softbox on images #5, #6, and #7 was hand held by Lindsey's escort. There is no reason why we couldn't use a lightstand, but it was getting dark quickly and the softbox is small enough and has a handle, so I decided to go his route to allow me to move more quickly. Many people use the Cheetah stand when on location, but it's not easy to put sandbags on them, I just use a regular Nano with lightweight lights. The sandbag I use is a 20 lbWal-Mart ankle weight.

[mkothare]

Had a Meetup near the Babe's location next to the Frisco Heritage Museum. Its a great location to shoot.

These are great pictures. Particularly like #6 with the off focus backdrop of the old train engine. Its almost as if it is eerily and silently creeping up on her.

The old settlers cabin (your last picture) has a nice porch where the setting sun streams in from one end and can provide some nice rim-lighting or hairlighting at the relevant time of day.

[texxter]

Here is another image with the train, this time without the desaturation.



Not sure if I should leave the small spotlights in or remove them... Opinions welcome!

[ukneeq]

Love the new pic. I actually didn't find the lights that distracting. I think because they kind of line up with her.

[c995990]

Paco, I always enjoy your work! Great job!

[texxter]

Thanks, Fedil and Mike, I appreciate your comments.

I ended up selecting a different headshot, the first image I posted is not much to my liking. I like this other one below better.

[mjoe972]

Awesome shots. I really appreciate the extra time and effor that you put in to describe you setup and shooting location to help others aspire to you level of greatness!