# Swimsuit models NSFW



## jlykins

Got into the new studio last week, and after a few days of painting and stuff this was the first shoot I did. These are a couple of "swimsuit models" that work for a small production company in Cincinnati. CC welcome. Almost forgot, the setup is all whitelightning strobes. a 1200 at about 45degrees camera right, a 1200 just to the camera left, and two 1200's on the background. First time using the new strobes, and man those things are powerful. 

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## Christie Photo

Man.....  the lighting on these is too flat.  No punch.

Sorry.  I can't add anything more.

-Pete


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## Big Mike

Not bad...but I agree with Pete, they could use more punch.

They need more contrast, which could probably be done pretty easily with levels & curves.  As for the lighting, a greater ratio between your key & fill lights might help.


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## Mike_E

Looks like you could also do with a flag for your lights.  You appear to be getting a little washout from them.


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## crazycreature11

good shots !  nice angles


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## Christie Photo

Mike_E said:


> Looks like you could also do with a flag for your lights.  You appear to be getting a little washout from them.



I wondered if it wasn't coming off the background.

-Pete


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## jlykins

Christie Photo said:


> I wondered if it wasn't coming off the background.
> 
> -Pete


 Could have been. Main light was f8 key was f5.6 and both background lights were f11. Took a meter reading from about 4 feet in front of the background and got f11 at 1/250th. That's what I was shooting at. Next time I'm going to drop the key to f4 or maybe slightly higher. We'll see. I agree that the lighting is a bit flat. Luckily the customer was happy. That's all that really matters to me...


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## Christie Photo

jlykins said:


> Main light was f8 key was f5.6 and both background lights were f11...



That sounds about right to me, presuming you mean the fill was at f5.6.

In fact, I would expect you had the background 2 stops over the main.

Hmmm......

Do you keep your main and your fill the same distance from the subject?

-Pete


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## jlykins

Christie Photo said:


> That sounds about right to me, presuming you mean the fill was at f5.6.
> 
> In fact, I would expect you had the background 2 stops over the main.
> 
> Hmmm......
> 
> Do you keep your main and your fill the same distance from the subject?
> 
> -Pete


 

Yeah same distance. I think it may have been the mismatched heads. I realized a few minutes ago that I was using a White lightning 600 as the main, and the 1200 as the fill. Ooops...


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## jlykins

Wait, wait, wait, that shouldn't matter though. The light meter read what the output was no matter what, hmmm. I'll have to look at the setup later. Maybe pop each one again just to verify the output...


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## Christie Photo

jlykins said:


> Yeah same distance...



Have you ever tried having both lights with the same output, but position the fill further back...  behind the camera?

This is an old "film" approach.  The thinking was "expose for the shadows, print for the highlights."  This doesn't apply to digital.  These days, I expose for the highlights and adjust the shadows to get the ratio I want.

But anyway....  I still work with the main light in close and the fill light behind me just to free up the space between the subject and myself (I like to move in a lot to adjust hair/clothing).  And, the light will act differently with main in close...  softer, wrap-around quality, softer edge shadow.  You get larger catch lights too.

I keep the modeling light on the fill turned off so I can better see the modeling from the main.


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## Big Mike

I position the main/key light as close to the subject as possible...to make it as soft as possible (when I want soft light).
My fill light however, is farther back...sometimes a lot farther back if I've got the room.  One reason for this, is because it minimizes the catchlight from the fill.  

Also, the fill light need not be opposite the key light.  The fill should be (can be)  thought of as a flat wash of light that brings up the levels of everything the camera sees.  It does not (or should not) cast it's own shadows for the camera to see...so it could be right above the camera or wherever works for you.


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## Christie Photo

Big Mike said:


> The fill should be (can be)  thought of as a flat wash of light...  It does not (or should not) cast it's own shadows for the camera to see...so it could be right above the camera or wherever works for you.



Well said, Mike.

And remember...  that light (the fill light) is providing one unit of light on the entire subject.  So if your main is twice the output (two units of light), you add two to the one coming from the fill, giving you three units in the highlights and one in the shadows...  a 3:1 lighting ratio.  This is a great place to start. 


-Pete


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## jlykins

Very helpful info. I'm going to mess with that later when I get back to the studio. They're new lights, so. I'm learning their quirks.


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## craig

Why is she wearing a swimsuit in the studio? Why are you using chairs? The lighting could use some work, but that is a personal opinion. Seems like you have the basics down.

Love & Bass


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## Sw1tchFX

Essentially, they're too close to the background, give more distance so you can nuke it without spilling onto the models,, and yes, the lighting is too flat.

Also, why are swimsuit models in the studio and not say...the beach?

If anything, you can just use a green screen and photoshop in a beach, just blur it to look like bokeh.


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## jlykins

They are in the studio becuase the client putting together the calender wanted them on a white background so that they could photoshop them into whatever scene they wanted. I was just doing what they customer wanted...


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## jlykins

The chairs were just for fun. I wanted to mess around a bit while we were waiting for the second two girls to get there.


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## Sw1tchFX

jlykins said:


> They are in the studio becuase the client putting together the calender wanted them on a white background so that they could photoshop them into whatever scene they wanted. I was just doing what they customer wanted...



Better idea is to shoot them on an evenly lit green screen and run clipping paths to knock out the background.

You won't find any green in flesh tones, so it's easy to subtract and make a selection from, not to mention, on these, you have a TON of spill from the background creating rims, the green screen if far enough away, won't have any of that. 


Thus, making it MUCH easier for your client to get what they need and gives them the most flexible file possible.


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## tonymp

Hi J,
First of all you've done well in keeping your subjects very comfortable and relaxed in front of the camera which is very important in shots like these so, it's just a case of getting your lighting balanced a little more.
By the looks of it, you have everything needed to get good shots so that's not a problem for you and sometimes it's not so easy finding your way round new equipment, especially when it's powerful as in this case.

Might I suggest you move your subjects further away from the background - this will allow the bounce-back from the white background to fall off a little and lessen the spill onto the subject - also try not to 'over-blow' the white background in order to get it fully white, which is quite a common mistake and makes the backdrop compete with the subject.
3/4 to 1 extra full stop over your key light is usually more than adequate to kill any key-light shadows and give fully white backgrounds if the lighting is even - if sufficient distance is kept from the back of the model to the background it wont bleed onto the edges of the subject, which also can be controlled by simple flagging if still needed.

It will also depend upon the size of your studio too - if it's small then alot of the bounceback will bounce around and find it's way onto the subject which throws everything out and flattens the lighting so, work to as low a light level as possible to avoid this. 
For most studio shots of single subjects, try to get just sufficient light in order to set the camera to about f8 initially - most pro quality lenses perform best between f5.6 & f8 after which, IQ can begin to suffer. Obviously DOF will depend upon the focal length used but if one can use a longer FL then it's perhaps better to get the subject further away from the background and use a shorter FL.
I always try to build the shot from the back for a set - by getting the backdrop correctly and evenly lit first, it's then quite simple to light the subject with your key, fill and hair lights.

I notice you are using a cloth backdrop - a better material would be either a white Colorama paper or a good vinyl as it's often very awkward to get the floor area wrinkle/shadow free when it's a cloth backdrop. As long as the subject's shoes are clean and a decent ply base is used to support the paper or vinyl, it should last quite a while.

I'm quite sure that once you have got your lighting set-up tweaked, you'll be turning out great shots every time you use the gear.
Regards...
Tony


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## jlykins

tonymp said:


> Hi J,
> First of all you've done well in keeping your subjects very comfortable and relaxed in front of the camera which is very important in shots like these so, it's just a case of getting your lighting balanced a little more.
> By the looks of it, you have everything needed to get good shots so that's not a problem for you and sometimes it's not so easy finding your way round new equipment, especially when it's powerful as in this case.
> 
> Might I suggest you move your subjects further away from the background - this will allow the bounce-back from the white background to fall off a little and lessen the spill onto the subject - also try not to 'over-blow' the white background in order to get it fully white, which is quite a common mistake and makes the backdrop compete with the subject.
> 3/4 to 1 extra full stop over your key light is usually more than adequate to kill any key-light shadows and give fully white backgrounds if the lighting is even - if sufficient distance is kept from the back of the model to the background it wont bleed onto the edges of the subject, which also can be controlled by simple flagging if still needed.
> 
> It will also depend upon the size of your studio too - if it's small then alot of the bounceback will bounce around and find it's way onto the subject which throws everything out and flattens the lighting so, work to as low a light level as possible to avoid this.
> For most studio shots of single subjects, try to get just sufficient light in order to set the camera to about f8 initially - most pro quality lenses perform best between f5.6 & f8 after which, IQ can begin to suffer. Obviously DOF will depend upon the focal length used but if one can use a longer FL then it's perhaps better to get the subject further away from the background and use a shorter FL.
> I always try to build the shot from the back for a set - by getting the backdrop correctly and evenly lit first, it's then quite simple to light the subject with your key, fill and hair lights.
> 
> I notice you are using a cloth backdrop - a better material would be either a white Colorama paper or a good vinyl as it's often very awkward to get the floor area wrinkle/shadow free when it's a cloth backdrop. As long as the subject's shoes are clean and a decent ply base is used to support the paper or vinyl, it should last quite a while.
> 
> I'm quite sure that once you have got your lighting set-up tweaked, you'll be turning out great shots every time you use the gear.
> Regards...
> Tony


 

Good info. Thanks a lot. I knew most of it, but just didn't think about it, or forgot at some point. Thanks!


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