Fashion shoot

[ElDude]

I know virtually nothing about studio shooting and lighting, although this is something I'm actually interested in, so always love reading threads like these

For what it's worth, I like the "OTT" shot you posted. It reminds me of an album cover

 

[86JR]

Given the studio already has flashes, I'd suggest buying a set of cheap radio triggers off fleabay to fire them. Or failing that, get a PC lead and trigger them with that. I'd not mess about with an on-camera flash to fire them

As others have said, you need to try and get the subject further from the background if possible to lose the shadow.

You've also got too much light falling on the background in most of the shots. Getting further from the background will help with that - or move the lights in closer and turn them down.

As others have suggested, try shooting raw. That will give you more control with the WB issues. That said, setting the WB to tungsten should have got somewhere close if you were just using the modelling lamps.

Finally, were the images underexposed and have you boosted the exposure in post processing? If you have, that will increase the grain that shows up.

Thankyou for the advice No, the exposure was spot on i think, all i did in post were run some leica 3d filters i have to get the model to "pop" then desaturated slightly.

Don't think the "studio" had strobes he could use - if they did I would expect them to provide the trigger for the camera hotshoe ( most decent studios normally would ). He was intending to use speedlights ( flashes ) for his lighting, but they didn't work.

Totally wrong as i have explained earlier - they have enlichrom flashes however no sync cable or hotshoe trigger, so i was going to use the sb600 as a trigger (as i did with a d70) however the sb600 no longer works for some reason, it wont turn on, even with fresh batteries. Didnt know i could fire them using commander mode within the D300s.

 

[tbs]

Because im not a pro like you or are you just trolling yourself there ?

Reason I said that was because someone told you you should be shooting in RAW and you came with "someone told me to shoot in JPG, and because your screen is iffy" it doesnt matter if youre shooting in RAW if your screen is iffy, makes no difference. And trying to get a shot spot on in JPG with a SLR is like using a P&S, which you should use if youre going to be shooting in JPG. Im not trolling you, Im just reiterating what you said, and I find your thread to be amusing to read.

 

[p0ss3s3d]

Reason I said that was because someone told you you should be shooting in RAW and you came with "someone told me to shoot in JPG, and because your screen is iffy" it doesnt matter if youre shooting in RAW if your screen is iffy, makes no difference. And trying to get a shot spot on in JPG with a SLR is like using a P&S, which you should use if youre going to be shooting in JPG. Im not trolling you, Im just reiterating what you said, and I find your thread to be amusing to read.

I shoot jpegs, unless I'm going to have time to properly PP photos before sending them off. Does that mean I ought to use a P&S?

 

[tbs]

I shoot jpegs, unless I'm going to have time to properly PP photos before sending them off. Does that mean I ought to use a P&S?

Im guessing your "skills" compared to the OP is on a different level, unless you dont take that into account

 

[bigredshark]

Totally wrong as i have explained earlier - they have enlichrom flashes however no sync cable or hotshoe trigger, so i was going to use the sb600 as a trigger (as i did with a d70) however the sb600 no longer works for some reason, it wont turn on, even with fresh batteries. Didnt know i could fire them using commander mode within the D300s.

You really don't want to make a habit of doing that, get a sync cable, they're no money at all anyway...

 

[86JR]

Do i need a specific sync cable ? looking on a warehouse website theres different ones for different flash setups...

Would i not be better with a pocketwizard or the cheap oriental copy ?

 

[86JR]

Some edits

For fun:

For portfolio

 

[Adrianr]

Ok don't take this the wrong way, but they shouldn't be going within a hundred nautical miles of a portfolio. Your portfolio is supposed to show your skill and vision as a photographer. All those photographs tell me is you can't focus your camera and you're comping skills are diabolical. The additional text doesn't work for the image at all either I'm afraid. Look at how magazines add text in to editorials if that's the look you're going for.

 

[An Exception]

Quite like this edit if a bit OTT ?

If I was you I would put this whole shoot down to a learning experience, and hence hasn't been wasted.
None of these images I would consider usable, let alone use in a portfolio.
The crappy light has already been mentioned, so the first step if on a budget would be to get something like 3x YN-460ii's and a YN-560 along with some RF-602's to trigger them as well.
The above inexpensive setup will allow you to pull off a quality professional look if you know how to use them, seriously the only time using ISO 800 is acceptable is if your shooting a wedding or something.
Your shutter speed is also unacceptable outside of a wedding scenario and will cause blurring and softness. You should be using shutter speeds over 1/125 sec.

My next piece of advice is the subject is far too close to the background hence you can clearly see the ugly shadows, creases and texture of the background. If you are seriously short for space and you literally have don't have the room for the subject to be more than a couple of meters from the background, then you want to be shooting wide open the throw the background out of focus, so that means Apertures of F2.8, F2 etc not F5.

If you take it outside, your still going to need a flash or a reflector/diffuser, preferably flash as it's usually a preferred look in fashion to under expose the background a stop and expose the subject correctly with flash to add emphasis on the subject.
What ever you do make sure the the is not sitting on the camera and is instead on a stand somewhere.

...............................................
Oh and those cut outs look tacky.

 

[An Exception]

Would i not be better with a pocketwizard or the cheap oriental copy ?

RF-602's are as reliable if not more so than pocket wizards as they use the 2.4Ghz radio frequency and don't suffer from the noise put out by some strobes.
The build quality isn't as good but it's good enough and is cheap as chips.

 

[bigredshark]

Do i need a specific sync cable ? looking on a warehouse website theres different ones for different flash setups...

Would i not be better with a pocketwizard or the cheap oriental copy ?

They're getting better but some units still seem to go for proprietary sync ports annoyingly - you would be better with pocket wizards (or similar) but they're a fair bit more and you'll want the sync cable in your bag as a backup usually even if you have them

 

[86JR]

Looks like i had better not go to uni tommorow then if they are so poor. Personally, and this is when cutting out the image zoomed in 300% on full resolution, i cannot see how they are out of focus.

 

[Raikiri]

Why not post some 100% crops, cos a fair few look out of focus to me.

 

[An Exception]

Looks like i had better not go to uni tommorow then if they are so poor. Personally, and this is when cutting out the image zoomed in 300% on full resolution, i cannot see how they are out of focus.

Did you mean for his finger to be in focus and not his face?
I don't know what your plans are, but these images are indeed very poor, but guess what, you have to start somewhere.
I suggest you begin by looking into educational works by Zack Arias, Joey L, Karl Taylor and a few others.
If you were planning on going to Uni to study photography then don't, not because your not currently good a photography, but because the money and time could be better spent educating your self and putting the money saved on new equipment and first of all learning the technical side of photography.
Only when you understand completely how your camera works and how light works can you really begin to produce truly great, inspiring and creative work.

Pocket wizards are a waste of money now that RF-602's are readily available.

 

[86JR]

See on that shot i focused on his finger but i didnt have enough DOF to play with with the lens and the lighting conditions.

But on all the others i used the D300s autofocus on on this setting

This used about 6 AF points per image...and yet people on here are telling me its out of focus... i dont see how it can be out of focus unless the camera doesnt work ?

 

[Raikiri]

It's entirely possible for a lens to misfocus, generally using the centre point and recomposing once focussed is the best way to minimise this.

Edit: Also, had a quick play with one of the images:

Think it improves on the composition a bit and a background is less distracting. A few minutes processing each RAW could help massively.

 

[An Exception]

^^^
while it helps massively the image is still fail as the subject merges into the background.
If the Op had some lighting this could have been a good shot if the Op used some 'Rim Lighting'.

 

[xaldub]

See on that shot i focused on his finger but i didnt have enough DOF to play with with the lens and the lighting conditions.

But on all the others i used the D300s autofocus on on this setting

This used about 6 AF points per image...and yet people on here are telling me its out of focus... i dont see how it can be out of focus unless the camera doesnt work ?

No wonder you are so confused if you are following the teachings of Ken Rockwell .....

By the way, that autofocus mode you used attempts to track human facial features. I'm doubtful it would be attempting to focus on his finger. Even in a more normal autofocus mode you'd struggle to focus on his finger - it's smaller than one of the focus reticules. Manual focus may have served you better in this case. Autofocus is not half as good as you think it is - ideally the subject has to be larger than the focus reticule and have good contrast. Some cameras, like yours can also use colour to help with focusing.

Don't take this badly, you are clearly enthusiastic at photography, but you really need to learn the basics properly first. Don't get caught up with gear at this stage .... it won't in itself make you better !

 

[Schizophonic]

Back in this thread. As I'm going to echo the above:

'Its the photographer that takes the picture not the camera'