Need some suggestions for studio shots

[wparsonsgisnet]

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Here are 2 recent studio shots that I would like help with.

 

The first is ok, against the gray background.

The second needs some work because the brightness of the white background causes flare around the sitters.

 

I have tried some manipulation in C1 and also some in PSCS2. I would appreciate some suggestions about how to proceed.

 

Thanks in advance

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[cocker]

Bill,

 

You need to crank down the strength of the strobe lighting the background. Either with the strobe controls if they will go any lower or through repositioning or diffusing. The light is simply too strong and is bouncing back. You might also take the background further away from the subject if that is possible.

 

Best wishes

[Nitnaros]

Yes, Keith is right: For the second shot, the easiest would be to move the people further away from the backdrop, so you get less flare (but that depends on how much space you have). Normally 1.5 f-stops above your chosen aperture should be fine for a "hot white" background. Fixing that in post, is tough. Try reducing highlight exposure via curves; try in C1 a different tone curve (try both linear and contrast). Or go in Photoshop and run a "Shadow/Highlight" where you reduce highlightes and bump up shadows to compensate.

 

The first shot - the guy - why don't you use a more contrasty lighting setup ... harder light, more directional. He is a guy, can take harder light for a more "dramatic" look and feel. Less DOF can add more character, or you go super sharp with stopped down lense for the guys and further enhance that via Unsharp Mask Sharpening where you run a small radius but high amount (to boost micro-contrast).

 

For the couple: Have them look at each other and interact with each other and shoot then, rather then having them look into the same direction. That will make the composition more personal.

 

Peter

[wparsonsgisnet]

Keith, thank you.

 

I know the background is too bright. I was trying to make a rear corner seam go away.

 

The problem is that it looks ok when I chimp the pic. It's only when I get the image into C1 that I see the burnout.

 

I tried reducing exposure to take the intensity of the white down, but in C1 I only have exposure to work with. In PSCS2 there is both exposure and brightness (very handy, and I miss it).

 

What I ended up doing with the first image is the following:

 

In C1, crop the image and WB with Jamie's LoSat profile. Save as a tiff.

Then in PS, for the first picture, I used Auto Color, Auto Curves, and Auto contrast. It worked out ok, because the background wasn't too bright, as in the white backg's.

 

At the moment, I am buried in my (many) PS books, trying to figure out how to replace colors with the eyedropper.

 

 

SO, if I dial down the white background next time, then I should just reset the background white in PS at about 240 when I post-process the image?

 

Thanks for your time,

[Rolo]

Bill,

 

this image is far from lost.

 

Background lighting will only send the drop to white. It'll be the blow back that's causing flare. If you put a couple of flags either side of the lens it should be OK as it is IMO.

 

Turning down the lights somwhat will help.

 

Hope you don't mind me showing it can be easily recovered.

 

Rolo

[grober]

Bill,

 

Lighting techniques aside, the first shot exhibits what a successful portrait photographer must get right if he/she is to produce a good people picture: establish rapport and build a bridge of empathy with your subject. You did that here and captured a beautiful shot.

 

Thanks for posting.

 

-g

[Peyton Hoge]

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Hello Bill,

I think your first one is a really nice portrait. IMHO, it's just needs a little PS adjustment. I hope you don't mind, but I lightened his face a little, added a little contrast overall, and darkened the edges slightly to make the subject "pop" a little more.

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[wparsonsgisnet]

Thanks, Peyton and Rolo for your comments.

 

I took a number of shots, many of them looking toward, one toward, etc. This is one the customer chose. It's always intersting putting my feet in their shoes.

 

Rolo, would you mind describing the workflow you used to reduce the flare in the pic with the white background? I like what you did. Thanks for spending the time.

 

Peyton, if I follow you correctly, you used brightness to lighten the face, and added contrast. Which edges did you darken, the edges of the face or the background, and using what tool, please.

 

This is very helpful. My appreciation.

[Rolo]

Rolo, would you mind describing the workflow you used to reduce the flare in the pic with the white background? I like what you did. Thanks for spending the time.

 

Bill, do this in PhotoShop. I use CS2.

 

It's very simple, but you need to find the Black and White Threshold points on the subject you are interested in. Not the background/sky unnecessary detail - your subject.

 

To find the B&W points it's usually obvious, but for complex images or learning open a Threshold Layer in the Layers pallette. You will have a silouette.

 

Drag the slider to the right and as you go the image will disperse until you have the last bit of detail IN THE SUBJECT. Note the point for the future. You can mark it by clicking on it whilst holding down the Shift key.

 

Then drag the slider the opposite way until the final bit of detail is there. Note that.

 

Now CANCEL out. Do NOT save, but remeber where the two points are.

[Rolo]

Now Bill,

 

Open a Curves Layer from the Layers palette.

 

Take the Highlight smpler and click on the earing. Take the Shado sampler and click on the darkest hair behind the ladies ear.

 

Add a slight S curve by dragging your staright curve slightly off the straight in two places. Play by moving more and less to suit.

 

Your image will have sprung to life. Maybe a bit strong in colour, as here.

 

Open a Saturation layer in the Layers plaette and pull Saturation slider to the left. All the way takes it back to B&W, so 1/4 of the way is sufficient,but you choose.

 

Flatten the image and crop to suit.

 

Voila !!

 

Rolo

[Peyton Hoge]

Thanks, Peyton and Rolo for your comments.

 

I took a number of shots, many of them looking toward, one toward, etc. This is one the customer chose. It's always intersting putting my feet in their shoes.

 

Rolo, would you mind describing the workflow you used to reduce the flare in the pic with the white background? I like what you did. Thanks for spending the time.

 

Peyton, if I follow you correctly, you used brightness to lighten the face, and added contrast. Which edges did you darken, the edges of the face or the background, and using what tool, please.

 

This is very helpful. My appreciation.

Bill...I used the Lasso tool around his face and lightened it in Curves (just slightly). After that, delete the Lasso tool. Then I added contrast to the whole image. Then I used the Gradient tool to darken the edges of the background. I did it on the top and the 2 sides.

I hope this helps.

[wparsonsgisnet]

Thank you, Rolo. That's very clear and very helpful.

 

I am working with threshholds because I'm trying to copy skin tones from one picture to another. I'm in Kelly's book doing this, and therefore learning to use threshhold.

 

I am just learning to do studio shots and obviously set the white paper too high. I was trying to white out the background so that the details where the wall and floor met at the corner would vanish. I couldn't see the damage (flare) I was doing while reviewing on the M8's chimp screen.

 

I'll be doing some more studio shots in a couple of weeks, and I'll try to balance the lights better. I'll set the white to 1.5 stops higher in comparison to the main subject. The difference in these shots must be more than 4 or 5 stops! Time to get out the spotmeter.

 

Taking the brightness of the paper down will help a lot because I can open up the lens. I was at f8 and would be pleased to dial the light down a bit and get some DOF definition.

 

This is great. I'll post some results.

[Jamie Roberts]

@ Rollo, Bill--nice work!

 

Here's a tip and a trick that really saves me time to get more in the park with a shot like this without spending more than 30 seconds in PS...

 

First, make a duplicate layer of the image.

Then change the layer operation to "multiply."

Finally, adjust the transparency of the mulitplied image to taste; or simply erase (soft, big @ about 25% opacity) what you want to be lighter.

 

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Of course, to finish the shot you might apply curves, erase stray hairs, re-crop, etc...but this will get you close to where you need to go surprisingly quickly!

 

(when you have hundreds and hundreds of these things, you tend to go quickest path!)

[wparsonsgisnet]

Thank you, Peyton and Jamie.

 

It's very helpful for me to get assistance where I'm lacking (damned if I'm telling my wife I can get help; she thinks it "can't be done" when I have a problem).

 

Regards,

[fotografr]

Another very fast adjustment can be done with a program called iCorrect by Pictographics (a photoshop plug-in). It sets black and white points with one click. I also did a very slight burn on each person's outside shoulder.

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[wparsonsgisnet]

Brent, I really like the version that icorrect turns out. I'm going to play with this.

 

It's been suggested before but, of course, the suggestion needed a picture to convice me. Thanks a million.

[londonuk]

Hi,

Just aquick one. If you take a reading from the subject towards the background and the result is higher than the subject to camera reading, you're likely to get that blow out.

Idealy, you want the light falling on the subject to be at least a half stop brighter than the light reflected on to your subjects from the background.

[wparsonsgisnet]

Brent, Pictocolor has some other packages, as well. I am looking at iCorrect One Click color correction. Any other suggestions?

 

tnx.

[carstenw]

Bill, I don't know if you have tried this, but if you use the Info button while chimping, the histogram should show you if you are clipping. That might help detect the problem earlier.

[wparsonsgisnet]

Hi,

Just aquick one. If you take a reading from the subject towards the background and the result is higher than the subject to camera reading, you're likely to get that blow out.

Idealy, you want the light falling on the subject to be at least a half stop brighter than the light reflected on to your subjects from the background.

 

I will try to set my lights in this way. Thanks for the tip.

I use a Zone VI-modified Pentax digital spotmeter. That should be ok to check these values, right?

 

Tnx,

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Hallo,

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