Peter's Photo Blog

So I've been reading Strobist.com for about a year and I really love the site. Readers learn how to create professional style lighting effects without having to use the huge expensive lights that people associate with studio photography. In fact, David Hobby (the owner of Strobist) advocates using used portable flash units that can be bought on ebay at a cost of only $100 bucks each. Similar studio lights might go for 10 times that much.

One of the best things about the website is how it walks readers through a real life photo shoot and talks about how the image was created. A lot of creativity and improvisation are used when learning to light and these narratives really help. I've learned a lot from the website, but really haven't had the chance to set up my own shots very often. Tonight I was feeling adventurous and decided to do a "head shot" for myself. Here's my account of what happened a la the Strobist site.

My goal was to avoid a "yearbook" type shot. I also don't have a "model" so I shot myself. I guess this helps because I'll know how to direct others in the future. I was using the portable Nikon flashes recommended on Strobist (SB-24s and SB-26s). The shoot took about an hour because I had to stop to check images (being the model and photographer).

First attempt - 1 light bounced into an umbrella softbox set up on the left and up high. The light was too harsh - see the really dark shadows that are cast around me and the eyes are too dark. I didn't quite know what to do with my hands - you can see that I was nervous. Composition needs some work - the photo is too divided into 2 halves.

Added a 2nd light on the right, up high and bounced into a white ceiling. It really lightened up the shadows on the right side of my face. I did get some catch light in my eyes in this photo. Still working on the facial expression, had to learn not to hold my watch at that angle because it would catch the glare of the main light. I put my arm down to add a bit to the composition and to relax my shoulders a bit. The background is boring because it's monotone. There's nothing to really separate me from the background.

To give the background some variety, I moved the second light very close to the wall to make part of the wall brighter than the other - giving it a gradient kind of effect. This also helped light the side of my face, giving the photo more depth. I put a white reflector on the floor to lighten up some of the shadows under my arm as well.

This is the final image. Ideally I would have liked to be further from the wall so that I could blur out the background, but the small size of my apartment doesn't allow for that. Also, I would have liked to have something going on in the background that kind of says who I am but hey it's a first step. Don't I look so excited?