Some from the studio

[Bill M]

Since I'm going to a lighting seminar the end of the month, I decided to buy a light meter to take with me. I also decided to use it a little this week in my studio. I don't have full understanding of it but my exposures were better than any I've done before, I think. I do find the self portrait difficult for some reason. Anyway here's a couple, click to go big and there are a few others in the set.

My lovely wife

[jdma]

looks like the meter works. Good photos.

[TexaswBOWhunter]

They look great to my untrained eye Bill....

[Bill M]

Thanks, raised the exposure on some of the wife photos in post and probably should have left them alone.

[Hawkpuppy 1]

Are you using a constant light or strobes? Softboxes or umbrellas? I am looking at getting into the portrait/studio stuff some and have been trying to decide what all I need to get versus what I have to get. Right now I have two umbrella constant lights that I like as you always see the light you will have in the pics. What is your take on it? Thanks

Dave

[Bill M]

Dave I'm using strobes. Started with two Vivatar 285 HVs and have since added two Alien Bee 800s. These were shoot with a single AB800 through a brolly box and one of the Vivitars through a snoot for a hair light from high above. The strobes are one reason I bought the light meter.

The only real problem I see with continuous light is the heat they may produce.

[Snakelover]

Outstanding work, Bill!

At first I thought it was just my old eyes. But, nope, your avatar is fuzzy...

[Shane]

How do you get em small without pixelating, David?

[Hawg]

Those look great Bill. The light meter does seem to help. Can't wait to see if there is any differences or what you learn from the seminar.

[Snakelover]

How do you get em small without pixelating, David?

I resize the physical dimensions first. I set that to 165 pixels by 165 pixels. Photoshop Elements 2.0 gives you the highest quality resized image that is possible. But it is typically a larger file size than TBH will allow for avatars. Then I resize the file quality as a separate task. Photoshop Elements 2.0 calls the second function "Save for Web." There is a sliding control that corresponds to image quality as a percentage of the original. But it also gives you a preview and lists what the resulting file size will be. So I just slide the image quality controller until I get the file size listed next to the preview to about 17 kb. Then I save it at that level. By doing this, I can always ensure that the avatar is as physically large as TBH will allow, but is also about as good a quality relative to the original image as the TBH file size restriction for avatars will allow.

[Bill M]

David thanks much for both. I couldn't figure out why it was fuzzy.

Hawg I believe I'll bring much out of the seminar. Paco is great at putting together different lighting scenarios.

[Snakelover]

David thanks much for both. I couldn't figure out why it was fuzzy.

The one on the left is the avatar you started this thread with. I only posted it so you could see how fuzzy it is compared to the one on the right. I didn't do anything to the left one.