A general impression, besides appreciating an image of a beautiful looking person, although it might just 'reflect' my personal preferences, the cropping at the top edge seems a bit tight on #s 1, 2, and 4 (#3 is border-line, for my taste ).
Assuming the 'soc' is the fill light. I've been tought, and still agree, that the fill light makes the intended image's 'lighting contrast'. Lighting contrast multiplied with subject contrast equates to total image contrast (which defines atmosphere, to cut a few subjective corners).
I've also been tought (some 33 years ago), and (still) agree, that placing the fill lights at (or slightly above, for practical reasons) the lens position, and/or rather slightly at the same lateral side of the main light, adds to the lighting contrast applied to the shadow side of the subject.
Bart
Thanks for chiming in Bart and for the observations! Yes, the chopped off head seems to a bit of a controversy for some other folks as well. When I look at shots of NY photogs that do this for Broadway actors, these are inline with that. When I look at headshots for actors in the DC area, they don’t chop off the heads at all. A dilemma. Next time will go for the middle ground as you suggest with a little less chopping, but still chop a bit.
The fill light here was an umbrella reversed and with the black cover removed to reduce its intensity. It was literally right next to my camera just to my right. I tried some shots with the main and fill on camera right but for some reason, they had less appeal to my eye…but will try again, could have been the ratio was too even between the lights.
The main light was a softbox that was above her head but when she stood up for what is posted, I did not move it up that much. If you look at the catchlights, 3 was her sitting and the lights were positioned as you describe. 4 was her standing and you can see the fill does what you suggest, but the main could have gone higher.
The big criticism I’ve heard is that the ratio was not strong enough…this was 2:1 with the main/fill and there is not enough contrast, and I think you are saying that too. Next time I’m to going to do 3:1 or maybe 4:1. For headshots I have to be careful because one goal for directors is that they need to see the total shape of the face in the quick 2 seconds they look at any photo in the big pile before them at auditions. Too high of a ratio and they cannot easily see the shape in a quick glance. Too little and there is not enough contrast for interest. This batch is not enough contrast.
Would love to hear you take on this and what a good ratio would be for a headshot given its purpose in this case.
I want to improve her shots at the next session
The soc is the name of the Speedotron product that is simply a diffuser that is shaped like a thin white cloth hairnet. It goes over the beauty dish which is the hairlight in these. In this case, there was a grid on the beauty dish to narrow the beam and lessen the spill forward and keep it off the background, and the diffuser made the light much less harsh. I’ve seen people use variations on softboxes or striplights for hairlights with nice effect…may have to get one of those some day and give it a whirl.
This light was positioned directly above her and slightly behind. I followed a trick I learned from someone here to turn off the other lights and bring the hairlight forward until you see it on the nose and eyebrows, and then back it off a bit so that you get none of its light on the face. That seemed to work as intended.
Thanks again for your thoughts, OPF is a great place to learn!
