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Lighting Help - Headshots with my M8?


mkendzierski

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Hey everyone,

 

I am a relatively newbie & I have an M8 that I use for my own amusement. I love photography and have just gotten more interested in people versus the standard landscapes and random photographs that I've been taking. I normally shoot with m 35mm Summicron & 15mm Voigtlander.

 

I've read & seen through Sean's reviews about the 75mm but don't think I'm going to go for the Leica and instead do another Voigtlander.

 

I have offered to try & shoot some of my friends headshots who are actors for free...more as a favor & learning experience than anything else.

 

My questions are...without going for the full studio experience....what exactly do I need to get me started? I'm really not even sure where to start and this forum has been great before with advice.

 

Are there any ideas to get me started? I couldn't find anything on the forum and I'd like to help out my friends and learn more about my camera in the process.

 

Any suggestions?

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You might want to have a look at existing portrait picture sources such as

for example photography books in libraries or buy them. Then you can see

how they put their models into the camera´s view, how the lighting was set etc., some of them show diagrams.

 

You might start with natural light of course, the northern windows for example get a nice lighting for portraits. Just shoot around and see what the effects are, don´t think there are fixed rules (just light! :) ) or hesitate to try something. All about experience, trial and error. Thats the good thing with digital!!

 

best,

 

Andreas.

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Very easy setup is to put your Speedlight-type flash on a tripod above and to the side of the subject connected by a cable to the camera. A bounce card is nice for light diffusion.

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I would suggest to start with the natural light and a reflector which could be a piece of white paper.

 

If you get more serious about portraits, then I would suggest to get a small studio flash head along with a white soft box.

 

I have a fairly large white soft box which could be even used as a back ground.

 

have fun!

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There's excellent info here:

Minami Pictures :: Headshot Photography Technical Information

 

Google "lighting headshots" and you'll find more, but the above may be all you need. To do a standard headshot, you should have a lens equivalent to about 75 to 100mm, a white reflector, and a person or device to hold the reflector.

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Wow...thank you so much everyone for the great advice!

 

I am excited to read it all & digest all of this great stuff!

 

I will promise to post once I've got some material to work with...

 

Thanks again....this forum really amazes me with all of the knowledge!!!!

 

-Mike

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I find the CV 75mm to be a very capable lens. I haven't got the Leica one to compare to but I am very satisfied with it.

Here 2 examples. The first in studio and next available light

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You could also consider the pre-asph 90 summicron from Leica. These are perhaps a little long but have some great potential for portraiture and are not expensive on the second hand market.

 

Rgds,

 

Etienne

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Here's one with the CV75 and M8, hand held, very simple incandescent lighting.

1890310338

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