Your
Questions answered!
By Eugene
Well my first by line! I have been told it's about time I wrote an article, but don't expect the same expertise, or experience. Oh and my style will probably be a little more flippant. :-)
Millions of you have written in specifically about studio lighting. You say you have followed everything I have written, but still your photographs are coming out flat and lack lustre. One of you even said that you have been taking studio shots as an amateur now for 15 years and none of your work ever turns out better than average. So I think there are three issues I must address here.
Firstly it is easy to be too highly critical of your own work. There it seems are two types of amateur. Most of you that read GP Online seem to be the shy, " I could never do that!!" retiring type. We see some smashing work, certainly of very high amateur standard , and you say, "what have I done wrong and don't print it I would be too embarrassed." So that's issue one. Remember it's easy to see others work with starry eyes and be totally critical of your own. You sit and pore over a set for hours and days, finding every fault known to man and probably a few you make up yourself. I suggest you take a set of pictures you have taken if you are disappointed and tuck them away for a couple of months. Then come back to them with a fresh eye. You'll be surprised how much more appealing they can look.
I thankfully rarely sometimes have sets of prints sent through for my advice on how they can be sold. Out of focus, model a tiny coloured blip amongst a huge jumble of background. I quite often feel like writing back and saying for gods sake keep the day job Mate. Yet every one of you that has written on this subject speaks knowledgeably, with thought and seems just to have lost the way a bit.
OK so issue two must be if your prints are lacking lustre and are flat what are you doing wrong? I must assume you have read everything on the GP site, the keep it simple yet turn out great work. You mean prints like these below don't you.
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The pictures are flat and lacking oomph for want of a better term. Try to forget the poses and the sets it's the actual lighting of the model we are looking at.
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You want them to look more like the set above I believe. OK you have followed the rules, key light, fill light and if you can an extra light. Well it is seriously about lights. Yes of course you know that, but what I mean is it's about LIGHT. Lots of lovely light. Are you checking the flash meter against the model skin in different places? See back articles. Is it your first time? Are you checking the film you use as it may not be what the meter tells you? Seriously if your pictures always look lacklustre then invest in a model and studio time. Take a series of pictures and bracket as much as two stops either side of what the meter is telling you. Oh by the way keep to a system!!!! I did this and when the prints came back I hadn't been consistent. The pictures that were spot on, I couldn't remember whether they were closed down or opened up. So do it anyway you like, but I suggest 1st as meter says. Then close down 1/2 then close down another half giving a full stop. Then set the camera back to the middle and open 1/2 then another etc. So you close down then open up. If you do this for every pose the model will get cramp, but at least you are consistent and can see that for arguments sake all the pictures taken at 1 stop over have punch and oomph.
Am I making this clear?? Now if you're as clever as me you'll be saying as I did, "Yes but when the negs are printed the printing will compensate for such a small change and there will not be much to choose between them." Yea well I was wrong. There is a very noticeable difference. If you are using tranny film then it's like being punched in the eye with the good ones.
If you use digital then life's a dream because all you have to do run through this say three times and you'll have your ideal setting. Mmmmm.
OK so we have loads of lovely light, we have the model away from the background. We have managed to light the background so to give the model form. We have lit her from one side with our key light, we have filled the shadows with our fill light, and we have even managed to get a light onto her hair to give it a little lift. We know what setting our camera should be set at. Off we go. We did all that testing with our 38mm -75mm set at 75mm. Now we change the lens. Want to get in close on those beautiful eyes. Pop on the 75mm - 210mm. Whack it up to 180mm and shoot those beautiful eyes. ( I hear some guys get in really close on another part of the female anatomy?? Surely not!!!) Ahh did you run through the checks with that lens?? Ahh good question. Change make of film? Our keep it simple get great results will always work, but if you want really, really super duper centrefold quality then you have to work harder for it.
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Now the pictures above were taken using the GP OnLine "Keep it simple method." by Paul last summer of Jessie. Three lights as we have described, set as we describe. Now these three have background detail yet it doesn't make the model disappear into it. Background is important of course. If you have an orange background and model in another shade of orange top and blonde hair it is likely she will disappear. :-)
One very good trick to practice is to use a dark background as you see below. The studio set up in all the shots below is identical, using the three lights Paul goes on about. This proves Paul who took all these shots really does as he preaches. A main light, a fill light and a light above the models hair, but notice how there are subtle differences in the lighting. This is caused by differing colour costumes, varying skin tones of the different models. Notice particularly how much things change when you change the background to white.
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All these above are test shots with the models. Eugene likes to keep the studio set up the same and see how they turn out. Now we are getting down to the tricky stuff. If he is going to work with the models in a large expensive studio he can see how the lighting needs to be set up for each individual girl.
So this brings us to issue 3! If you are an amateur and you have other things in your life apart from photography do you really want to get into spending the hours required for "THAT" centrefold shot. I know I would be delighted with any of the pictures above if they came out of my camera, being the keen amateur in this outfit. I'd be over the moon with the Jessie shots above. So it's horses for courses my friends. I know all the models above were delighted with the TFP pictures they were given. Please don't get so bogged down in detail of centrefolds. I have a lovely car, but it will not stand much chance in a race with a Ferrari F1. And I'm a good driver (I hope), but Shumakker does it everyday all day. I have fun with my driving, does he? Have fun, enjoy and keep practicing because eventually you will get "THAT" shot, trust me I know!!!
I hope you followed most of this and enjoyed it and more importantly it has been of benefit to you.
©Glamour Photo OnLine 2002