Photography questions?

[Jen D]

First, I am having trouble freezing my lightening speed toddler. I always get a fuzzy hand or face because she turns quickly. I tried bumping up my shutter speed but than my picture is overexposed

Second, I have been playing with my studio lights and I am finding that sometimes I get the perfect exposure and sometimes it is over or under. I don't move the lights and I am keeping my setting the same on my camera. I might move a smidge here and there... but I try to stay in the same spot. My subject may move an inch or two but not much. What could I be doing wrong. Right now I am using a large soft box and an umbrella. It is so frustrating because I will get the perfect pose and the lighting is off. I can fix some in lightroom... but I want to get it right.

If anybody knows what I could be doing I appreciate it.

Oh... and in this case I was using my Canon 30D with my 50mm lens along with my strobes.

Thanks!!!

[Jen D]

If it helps to look at some of the pictures I posted several of them here...

http://s265.photobucket.com/albums/i...family/Hannah/

[SAHMom]

Just a quick glance... but from the catchlights, your light is much too far away from your subject. How are you metering your lights? With strobes, your shutter speed isn't going to matter much in terms of exposure... you'll either want to bump up the power on the light or open up your aperture.

I don't see much difference in exposure in any of the images though... they are all a bit underexposed. Don't be afraid to bring those lights way in... like they can touch them close. The closer the light is, the softer the light falls on your subject... and you also get nice big catchlights.

[Jen D]

Thank you so much for those tips... I was moving the lights away thinking it would have the opposite effect. I will try moving those up. If you could guess... where should I be with my aperature/ shutterspeed settings if I moved my lights up. At least it will give me somewhere to go from.

Also, should the lighting be directly at there level or coming from above the subject. I was trying to do the three quarter lighting and I am wondering if that would be right to have both my lights at 45 degree angles (one on each side) and 45 degrees up... or would you suggest a different set up. Does that even make sense

The shutterspeed question was for just everyday shots of my toddler. Not with the studio lights.

Again thank you for your thoughts... I am always blown away by your photographs (especially your little girl - she is just a smidge older than my daughter)

[SAHMom]

Yeah, I thought the opposite made more sense too... that the closer I brought lights, the harsher it would be, but nope! LOL The farther back they are, the more "spotlight" they get... closer in a softbox has more area to spread the light, so ends up softer. Looking at the catchlights, your lighting position looks good on your main light.. I might bring it a little more to the side (I always keep mine at about 7 or 8 o'clock position if that makes sense for high and mid key lighting)... if you have it too much in front, you get more flat lighting.

I really play around with where I put my fill light, and honestly, most times I'm just using a reflector on the opposite side as fill. I think technically, fill should be just to the side of your main light, but I've put a fill light at 3 or 4 o'clock with good results).

As far as height, it really depends on the look you want. For kids, I try to cover as much of them as I can, the fall off at the ground... and with a 50x50 softbox, I can usually achieve getting their full body lit. For maternity, I want the fall off to start at the bottom of the belly, so I raise it up until the bottom of my softbox is at the bottom of their belly.

My shutter is always at 125 in studio. It's below my camera's sync speed of 250, and just is a good number to start with. If I set my AB800 at 1/16th power, that usually gives me an aperture of 5.6... and so I adjust the power to get the aperture I want for the results I want or if there are more people, etc.

Hope some of this was useful... I'm so much more a hands on learner (and teacher I think.. LOL)... so I wish you could just come over or I come over and SHOW you... LOL (and I'm not an expert or know everything... mostly what I've fumbled around figuring out myself.. )

[Jen D]

So helpful! It gives me an understanding of where I am going wrong... and gives me ideas to play around with. I am going to try using my reflector instead of my second light.

Unfortunately, I purchased cheap ebay lights looking for a place to start. I am saving up for my Alien Bee. However, I am using the Brolley Boxes I bought from the Alien Bee Site and I do like what I am beginning to see = )

Some day I will have the dream set up... just wish I could win the lotto to afford it all at once!

But, I think I have enough stuff to get the effect I want if I just practice a little more.

Thank you for your tips... I will give them a try tomorrow! I may be back with more questions