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John Jackson's picture

My first portrait shoot (Caravaggio Style). Shot on the Canon R5!

Captured the essential educator with the Canon EOS R5. Looking to get better, any feedback/pointers would be greatly appreciated!

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6 Comments

It feels as though the lighting is best on her clothes as aposed to her face. The white shirt pulls too much attention

Thank you! Definitely can see that now, especially in the first shot...Any tips on how to position the light to avoid this?...Or next time should I just have the subject avoid wearing white when taking this type of shot?

I think you need better lighting on the face. I would start off with the typical 45 degree. Have the light 45 degree down and have it 45 off from front center (or leave centered). You may have to play around with it. If you need to make adjustments so the light falls more on the face and less on the body, do that. I have an inexpensive 42” parabolic umbrella + speedlight and at 45 degrees it lights the floor more than the face for some reason. :) So I end up barely having it pointing down.

I’d avoid messy shadows on the face.

Consider using a softbox or something with some sort of diffusion to soften the light.

Do some skin retouching (smooth out shadow transitions, blemishes, et), especially, with close shots. The cleaner the lighting, the less work with the retouching…usually.

There’s tons of videos out there for one light setups. I’d suggest you mimic and imitate them. Then, adjust to how you like it.

Definitely appreciate this! Thank you!

The first photo I would balance the light more. The screen seem off in contrast to the flash. Maybe add a small fill light coming from the screen?

I think that would alleviate the problem.

And also, the huge color contrast between skin and clothing can be hard to nail.

Vinicius, thank you...I’ll definitely give that a try. I have my second shoot tomorrow, I’ll apply all these great tips and let you all have a look. Thanks again for the help.