Strobist Self-Portrait C&C

[BogdanD]

Hey everyone, I took this self- portrait a few weeks ago, and I was wondering what you guys thought of it. By all means, tear it up, it's one of the first times I've used off-camera flash, and I need all the advice I can get.


For you exif-lovers here you go:


Canon Xsi, 1/60 s, f/5.6 @ 32mm, 18-55mm kit lens, ISO 200.


Strobist-wise, I had a flash with the sto-fen omni bounce (with a piece of cardboard taped to it so that light wouldn't hit the background) a metre in front of me, and a silver reflector around two metres behind me.


One more question: What background do you guys look for when taking portraits (assuming you're not using canvas)?


Thanks for looking everyone!

[Sean Setters]

I like it....but I

[TakahiroW4047]

I agree with Sean. Overall it's a good image. Nice use of negative space on the left. Nice posing. The mood created by the lighting goes along with it really well.


I would also agree with Sean that personally I could use a bit more fill in the shadow as well. One suggestion would be to move in the reflector closer, and go for a tighter composition (maybe crop to just below the right wrist) so the reflector is still out of frame.


To fully utilize your use of the "look over the shoulder" and the negative space behind you, I think it may also help to move your key light more towards the front so your your left eye (camera right) is more illuminated. From that new angle it will be difficult to limit the light spill onto the background, and may not be the look you're going for, but I sometimes like having a bit of a "halo" effect around the subject too. [] I think even the subtlest spill would give good separation between your shadow side and the background (Dark dark gray and Black, vs Black and Black)


As for the background I use, before I got my muslim backdrop I was using any white wall that I can find around the house for high key photos. I like taking portraits right up against the white wall, because it creates a slight shadow on the wall leading away from the subject. In my opinion the slight shadows give the photo more dimension and a sense of depth. For low key photos, I just had a $15 queen sized black bed sheet that wasn't being used so I stapled it to the wall [:P] (It practically leaves no noticeable marks if you do it close to the corner of the wall/ceiling). I had to worry greatly about light spills (since all my other walls were white), but once I got used to it it served its purpose really well.

[Colin500]

Looks fine to me! What you could try, and what might (or might not) make this even better, is to adjust the angle between light and face (by moving the light slightly towards the front of the face, or turning the face to the left) such that a bit of light passes above your nose to hit the eye in the shadow, but nothing else on that side of the face.


Colin

[PaulM]

Firstly let me say I have no strobist experience. Now with that said... Others have suggested getting more light on the shadow side and one suggestion is to move the rear reflector closer. You

[BogdanD]

Great ideas, thanks guys! I wanted to get more fill on the shadow side too, but my "assistants" didn