the prime Macro?

Yeah. Here's a few more... same lens

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7042/6...6b4a589d_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7053/6...a16e43ff_b.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7186/6...0325433d_b.jpg

Here Onz... non-HDR for you. Marilyn is out of hibernation. Weather too nice. Feels good to get her out and again and drive. Ten hoorahs for winter being over.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...on/spring2.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...on/spring6.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...on/spring5.jpg

^^^ Questionable subject matter, but very nice photographic work.

:bowrofl::bowrofl::bowrofl:

:bowrofl: +1 sir (blank rep from droid)

oh I thought you guys wanted good photos, AND a quality subject ;) hehe Don't you know good art when you see one??? :D

you should talk STEVE! :D

p.s. is that Dan's old S2k in your avatar?

No that's my S2000. :icon17:

Dan's was silver and had 234230492034hp.

:icon18:

So Dan copied you in BOTH regards? He copied your S2k AND your 5.0... tsk tsk. ;)

p.s. Stupid weather, got 2" of snow again last night... darn it. Now I have to garage her again for at least a week till rain clears it out.

So we keep this thread on topic, go here for s2k, 5.0, and other vehicle discussion: http://www.the370z.com/other-vehicle...rs-thread.html

Just another shot of my work at the salon:

http://www.modachroma.com/the370z/Sa..._1446small.jpg



Please feel free to offer feedback! I would actually appreciate it because I am trying to improve the quality of my images.
Is it pretty good or does it suck? What needs to be improved or changed?
How's the post-production? Too much? Not enough? Should I HDR it? (kidding)
What's good about it so I can keep doing those things?

Thanks!

I'd say it looks pretty good LunaZ :tup:

LunaZ what's your lighting setup like?

Lighting is a little tricky for me. I'm not working with strobes and my hours never coincide with natural light, so I'm rocking Home Depot shop lights, a reflector and a camera mounted speedlite with a Gary Fong diffuser.
I got really creative this weekend and balanced a reflector on top of my backdrop frame to create the effect of a hair light. It actually worked quite well.
I think the different temperatures of the all the lights I'm using is throwing things off. I've turned my white balance down to a cooler temperature to try to compensate.
I'd like to add strobes with softboxes to my kit, but I want to make sure I understand what I'm doing with them before I write that check.

You just reminded me I need to check that this new monitor is calibrated correctly!

Yea, my only advice for you would be to look into lighting setups. a proper lighting setup is also beyond my knowledge as well. But it's clear from seeing the work that many do with their setups it really does take this type of work to the next level. I'm curious do you check out any photography forums? I would check out photography-on-the.net

And I don't want you to think your photo came out poorly. I think it came out great. But there's always one little thing that could take our work to the next level.

I've taken school I.D. And portraits before and our general set up was three strobes with soft boxes. We would place one behind our back drop to illuminate it, and 2 in front at 45 degree angles to the subject. For the 2 in front, One was higher than the other to illuminate their hair and sometimes have to adjust the height according to glare from glasses and such.

We used a light meter to ensure they were the same levels of output but you can just judge that on your computer/LCD and take a few test shots then adjust if you don't have a light meter. Using 2 lights from the front you will probably want them positioned between four and six feet from the subject at 45 angles.

For limited budgets, if you are only using one strobe you will want the largest soft box you can get to spread light across the entire subjects face and not cast a harsh shadow on your background and get it as close to the subject as you can also aiding to smooth the light.

LunaZ,

I think there's a little too much contrast between the hair and skin, unless the girl's skin is really that white. The focus and detail on the hair is great, though.

The diffuser is your one saving grace with this setup however it's too little attached to a speed light fighting against "shop" lights which are blowing everything else out. It isn't bad to work with what you have but you are going to have to get very creative about how to diffuse powerful shop lights.

A side effect of too much light on the image is that besides blowing it out, it takes aways depth. The overall composition is good but the lighting isn't lending the artistic merit any proper due!

In a controlled interior such as a studio (or wherever), strobes offer the most control over light. Especially strobes with variable power settings complete with softening the light through softboxes.

Thanks for all the great feedback, guys. I really appreciate it!
Guess it's time to invest in some proper lighting if I want to get what I'm expecting from my shots!

Luna, I have this exact kit as a secondary kit:

900W STUDIO KIT W/BAG

It absolutely will not break the bank as you can see and in all honesty, I've used it on an actual photoshoot with surprisingly great results. If you're looking to get started with strobes, I recommend this setup. The only thing I would invest in is better (more heavy duty) stands. Aside from that, this kit is actually really good.

And this is coming from a guy who uses a $5K Dynalite kit. I would have no problem using the Neewer kit in a pinch and I often use them for other little projects. For the type of shots that you are doing (headshot type stuff) they are more than adequate. The construction of the strobes themselves isn't bomb proof but if you take care of them, they should last you indefinitely.

Just a thought.

Let's see if I can find a couple comparison shots from both my kits.... hold on a sec..

Ok so just a couple rough shots....


First, the $300 kit:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7181/6...006abeaa_b.jpg



And a self portrait shot from my $5k kit:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7176/6...43e2a368_b.jpg

Both shots using 3 strobe heads (two umbrella'd on the backdrop and one softbox on the main subject). Simple simple setup.. not even using any blocking of light or anything. You can see that:
1. Either way you are going to get a softer more even light than you will with "shop" lights and..
2. After a bit of photoshop to even out lighting, color etc., you may as well start off with a minimal investment because quite frankly, you can achieve very similar results.

Thanks for the link! I was just looking at something similar from Cowboy Studios on Amazon, but this kit seems to have more power.
Do you think I should add a boom stand to make one of the strobes a hair light? That is my focus, after all!

Yeah, the shop lights are HARSH! And they've got a cutoff that's like HID headlights... I'm not even pointing them at the models. I've got them bouncing off the walls and ceiling in the salon. I'm pretty sure their temperature is much warmer than natural light.
I've become really aware of light temperature as our new trade show stage has LED lighting and some of our redhead models aren't looking as dramatic as we were expecting them too based on our formulations in the prep room.

Again, I really appreciate you sharing your experience with me!

These are not digital -- my photo buddy and mad scientist Eric shot them with his Yaschica-Mat 124 twin lens reflex. That type camera always adds a few pounds. :icon17:

http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-...71587194_n.jpg

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...78453393_n.jpg

Tell Eric great shots:tup: Im so jelly of your camera equiptment. I really gotta get a Manfrotto, been slacking on that for awhile.

^ Nice hat :-)

:tiphat:

Nice shots, Killerbee.

Thanks. I like that hat too but now I have a ///M one ;)

:tup:

Event photographs TIGI US Creative Team at America's Beauty Show
It's not spectacular photography, but I think it's interesting enough to post here for you to give it a look.

Cinquecento

http://www.modachroma.com/the370z/500headlight.jpg

I like that shot, Mr. Luna.

Here is one my son Colin shot. He HDR'd it. He was a Z guy and now a Volvo guy.

http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-...46718715_n.jpg

Thanks, Mr. onzedge!

Thanks to everyone who helped out with advice on lighting and what to buy.
I've decided to increase my budget for a lighting setup to get more out of my time and money investment, so I'm holding off a month so I can buy something a little better that the stuff I was originally looking at on Amazon.
I'll fill you in later!

You get what you pay for!

I like it. Z to Volvo huh:icon14:

How does anyone ever become a "Volvo guy"? :confused: