Festive Portrait

Haven't been up to much recently camera wise but we had our nephew over for a few nights whilst mum and dad went to NYC on a long weekend getaway.

Quick set up: 1m x 10m vinyl roll (£5 bargain). Key light was set to 35mm @ 1/8th power, pointing slightly in front of subject in a softbox as to light subject and bounce off the vinyl. Fill (rear light) was set to 50mm, 1/2 power and again in a softbox to avoid hotspots on the vinyl. This was set up high and pointing down to the centre of the backdrop. Both flashes were Youngnuo 560VI units, triggered from the 560Tx controller.

Pentax K3ii & DA* 16-50mm

1.

Harry by Gareth Williams, on Flickr

2.

Harry by Gareth Williams, on Flickr

3.

Harry by Gareth Williams, on Flickr

4.

Harry by Gareth Williams, on Flickr

What a blue eyed cutie! Number three would definitely be my pick

Interesting info on the lighting setup !

Oh no2. A natural model! Those eyes!

Thank you both

Thanks for the techie details, an effective set-up! I like the last one best, which has the best overall 'High Key' lighting balance I think. The blue eyes are made to 'pop' beautifully.

I was curious about your zooming in on the 2nd light, to 50mm .... I generally set the widest zoom in a softbox, the idea being to spread the light over the largest area to be softer. In fact I also add a Gary Fong Lightsphere onto the flash head inside the softbox to scatter the light in all directions within the softbox to aid this purpose.

Widest zoom setting is usually circa 18mm so it'd send light over the edges of the backdrop and so then be wasting light, possibly meaning more power needed to illuminate it how I wanted. By zooming the head it'd then focus more light onto the area where I want it?

Does your softbox not have an inner diffusing material?

That's my thought process anyway!

It does, but it's only a 60x60cm softbox, so I mostly need the light to spread over the maximum amount possible of that. They were not really designed originally for 'Speedlights', really for bare bulb types, as the light needs to radiate in all directions within the box to get the softest result. That's the purpose of the Lightsphere I use, to simulate a bare bulb strobe.

But if you have no need for the full spread then I can see the purpose of zooming in. The only issue is that the light source becomes harder, which may be an issue on skin for example.

A lovely set

Thanks Don

Nigel, I don't think the light source would be harsh as it is travelling through 2 diffusing panels before outputting to the background so it's massively being diffused. Looking at the target background, as it's not a large area behind the baby I think I could of zoomed the head more so to concentrate the light even more without any issues. I watch a load of Photogy and what Alex does with flash is amazing. With a single strip box and diffusing paper he can massively diffuse light and cause gradients in light so the fundamentals of softbox light and zooming heads should be pretty relative

The last image for me was a tad dark on reflection and had a cold cast so I've amended it, plus, using the liquify tool in PS cc gave him more of a smile! Normally I wouldn't as there is a moral thing about altering baby faces but he's my nephew so I did it!


edited by Gareth Williams, on Flickr

Added a more smiling face to this one also!


edited2 by Gareth Williams, on Flickr

Fair points Gareth, and I'll try and take a look at Photogy also , thanks for the pointer ...

I just work on the principle of 'large light equals soft light' ..... of course if you were already covering the required area then its makes sense to zoom , for sure.

What a lovely set, the last two are my favourites, really show up those gorgeous blue eyes, thank you for the info and where did you get the vinyl roll from, bargain at £5.00!

Thanks Maria

There's a place locally to me called Recreate that sells all bits and pieces that businesses donate. Great for craft with the kids but also a treasure chest for photography. The vinyl backdrop I bought for a fiver is actually 1m x 30m long! It's also white one side and dark grey the other! Bought 1m x 1m sheets off a roll of ND, CTO, CTB, red, green etc also for 50p a go!