Anoter shot from 5 light setup

[minutephotos.com]

I think this is using 3 - 4 strobes.

1 - White Lighting X1600 with 5' Octagon as main.

2 - AB800 with small softbos as fill.

3 - one or two ab800 with gel on backbround.

did not use hair light on this one.



Any suggestions to make better?

[vIZnquest]

Interesting lighting around the hair. The hands are a distraction though.

[minutephotos.com]

Thanks

what are your thoughts on the Photoshop editing? Skin smoothing tecnique is not guassin blur and color is not color saturation increase. I am using some demo pluggins I am thinking of purchasing after the trial runs out.

Patrick

[Bynx]

The thing about a good job is its not noticed. The skin and color are excellent and very natural looking. What are the plugins you used? Ive been experimenting with skin corrections and am not satisfied with just the gaussian approach.

[minutephotos.com]

Thanks for noticing, it took a long time and a lot of shots to finally get my work to look like this.

I use Kodak digtal gem professional for the skin smoothing and Alien Skin Exposure for the coloring.Exposure makes your photos have simular lattitude as film. I use a Fuji Provia 100F (grain Off) filter over my digital images. I haven't seen many using this comnination of tools but I like them alot. Exposure is also the best tool for converting to black and white. Looks like real bw film with grain and everything if you like.

PS - Its not just the pluggins. I upgraded my lens to the Canon 17-40 F4L which has great sharpness and color. I shoot on a tripod even when using strobes, and I use a huge 5' Octogon with grids with a White Lighting x1600 strobe. I actually did the Make-up myself in this shot. I took a MAC class for $500 at Macy's San Francisco.

This photo is a combination of many great components all comming together.