I've never been good with lights, as I've never practiced and managed to rely on natural light for an embarrassingly long time. And I realised I've always invested in good quality camera gear but had never done the same with lighting equipment, opting for cheap lights and modifiers. Fed up with poor results here are the first images I've taken with some new lights as I look to improve my portraiture and lighting skills, turning my (small) living room into a studio. Due to size constraints of the space I can't place the lights exactly where I want them, but it's a start.
I like these and I like the cropping choices you've made, but they are a tad overexposed in the highlights. Maybe a small contrast adjustment would fix that? I'd say your practice is paying off.
Hey Phillip, thanks for the comment. Even though the highlights aren't clipped (or not at least according to my histogram) I appreciate the point. While not to everyone's taste, I'm a fan of high contrast, though I'm finding with time my editing is becoming increasingly finessed; my first attempts at editing when I started photography were very heavy handed.
Now I've done a few tests I'm keen to keep trying new lighting setups and grow my skills. I'm also aware I need to work on interaction with my subjects to get the best out of them.
“my first attempts at editing when I started photography were very heavy handed.”
We’ve all been there. 😉