Imperfection

I really didn't know what I was going to shoot today. I had a few half ideas but they fizzled out pretty fast. I finally settled on doing some kind of self portrait, as I haven't done one of those for a while.

As to what kind of self portrait I was going to do...no idea.

The photo began to take shape as I started to set up lights. The first light I put up was a 560 with a 1/8 grid on it. This just restricted the beam a lot so it would just fall on my face and nothing else. This is what just the 560 gridded looks likes.

I took a few shots with this set up, but I really wasn't feeling it. I then put a 560 with a soft box down in the right corner as a fill light. This fill was super supple and I actually didn't end up using it for the final photo. It was just part of the journey there.

With the two lights up, I decided to add the mini light I have (Canon 260ex II I think it is) as a rim and background light. Boy did I get more than I expected out of that thing. 

With only one setting on it for power, nuclear full, the thing put out some serious power compared to the 560s, which were at minimum power. Adding the mini light gave me this look...

Backing up a bit...I was shooting at f1.8 and that's why I was using such little power on the 560s. I just didn't need much to show up in the camera. So when I added the mini light which is always at full power, it was astronomically bright. Here's a pic of the set up.

 As you can see, the mini light is incredibly bright. Even though its pointed at the wall behind me and not at a key or even fill, it bounces off the walls and ceiling, becoming a strong fill light as well as adding to the key. Plus, in the shallow depth of field that f1.8 provides, the overexposed background melds beautifully into my shirt, face, and hair. Granted its a maybe a bit overdone, but I'm getting to that next.

The reason I titled this post "Imperfection," is that nothing in the final photo is done "correctly." Normally, a grid this small isn't used as a key light when doing portraits. It creates harsh shadows and hard highlights, which are usually not preferred. I wanted to experiment around a bit though. I'm still not sure if I really like it as much as if I used a soft box up close, but it's definitely a unique look.

Using the mini light in the way I did was a complete accident. Yes, people use lights bounced off walls and ceilings all the time, but for one its a purposeful thing. I was just seeing what would happen. I thought it would light the wall and maybe add some rim light, but I had no idea how powerful it would actually be. I do like how that turned out, but it probably is a bit too strong.

Next problem. The aperture was wayyyy to low. Using this open of an aperture definitely gives a very super shallow depth of field, which can look cool, but it makes it really hard to focus. You can tell that my eyes are not in focus even though the side of my nose is. It also lets a lot of light in, which is why the mini flash is so overpowering. If I had stopped down to maybe f8, I could just raise the power in the 560 to compensate and keep that light on the same level while the smaller aperture would let less light from the 260 in. It would also give more depth of field and make it easier to focus. That being said, if it wasn't a self portrait, it wouldn't be that hard to focus.

Camera settings: 1/200, f1.8, ISO 100. 50mm on 7D.

In Lr, I enhanced the eyes the bit with a bump in clarity and shadows, and also increased the contrast around the eye and hair. I also added a vignette. The wasn't as much darks as I liked so the vignette helped.

That's it for today, off to EMT class. See you tomorrow.