Playing with Strobes

When my husband leaves for any amount of time, there's a good chance I'll turn to my strobes for entertainment.  My studio lights are oldies but goodies and they are powerful suckers.  I think the strobes appeal to me so much because I can do all kinds of goofy stuff, be properly exposed, and be inside my house.  If I tried to get all these shots using daylight, everybody would see me and that would be really embarrassing.  I get to show only the best stuff here.  For instance, you're not going to see my unsuccessful jumping shots where my shirt flew up and my big belly was jiggling mid-flight.  Yup, I'll keep those under wraps (in the trash bin). What do you get to see is my attempt at a "beauty" shot, on the left.  I'm working here with a 35mm lens on a cropped sensor camera, so we're very close to normal.  Still, my nose looks slightly larger than it is (promise!).  I should have tilted my chin down just a tiny bit, but alas these are the problems with self-portraits! The other really great thing about strobes is the very fine control you have over where and how light is falling.  I assure you, I do not look this thin - it's partially my hair obscuring part of my face and partially the shadow created by the placement of the light.  The most basic setup is called Rembrandt lighting - it's very flattering. And to satisfy my vanity, I did what for me is quite a bit of Photoshop on this image - editing out blemishes, softening up my pores, adjusting lightness in my eyes, and cloning the really badly chapped bits of my lips - always an issue for me but doubly so in winter. Below you'll find a few more images from my playing around. These were all taken in my "studio."  If you are in need of some headshots, drop me a line.