This is Lori

[Kawarthabob]

So from the advise of Marko on the lighting I went back and reverse engineered my lighting , played around with it a bit, tried different perspectives and watched a bunch of videos on the subject of lighting. These shots are from today...

[Richard]

Hi Robert, Well done for playing some more with your lighting, can you tell me more about the lighting kit you are using?

For me the last shot is the most successful one from this series, Hopefully this critique will be useful and won't come across as to harsh:


I like the pose, but I would have asked her to lift her head slightly higher, also watch out for deep creases in joints, (Like her left elbow.)

I think If the pink cushion was to be cloned or set-up to fill the bottom corner that would strengthen the composition. For next time I would play with the lighting to try and add some detail and separation into the darker colours. If your trying to keep dark backgrounds, you might need to create some gobos to control the light and stop some of the light spill. Some of these shots have a nasty edit, where you've cut out and painted back in the background.

When I'm lighting, I nearly always start with one light and build up my layering with other lights slowly so I can see what affect each light source is having.

Keep on playing.

[Marko]

The lighting is much better in this set but I find these poses awkward. I'd start by playing with much more conventional posing.
Although the upside down angles are interesting composition wise, IMO, they rarely make the subject look good, just strange.
Despite that comment my fave here is shot 3 based on the fun expression.

[Kawarthabob]

Holy crap i see what you mean by the bad edits. it didnt show up on my screen but now that im on another computer its like night and day....Time for better hardware. OOOPs!

[Richard]

Holy crap i see what you mean by the bad edits. it didnt show up on my screen but now that im on another computer its like night and day....Time for better hardware. OOOPs!

I have the same problems with 'whites' on my work monitor

[Mad Aussie]

Marko must have given you some good advice!