Headshot & portrait help please!

[guitarbug]

I just got my first back drops, black and one blue. What are some good tips for shooting headshots and portraits ? I have a 3 light set up with umbrellas and a hair light. I am just so use to shooting outdoors I have no exsperience in shooting in such a situation. Where do I start as far as F stop and and shutter speed, whats a good average to begin with. I only have in camera metering at this piont. Also, what are some other things I can do to make my backround work for me ? I have a friend comming over to practice shooting tomorrow, but I would like some help on this. Thanks!

[AndrewCCM]

Gotta shoot in manual mode.. In camera metering doesn't help with monolights (flashes). As far as where to start.. I would recommend starting with 1 light. Since you probably do not have a handheld meter yet (HIGHLY recommend one for studio lighting), it will be easier to eyeball exposure with your camera histogram. You could fill with a reflector or add in the other lights after you get a decent exposure with the key light (1st one).

Depending on how powerful your flashes are and proximity to subject will determine F stop. I would start at 1/200th on your shutter speed and around F5.6 - F8 and then adjust FStop from there. Since you're shooting Nikon, I am guessing your minimum ISO is 200. Typically, when shooting studio, you'll shoot at lowest native ISO that you can.

Tips... use reflectors/foamcore or something to fill.. in shadows. This will help prevent you from flat lighting too (fill and key being practically equal and giving no definition). Get your subject several feet away from background if possible. For headshots, I like the focal lengths of 85-180mm personally.

Hope this helps a little. I'll be around some of the day tomorrow if you need any additional help. Going to RUSH concert later in the evening. Yea!

[guitarbug]

Originally Posted by AndrewCCM

Gotta shoot in manual mode.. In camera metering doesn't help with monolights (flashes). As far as where to start.. I would recommend starting with 1 light. Since you probably do not have a handheld meter yet (HIGHLY recommend one for studio lighting), it will be easier to eyeball exposure with your camera histogram. You could fill with a reflector or add in the other lights after you get a decent exposure with the key light (1st one).

Depending on how powerful your flashes are and proximity to subject will determine F stop. I would start at 1/200th on your shutter speed and around F5.6 - F8 and then adjust FStop from there. Since you're shooting Nikon, I am guessing your minimum ISO is 200. Typically, when shooting studio, you'll shoot at lowest native ISO that you can.

Tips... use reflectors/foamcore or something to fill.. in shadows. This will help prevent you from flat lighting too (fill and key being practically equal and giving no definition). Get your subject several feet away from background if possible. For headshots, I like the focal lengths of 85-180mm personally.

Hope this helps a little. I'll be around some of the day tomorrow if you need any additional help. Going to RUSH concert later in the evening. Yea!

You're a lifesaver Andrew! Thats just what I was looking for. Just a starting point. Yea, I guess if I like this I may have to get me a meter. Thanks again, enjoy the show!
Still could use some more tips from anyone else!

[AndrewCCM]

Just remember.. there are a lot of very nice portraits and headshots done here with a single monolight and reflector. Scott Watters has many examples. Don't feel like you have to use multiple lights. Sometimes less is more (and less complicated).

Good luck!

[AndrewCCM]

One other thing.. Your flashes are going to sync with your camera up to it's max flash sync speed. The shutter speed will not affect the exposure if you are 100% lighting with flashes (ie, no ambient.. A meter will tell you the ambient to flash ratios.. but mostly it'll be 100% flash in a studio environment). Your shutter speed will still affect subject movement so I usually go with something around 1/160-1/200th...So when you're trying to get your exposure right, set your shutter and raise or lower your F-Stop to effect the amount of light.

Question: What are you using to trigger the flashes? With iTTL/E-TTL, an on-camera flash will use preflashes to attempt metering and will falsely trigger your monolights a split second before they should if they are being triggered by OPTICAL Slaves. If you're wired or using triggers like Pocket Wizards, then this will not be a problem.

Some people rely on a single trigger to pop the first flash and the others will trigger from the optical slave. This works well...but just be sure you are not using your on-camera flash in a TTL mode or the optical slaves will suffer the preflash problem. You can set your on-camera flash to MANUAL to eliminate the preflashes in many cases.

Sorry to get so wordy..

[guitarbug]

I am using the Commander mode to fire my SB600 and I have optical slaves on the other flash. I was shooting in TTL, but I think I will switch to manual. I have the pop up flash covered with a film negitive to stop it from contributing to the shot. I was going to try shooting with multible lights, but what you are saying makes a lot of sence. Great advice! Thanks Andrew, I will let you know how it works out. Well time to hit the hay.

[fivegrand]

Work the shadows more than the light...The shadows are where the power is.

When I first started with strobes I tried to light every bit of the scene that I could...WRONG!!! I thought I was hot **** with a big strobe kit and by golly I was gonna use it. Now I use one or maybe two lights for portraiture, unless I'm shooting something big like a car scene.

[srwatters]

One light, one light only...

[fivegrand]

Hi Scott!

[guitarbug]

Thanks Jon & Scott! I did some this weekend and started with one light and a reflector, got some good results I thought. Then I exsperimented with some back hair lights, 2 & 3 light set ups also. I posted a few on another thread, but got very little comments or critique on them. Hard to learn when you don't have people comment on you're photos. I guess all that matters is the client! I got a call from the girls mom saying she came into the room screaming, I thought I screwed up bad! Then she told me that her daughter saw her images on my site and loved them. I just hope to get those results again in the future after more practice. Scott, got you're pm! Sorry I forgot to get back to you. I will most likely do one of you're workshops in the near future. Saving my pennys.