my son received an assassins creed wall decal for Christmas and he also rec'd a bathrobe with a hood... and i rec'd some studio lights... this is the inevitable result ;p
i am not entirely happy with the lighting here and i'm posting more for critique than anything else... i think it needs more contrast - but that just makes his face look ghostly in a way that i don't think works... any suggestions?
I have no lighting knowledge, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt, but I'd have to agree with @kazlamont regarding the lamp on face. On my screen (again could just be my screen), I can't really tell where your background ends and his hood begins.
I am looking at this on an iPad. I love the concept and I see definition on the background, I think the gray of his face is a bit too muddy but not sure if its the screen I am looking at it on.
@kazlamont@mej2011@sunshinephoto5 tx!! this is helpful... have to wait until tomorrow to give it another go, but i will see if i can do a better job with spot lighting his face...
I agree with what has been already said. But instead of a lamp Id try more of a spot light. I love led flash lights. I did pick up a video light, The Chromo 160 for 30$ on amazon. The biggest reason I like led is it doesn't mess with you wb as much. I really do like this shot. Its fun when the kids will play=D
So intriguing -- the image works really well for me. The conversation about lighting is interesting. I find the darkness around his face part of the mystery.
I actually think it would work better with someone else's face. Not that he has a bad looking face, but you can tell it's a very young face. I think this image needs something more on the craggy side to give it a creepier look about it.
Love this and I rather like the limited lighting. Intrigued to see what it looks like with some spot lighting though; lighting is on a very long list of photography "things" I need to get my head round!
I'm with Sem @semjaja on this, I would use fairly strong side lighting (I would go to the left, but that's just me) which, I think would add character and mystery to his face and also add some texture detail to the robe.
I think it looks great, but agree that some lighting up into the face would do perfect for the effect. Good luck with your practice. My kids will have to be shown this one! Just up their alley.
@vignouse interesting - do you mean the subject's left? or the photographer's? i ask because i would naturally have the light coming from my left... i recently had to do a shot with the light coming from the right and i couldn't make it work... so i shot it from the left and flipped it ;D
i actually did a couple shots with the light from the left, but the expression on his face was wonky so i never processed them...
@northy I mean't your left, the subject's right - so we're the same in that regard. I recently did do some portraits with the main light to my right but I didn't feel really comfortable about it... strange isn't it?
personally, I'd light the face from the side to get more contrast on it.
i actually did a couple shots with the light from the left, but the expression on his face was wonky so i never processed them...