stretching my comfort zone

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

with more studio stuff... what you think?

[flamin lib]

1. Very nice lighting for a group. It's difficult to get any kind of modeling

without making somebody look kinda bad.

Don't know the end use, but if it were a portrait the rule of thumb is that no single head & shoulders image can be cropped from the original.

Just what I was taught, YMMV.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

2. it is a poster and CD cover

as far as I know now

[flamin lib]

3. Ah! For a use like that it's very nice. Like I said, it's hard to get

nice modeling when lighting a group. Somebody winds up in a shadow or there are conflicting shadows from multiple light sources. The invention of large light sources, ie umbrellas and light boxes, was the greatest thing to ever happen to studio lighting.

You did a nice job.

[NV Whino]

4. Kudos on capturing all those different skin tones

and doing them justice. Nice shot.

[BrightKnight]

5. I would add a couple of inky lights.

In film making there are tiny accent lights called inkys. I do not know what the photography strobe equivalent is called. You could actually use inky lights with the proper daylight filter.

That is a tough lighting situation. The base lighting is fine. I would bring in some small accent lights. The face of the woman on the right could use a little boost. I would probably add a little light to separate the black shirt from the black dress. A little backlighting would give them all more dimension.

You might also want to experiment with varying the color temperature of some of your lighting a little. A 1/4 straw filter for the backlight and or highlights could give it a warm and more natural sunlight glow. High key soft lighting is nice but too much of it looks like a sitcom.

The background is blown out. It is easy to fix in Photoshop but traditional lighting would move the models further away from the backdrop to avoid the problem.