Portrait Lighting

Posted by Michael Zhang (Ithaca, United States) on 29 November 2006 in People & Portrait and Portfolio.

This is my amateur attempt at model photography. We have a small studio with some hot lights in our photography classroom that my friends and I set up for this shot. We had a diffuser over the light, a bounce board on the left, and a small neutral light from the bottom to eliminate her shadow.

Comments (10)

Ben from New York City, United States

I like this. Nice subject. Nice pose. I dont know if the expression is cocky or what, but its good. My only critique is that heavy shadow over her head. Great shot though.

29 Nov 2006 5:06am

Kelvin Chan from New York City, United States

Nice picture. My complaint is that 1) there are too much negative space on both sides. cropping would fix that. and 2) both her eyes are insufficiently lit. the eyes are very important in a portrait and you rarely see a portrait with poorly lit eyes, except when you can't see the eyes at all. A light somewhere to the left of you would've fixed that and 3) the bag under her eye. Keeping experimenting. You're lucky to get in that class. I'm green with envy

29 Nov 2006 5:12am

Prashanth from Bengalooru, India

nice attempt there!!

29 Nov 2006 5:52am

Henry Zhang from New York, United States

Nice attempt! There are a few things to fix but that just comes from more practice in the studio since you really can't go wrong. An extra light or reflector to fill in the shadow would have been good but most important is the catchlight, or lack thereof! I haven't checked out Stuy's lab in a while so I don't know if they have enough lights for it, but I would've set up a hairlight and a direct light slightly left for that catch in the eyes. You did a wonderful job though and her hair looks stunning.

29 Nov 2006 7:51am

Henry Zhang from New York, United States

Also, you might want to try a slightly longer lens. I find that 60-70mm on digital or 80-90mm on full sensors/film is very, very flattering to most faces. I know how cluttered it is in that lab though so shooting that long might not be an option!

29 Nov 2006 7:53am

Shuva Brata Deb from Hyderabad, India

Very very clear picture and the expression and the lighting is so nice to see on this lovely lady's face. You could have made this picture look much better of you placed her on the right side of the frame.

29 Nov 2006 2:09pm

Duncan Galbraith from kyoto, Japan

hey Michael. Nice portrait. As above, the right side would be slightly better compostionally. I love the capture though, despite the studio location she looks very relaxed and natural.

29 Nov 2006 4:23pm

Aaron Schmidt from Auckland, New Zealand

Very nice. Would agree with Shuva ... a left or right offset might give it an interesting twist. Great photo nonetheless.

30 Nov 2006 4:34am

Craig Persel from Montreal, Canada

Very nice. Well lit.

1 Dec 2006 12:29am

Daniel from United States

Nice portrait.

1 Dec 2006 5:20am

Add your comment ...

next day →

Canon EOS 20D
1/125 second
F/5.6
ISO 400
40 mm