EATENalive wrote:
it looks ok to me but it looks like there is some kind of bad compression happening aka jpeg artifacts

Can you tell me where you can see this bad compression you speak of ?

EATENalive wrote:
after looking at your port i think its actually my favorite of your images

Favourite ! lol, its my aunt. Its a test run.

Raven Photography wrote:

Can you tell me where you can see this bad compression you speak of ?

mostly around the edges of your aunt. lol if the paper is bothering you perhaps use a more open aperture and allow it to be a little more blurred. if you are using strobes that might require a neutral density filter or two though

EATENalive wrote:

mostly around the edges of your aunt. lol if the paper is bothering you perhaps use a more open aperture and allow it to be a little more blurred. if you are using strobes that might require a neutral density filter or two though

Yes I have thought about opening the aperture to put the background more out of focus but wouldnt the studio flash be too dark set at say f/4. I usually set the flash strength to f/8 or f/11.

Raven Photography wrote:

Yes I have thought about opening the aperture to put the background more out of focus but wouldnt the studio flash be too dark set at say f/4. I usually set the flash strength to f/8 or f/11.

im up a little late, i dont totally grasp what you mean, are you saying you have a flash that has some kind of measurements in f-stops? all the strobes i have used dont have such measurements and i rely on an incident meter to see what aperture to set the photo at usually the strobes are too powerfull for lower apertures (rarely have i shot below f8 with them) but if i use a ND filter to compensate for the flash being super bright i can open up a few stops. maybe it would help to know what gear you are using

Raven Photography wrote:
Actually to be more precise. Look at the red backdrop on the right hand side. It has light and dark patches. Compared to the top and top left the red is perfectly smooth in tone.

i think using a more narrow DOF would reduce that, otherwise it might require a reflecter or a light or a new red backdrop. at that size i didnt notice it as a problem and maybe it adds some character even lol.

EATENalive wrote:

im up a little late, i dont totally grasp what you mean, are you saying you have a flash that has some kind of measurements in f-stops? all the strobes i have used dont have such measurements and i rely on an incident meter to see what aperture to set the photo at usually the strobes are too powerfull for lower apertures (rarely have i shot below f8 with them) but if i use a ND filter to compensate for the flash being super bright i can open up a few stops. maybe it would help to know what gear you are using

Oh so thats what you meant by using the ND filters. I didnt understand that at first.

I measure my strobes with an incident light meter too. Your right I wont be able to get the 500w strobes anywhere below f/8 as they are too strong.

In my opinion the red backdrop without a perfectly smooth colour tone (disregarding brighter areas of light and shadow that form part of the final result.) just isnt good enough for a professional shoot. I'm just wondering if I should go buy a new red backdrop but for all I know it may have patches on it too.

EATENalive wrote:

i think using a more narrow DOF would reduce that, otherwise it might require a reflecter or a light or a new red backdrop. at that size i didnt notice it as a problem and maybe it adds some character even lol.

Thanks for your help EATENalive. Especially since its so late over there. I appreciate it

EATENalive wrote:
no problem (photoshopping a little on the red is another fine solution since its basically a solid patch of gradation/color it wouldnt be too tough to smooth out in post processing or at least in my oppinion it wouldnt be)

Yes I thought of that too. No it would be an easy job for me also. I might just need to do that. I just like my images turning out as perfect as possible the moment I take the photo.

Raven Photography wrote:

Yes I thought of that too. No it would be an easy job for me also. I might just need to do that. I just like my images turning out as perfect as possible the moment I take the photo.

yeah its good to get as much of it under control as possible in the initial shot. hopefully you get the results you're looking for