[IanHoughton]

I had another go at some high key shots of my daughters yesterday afternoon. I was using my Heath Robinson home studio setup again.

White bed sheet hanging from lighting stand at rear (children on dining room table !!).
Remote SB600 onto bedsheet from left side
Window light from right hand side

[Dabhand16]

This is really nice set Ian

Given you have only a lash-up studio, it is almost churlish to pass comment, but I hope this will be of use.

The lighting in #1 & 5 is just a little unbalanced with the source on the LHS being a bit strong and is casting a shadow in #1.

The others are spot-on and you must be really pleased with # 3 & 4

BTW - you ought to get your models to fix their nail varnish before a shoot!

[IanHoughton]

Originally Posted by Dabhand16

This is really nice set Ian

Given you have only a lash-up studio, it is almost churlish to pass comment, but I hope this will be of use.

The lighting in #1 & 5 is just a little unbalanced with the source on the LHS being a bit strong and is casting a shadow in #1.

The others are spot-on and you must be really pleased with # 3 & 4

BTW - you ought to get your models to fix their nail varnish before a shoot!

1, 3 & 5 were using the 150W floodlight through a opaque reflector, hence the yellow bright spots on the left hand side. This was the first time that I had used this light, I need to get some whiter tungsten bulbs for it and work out a way to vary the power of the light (not bad for £4.96 from B&Q though !!!)

Regarding the nails, they were painted a chocolate colour and I think she thinks they are real, the way she keeps biting them.

Thanks for your comments.

[j sotelo]

very nicely done I like #1 and also like the pose in #3.

BTW, check your Hotmail inbox I sent you a link and 2 PDF's I think you might find very useful, one PDF is for the SB 800 I know you have the SB 600 but you will find you can use it just as well.

[Dabhand16]

Originally Posted by IanHoughton

1, 3 & 5 were using the 150W floodlight through a opaque reflector, hence the yellow bright spots on the left hand side. This was the first time that I had used this light, I need to get some whiter tungsten bulbs for it and work out a way to vary the power of the light (not bad for £4.96 from B&Q though !!!)

Even better! Just goes to show you don't have to spend a fortune - good on yer

Try some blue filters to cool the light down . Low wattage daylight bulbs are usually the same as ordinary bulbs, but have blue glass.

To lower the power, you would need a variable rheostsat, but with enough guts to handle the amperage from the 150watt lamp. You could try a thicker filter to reduce the light too.

[Summerleft]

These are lovely

Originally Posted by IanHoughton

(children on dining room table !!).

but Ian, your not supposed to eat your children

[P-E]

Lovely set of shots Ian

[Les Meehan]

Ian, nice images!

To control tungsten lighting it is usual to use 'lighting gels' which are sheets/rolls of heat-resistant acetate (or whatever) plaved in front of the light (usually taped to the light). You will always see these used on film sets.

The Rosco make is the best known and you would definitely need a roll of the ND one stop (neutral density). The filter sheet is easily cut to size and can be used in layers to reduce the light in stops i.e. two ND 1 is ND 2 etc.

Since you seem to use window light too you would need a sheet of the 80A tungsten to daylight gel. This will make the colour temp of the lamp similar to the window light. Of course, the warm light from the tungsten can be useful as is.

You might consider forking out for a couple more of the lights from B+Q to give you a complete tungsten setup. I would add at least a 500w to the mix for the extra light but consider the heat aspect in a small studio space (another 150w or two might be enough).

You mention using the light thru diffused material. Also try another bedsheet as a light source by bouncing the tungsten off it (not too close due to heat/burning). This would give you a beautifully large soft light (may need higher wattage lights as mentioned above). Also, do try with your flash unit!

You have great models there, very natural with the camera.

Check this out too: Impact | Universal Filter Holder | 3312 | B&H Photo Video

[IanHoughton]

Originally Posted by Les Meehan

You might consider forking out for a couple more of the lights from B+Q to give you a complete tungsten setup. I would add at least a 500w to the mix for the extra light but consider the heat aspect in a small studio space (another 150w or two might be enough).

I have another 150w ready to go, I just didn't wire it up in case the results from the weekend were poor. I just need to investigate some lighting stands as HOT lights and small children don't mix too well !!! I have been looking into replacing the bulbs (78mm R7S halogen) in the lights with some cooler versions but without luck, the daylight gel idea seems promising where would I get some ?? I am also going to look into using smoe form of dimmer unit to control both of the floodlights.

Originally Posted by Les Meehan

You mention using the light thru diffused material. Also try another bedsheet as a light source by bouncing the tungsten off it (not too close due to heat/burning). This would give you a beautifully large soft light (may need higher wattage lights as mentioned above). Also, do try with your flash unit!

To diffuse the floodlight I used a cheap Ebay reflector which when you remove the silver / gold outer covering leaves a nice opaque centre section. Some of the later shots we done using the SB600 on the background to overexpose it.

Originally Posted by Les Meehan

You have great models there, very natural with the camera.

Thanks very much, my eldest daughter thinks it great posing for the camera, but the youngest has an attention span of a Gnat !!! It certainly focuses your mind when you know the model will only pose for about 2 minutes !!

Thanks for your comments everyone, much appreciated. Les - I don't know how you find the time to write so much !!!

[Les Meehan]

I have a fire extinguisher next to my keyboard to cool my finger tips and as you all now know I am very verbose! For me, writing several hundred words about photography is nothing, I've been doing it for years.