me bint, and me

[Mohinder]

Just a couple, been using the lights I bought/made recently.

I'm rubbish at portraits, currently, so C & C welcome :)

http://idisk.mac.com/robmoeser/Public/Pictures/Skitch/sindy_%283_of_4%29-20080224-005232.jpg


http://idisk.mac.com/robmoeser/Public/Pictures/Skitch/me1-20080224-005508.jpg

[divine]

You seem to have lit from underneath. Don't do this, it's the most unflattering way to light a portrait shot, always have them lit from above.

[Justsomebloke]

You done the Missus no favours at all mate, She'll beat you for that one ;D
If Divine hadn't have posted though i wouldn't have known why but now it's said Yes it is the dark shadows that look wrong/bad.
Your pic looks sound enough but i would have centred you better though & is that smoke in the top right ? If so you need a big stogey in pic as well, Would be better to have no smoke & No fag/stogey though really.


Authors note.
I know absolutely Nothing about photography :)

[Mohinder]

You seem to have lit from underneath. Don't do this, it's the most unflattering way to light a portrait shot, always have them lit from above.

Let me dig out some of the ones where she's lit from above - she liked the one I posted, that's why I chose to put that one up. Must remember not to listen to women!

[Mohinder]

If Divine hadn't have posted though i wouldn't have known why but now it's said Yes it is the dark shadows that look wrong/bad.

I agree, there was something I liked about it and something I didn't, I couldn't put my finger on it. I need to work out how to hoik my lights up higher. It's all learning, it's all good :)

[divine]

You don't strictly have to light from above, side can work well too.

Ideally you'd want your main light coming from say top right, with a weaker light top left and maybe a very weak one bottom mid to soften the shadows.

Under lighting doesn't work for a couple of reasons. Firstly it looks unnatural, people are always lit from above, that's just how the sun works, when we see someone lit from below it looks odd. Secondly it highlights bad features like double chins, bags under eyes, nose hair etc. far more.

What camera/lighting set up are you using?

[Mohinder]

The lights are two daylight balanced striplights. They work well, just need to be hoiked higher! I can adjust where I hang them from my tripods from though, I should be able to get them another couple of feet higher with no troubles.

I think all of those were taken with the kit lens on my D40