Re-did the old lighting on a quick self portrait. Any CC would be greatly appreciated!
P.S I apologize for this posting 3 times it wasn't working for some reason then over time all 3 uploaded so sorry!
Re-did the old lighting on a quick self portrait. Any CC would be greatly appreciated!
P.S I apologize for this posting 3 times it wasn't working for some reason then over time all 3 uploaded so sorry!
Looks like you're getting close to blending in with the background. I think putting a light on the background or a hairlight would help a lot.
Also, I'm wondering if your lower light is too bright or just in a weird placement. The shadow on your neck looks really strange, must be caused by your shirt/jacket? Turn it down a bit and add more shadow to give it more depth.
I don't exactly have traditional clamshell lighting so I wasn't expecting it to be spot on but I'll play around with the lower light some more and see what I can come out with. I only have two speedlights but I may be able to figure out something for the background to help out with that. Thanks!
One way to get more light on the background is to move your subject closer to the background and have your main light spill more onto the background. Can be tricky finding good positioning on everything, but it can create a nice gradient when you get it.
Perhaps a little more color saturation? The lighting is very soft, which is great, but that coupled with the decreased color sat makes the image look a little flat.
Yeah I took it in a different type of jpeg as raw files from my 7d mk ii has not been working on my mac for some reason. But I plan on shooting raw and editing and having more saturation for sure. Thanks!
The shadow on your neck is odd, but props to you for experimenting, and putting it out there for feedback.
Thanks! Appreciate it. Yeah I'm trying to work that out somehow with using a reflector or just positioning my speedlight differently.
Took some of those shadows out on my neck and went back to a more saturated image. Wasn't working on the background I know its just a wall and all but the lighting on my face was what I was fixing.
IMO, the lighting in this looks much better, but I'd still have the bottom light at a lower power.
At a lower power? I thought that it was supposed to bring the shadows out, the top light was at 1/128th power and the bottom light at 1/64th power. I will lower the bottom light and post it, I just though the clamshell lighting was meant top bring the shadows out from my neck area. Thanks!
There are no set rules to this, but typically the upper light is the main light. The lower light is the fill light which meant to fill in the shadows, make them less dark or remove them completely. So typically, your upper light is at a higher power. Often people just have a light above and just a reflector below at chest level, thus being a lower "power" light source.
What I do is, have just the upper/main light on. Get the exposure the way you like it. Then turn on the lower/fill light and adjust to preference.