Studio Lighting Workshop 2 – Pictures
December 1st, 2008
Here is a small selection of the pictures shot at last Tuesdays studio lighting workshop.
A rich gradient background was lit with two lights fitted with yellow and orange filters clipped to the grid reflectors. A white balance of 8000k was set in camera to warm up the picture.
The day followed a similar tutorial and practical system to Mondays shoot. We explored the properties of shadows, the hardness of light sources and the techniques used to light the face. We then shot portraits using one light before moving on to more complicated set ups. All of the pictures were shot on either a mid grey (Calumet Smoke Grey 43) or a white background (TV white 80% reflectance).
A single hard light source created this picture. I set a dramatic angle of lighting to create a triangle of light on the unlit side of Chloe's face. I kept the contrast at the maximum level to show how deep hard shadows can work if they are in the right place.
A key light was set for this picture to show how the it's angle is relative to the position of the subject, not the camera. A hair light from the right provided the separation from the mid grey background.
Similar lighting to the picture above. You can just make out some spill from the key light onto the background.
Reversing the light gave us this simple portrait. Still lit with just 2 light heads. Sometimes the most effective portraits are taken with the simplest lighting rigs. No soft boxes here.
Next it was time to get the gells onto the lights and a bit of lipstick on Chloe. (3 lights here, a soft key, a green kick and a blue backlight)
I panned the gelled lights onto the grey background and set up a beauty shot. I lit this picture with a soft overhead key and a triflector from below.
Classic Hollywood key and kick lighting brings out striking cheek bones and reveals the shape of the jaw line. The background is white in this picture and it goes to show just how much control you get with hard lights. A soft box key light would have lifted the background to a light grey or muddy white.
I added a Fresnel spot fitted Mobil flash to create the background highlight.
Not wanting to leave soft light out of the show I demonstrated how to shoot into the soft box.
A close up with the same lighting set up as above.
A single soft box and a white background is all you need to create this picture.
The same lighting set up as above. This style was championed in the 70's and as you know the 70's are back fashion in right now. I call it 'Delia Smith' lighting.
Well there you have it. I’ve selected different pictures for both days but the training was the same. If you want to learn the craft and understand the potential in your studio lighting join me in January at our next studio lighting workshops. We have a very civilised ratio of just 4 photographers per model.
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