Well this one is kind of fun. I found this in the archive box and remembered that it was a kinda fun little slide show. This “soundslide” offers a look into how I took a single lighting setup and shot it two ways.

I use a big softbox often when I am working with talent. Michelle is an ice skating choreographer and teacher. She needed some new shots and I wanted to do something a little different.

You can do the same thing with a large scrim and speedlights. Keep the fill cards in tight and watch the ratio between the lit and shadow parts of the face.

BTW, we have upgraded to WP 2.7 and man, is it cool. If you are running a WP Site and haven’t upgraded yet, you really should. It is, as they say, awesome.

But now let’s take a look at how a single setup can create two different shots can be made from the same light setup.

Push the go button and adjust the speakers. That mellifluous tone is yours truly. Hey… I don’t want to hear it. But you do.

I think the SoundSlide Presentation pretty well shows everything you need. Watch for more multimedia coming down the pike here.

Here is the diagram for the lighting used.

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Everything reflects. That is something you will hear me say all the time. Whether at the workshop or working one on one with a photographer, one of the most important things to drive home is that everything reflects. Skin, silver, blue sweaters… they all reflect, but at obviously different qualities.

In this photograph we wanted a very deep shadow to create more mystery around the already mysterious image. The model with luscious lips emerging from behind the mask. In my mind, I wanted her to be emerging from the darkness as well. The mask is very glossy, so I knew a large, liquid highlight was called for so that the curves of the mask and her face would be smooth and soft.

Using a large softbox very close to the subject provided a large reflection of the source on the mask, her fingernails and her skin. This light, quite powerful, also provided some fill on the shadow side of her face because it simply lit up the wall. Even thought the wall was quite a distance from her, the fact that her skin reflected the light on the wall was problematic. It also provided a nice kick of reflection on the mask… one that I didn’t want.

To mitigate the reflection and increase the contrast I hung a 6′x6′ black cloth just to the right of the image and in as close as possible. This black cloth provided two qualities: it blocked the light from hitting the wall, and more importantly, it gave the skin and the mask something dark to reflect.

I essentially ‘subtracted’ the light from the shadow side of the image. Please note that there is no Photoshop on this image to darken or ‘burn’ that area in. The transparency is perfectly black and the contrast is as you see in the image.

You will notice that just on the edge of the mask as it disappears into the darkness, there is a little edge light going on. That is caused by the ribbon catching the light and creating a little fill of its own. I thought it was very subtle and added to the image by providing a point of diminution… where the final vestiges of the mask and the subject go into total shadow. Sometimes little things can really make the shot come alive. Look for them in your shots.

(I shot this on a 4×5 view camera, but you can do the same thing with any camera setup.)

This shot is another subtractive lighting still life. It was shot for a client who wanted the feeling of strength for their software tools. The theme was bodybuilding and they came up with the idea of a body builder with light coming in from the side. Yeah. Never seen that before. I pushed for a still life and they said go ahead and shoot it cause they could use it for something else if they didn’t use it for the brochure cover.

The light in this case is quite different. I will explain and add a diagram to show how different it is. I call it edge light or feathered light. The camera is focused down on the still life which is an old rusted weight, some weight lifting gloves and chalk that they use for working with the iron. All is on a 4×4 sheet of ‘stone’ slate. The camera in this case is a Deardorff 8×10 with a 375MM lens. Shot at f32 I would have loved another stop, but this was optimal for what we could do.

Diagram of setup:

You can see where the dark shadows play at the right side of everything. Deep and mysterious, they help create the drama. It also creates a nice light for revealing texture. Whether it is the leather or the slate background, the textures make the shot richer and more interesting. Notice the white chalk. I deliberately placed it on the far side from the light so that it wouldn’t be too bright or lose texture. The addition of the black subtractive card increased the contrast. Without the subtractive, there was nearly no texture in that lump of chalk.

When I delivered the shot, I made a presentation holder with the 8×10 transparency mounted in it. (I always shoot two sets of transparencies or more on shots like this.) The client went nuts. They ended up making some really cool large wall graphics and I shot 3 more similar still lifes for them. They tripled the shoot fee and it was a nice job. Oh, and I didn’t have to shoot some bodybuilder dude with the side light.

Recommended:
I keep a 4x4ft square of black cloth with me in my kit. It comes in handy on many shoots where there is a little glare to be knocked down, or I need to darken an area or do a little subtractive lighting. It packs very small, and can be invaluable… oh, and it is big enough to do a headshot against black on location if you need it. And a little bit of speedlight and ambient light mixed against a dark background can be very dramatic.

Information for today’s photographer. From novice to pro, LE Magazine has it all.

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Client expectations:
1. Shoot 30 earrings (silver, gold, translucent and opaque stones).
2. Earring images must be on a pure white background.
3. Full earring must be visible, including ear hook/stud/etc.
4. Some earrings dangle, and must appear to be hanging.
5. No cast shadows on the background.
6. Avoid Photoshop (Lightroom is OK)


From Josh:
“I had a table and softbox arranged to give me a well lit place to shoot the jewelry. The softbox offered a very soft, and smooth main light source. Under the softbox, sitting on the table was a white, translucent plastic bin (the open end facing the camera). Across the open end of the bin, I stretched plastic wrap. I stuck the earrings through the plastic wrap, and even though there were a lot of stretch marks, holes, and rips, none of them showed up in the photo. No post processing needed. Then I draped a white sheet over the whole thing to make a light tent, and shot all 30 pieces the same way.

As you can see, the whole piece is visible and they look like they are hanging The pure white background is clean and without shadow. Laying them on a surface would have resulted in tiny shadows and mounting them from behind with rod or stick would have been a painstaking long approach. And with some of these items being so tiny, it would have been almost impossible to hide a stick in the shots. Additionally, by using plastic wrap instead of a fishing line, the pieces were held steady, with no swinging, so there were no problems with blur from motion or focus errors.”

At Lighting Essentials we love it when a clever approach comes up and is well executed. Thanks Josh. You can visit Josh at his web site: Joshua Targownik | www.targophoto.com
Here’s another look at how well this worked for Josh… and his client. I like the clean look of the jewels as well as the subtle highlights that give the earrings shape and context. These will look great printed large or small on the web.

Below Josh shares his lighting scheme with you. He is using an IKEA tray to hold the plastic wrap and provide the white background. The larger box gives a nice clean backlight and he is using a speedlight below the box to add just a little kick of light from the opposite direction to make sure the white stays clean. Take a shot at it the next time you need to do some earrings, rings, jewels or other kinds of still life. I can think of lots of uses for this kind of setup. You can see all the shots Josh did for his client here.

NOTE: It is important to note that Josh covered the entire set with a white cloth (sheet or other white material) that is not shown on the diagram. That material was critical in making sure there was light on the front of the jewelry as well. It draped down in front of the jewelry and in front of the camera. Do not forget this critical piece of the setup when you create it for your setups.

Information for today’s photographer. From novice to pro, LE Magazine has it all.

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The thing about the corset was the glossy, shiny look. I wanted that shine to be smooth and liquid, a wide and smooth highlight that would set off the face of the model and the textures of the rest of the image.

I wanted a dramatic light on the face however, so using a large softbox was not the answer as that would mean that the face would be lit with that large, wide source as well.

I chose a small softbox for slightly over her head, and brought it in very close. This light gave me the look on the face that I wanted. Dramatic with shadow and definition. What I needed was some more fill to bring the contrast level down a bit.

A large V-card on camera left and a flat panel on camera right did the job nicely. But the corset was still too dark as the angle of the shot meant there was nothing for the vinyl to reflect.

Shooting something like this isn’t about pouring light on it, it is about creating something for the shiny material to reflect. I added a fill card at an angle to be lit from the main light and placed it in very close to Jillian. That fill card is what is being reflected in the vinyl. It gives the liquid look to the smooth, shiny surface.

This was fine, but in the test shots there was something missing. I needed to give the body a little snap, some edge to it to make it stand out a bit more from the background instead of blending in.

Bringing in a speedlight at a very low power was exactly the answer. I focused the light past Jillian and bounced it into the V-card on camera left. The little wink of light gave me a very subtle edge light to the image. That made the shiny, smooth corset even more interesting as it added a ‘hard’ edge to other parts of the shot.

Information for today’s photographer. From novice to pro, LE Magazine has it all.

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I use both studio strobes and speedlights to create this lighting. Essentially it is a large softlight to camera right and a hair light in a soft umbrella above the model and back enough to make sure the light doesn’t fall on the nose or forehead. I also use a V-Card to camera left that does double duty – grabbing a little light from the scrim and taking the spill over from the hairlight and opening up the shadow side of the face. This light works really well with hats and hoodies as it gets in and under the brims and hair coverings.

For this shoot (a dozen girls for an event catalog, I had small faces and grown faces, with the additional possibility of having to add another dozen faces at a second shoot. Using this light gives me a totally repeatable light setup for the next group. (Simply take a measurement and make a note or two in your notebook. Then set the lights in the same place for the next shoot.) I kept the talent far enough from the background that it went dark, but the texture still showed through a bit.

Lighting ratio is set to 1:1 – that means that the exposure of the hair light falling on the top of the head is the same as the light from the soft light to camera right. I then bring the fill card (V-Card) in quite close on the shadow side of the face. It catches a bit of the fall off from the hairlight as well as catching the softlight to camera right.

This also makes a very attractive catchlight in the eyes.

This is the setup I use for large, studio lights.

Softbox is 4×6

This is the setup I use for speedlights. However, I usually use two speedlights behind the scrim so that I can get even coverage and faster recycle times.

Information for today’s photographer. From novice to pro, LEMagazine has it all.

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These shots were all created with one light. We used an umbrella and a 4 foot ‘Strip Light” for the light. We also used lots of Fill Cards. In the video I show some metering techniques that I use to previsualize the light on the model.

Visit this older Lighting Essentials page HERE. Clicking Home will bring you back to the home page.

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The goal for the lighting for me is to provide a vehicle for the beauty of the woman to come through. To do this, I would practice with lots of different lighting schemes and tools. Here you see five of the ones I really liked.

The last image (smoking) was shot on a 4×5 on Polaroid Type 55 and printed on silver gelatin paper.

In all images you see here, the camera was an F3 with a 180MM, 2.8 lens. Most times I was using E6 film with no lens modification.

Headshot – Two Umbrellas
This was a variation on the single light glamour that I do these days. It is a matched pair of small umbrellas, little 20″ ones from a shop I found in New York. I had seen another shooter using 4 of these little guys and thought I would give it a shot. As you can see in the eyes, the umbrellas are down right on the camera and I am shooting from between them. You can see the reflections in the shiny board in the eye as well. Model is sitting on the floor and holding the flowers. I am using a small white umbrella for hair light and it is 1 stop brighter than the light in front. This would be a great lighting scheme for speedlights as well. Very close fill boards on each side.

Large Umbrella Glamour
A very large single umbrella very close to the model with me shooting from below it. It is a 54″ white umbrella and there are strong fill cards on both sides. You can also see the bright bottom fill card in the eyes as well.

I ‘dumped’ a few heads into another room to get the light to be as small as possible, and was able to shoot at f-4 for limited DoF. The hairlight is a beauty dish at equal power to the front light. As you can plainly see, this light is quite beautiful and easy to replicate.

Giant Softbox
This shot was for a client and we wanted to feature the colors of the scarf and hat. I used a studio built softbox that was 7feet high and 4 feet wide for the main light. It had three heads in it and was double scrimmed. Dang it was gorgeous light… and it weighed a freaking ton. Had it on wheels to move around, but this was before the collapsible softboxes we are all so used to these days. You can see the huge soft highlight in her eyes. I knew that a strong side light was needed to keep the light under the brim and provide a strong, soft light for the face – and the scarf. The image ran full page.

Movie Lights
I owned a few movie lights in the late 80′s and loved to use them. This shot uses 2 Mole Richardsons – one in the front and one in the back. The back one is 1/2 stop brighter than the front light. I cut window panes out a large piece of fome core and placed it in front of the forward Mole Richardson. I believe these were my 2K lights, so I had 4000 watts of light going on here. Hot? You betcha they were hot. I have the model looking straight into the light and I am standing on a ladder to shoot down toward her.

Hot Lights and 4×5 Camera
Shooting on 4×5 can be a really exciting experience – or it can be miserable. This model made it the former as she could hold her position after focusing for what seemed like long minutes. Light was a single 2K Mole Richardson with a very sheer ‘scrim curtain’ in front of it. There was a large fill card to camera right and I adjusted it to give me a rather defined shadow exposure.

And before I get a bunch of ‘flames’ for encouraging smoking, I don’t. It was shot for a specific client showing the antique hat. The smoking was very popular amongst the Hollywood actresses of the time this ‘look’ tries to capture.

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