Lighting basics: Open shade beauty shot

This shot was taken under a tree on a beautiful beach in the Bahamas. Using on “open shade” like this on a sunny day will raise the contrast ratio of your shot dramatically.

As a result, you’ll get a completely washed out background. However, the light on the model benefits from several different factors in this shot. “Open shade” light generally soft and smooth and great lighting for outdoor beauty shots. On top of that the girl was sitting on a white beach, which gently bounced additional light into the shot and softened shadows even more.

The one dangerous aspect of a shot like this: Color temperature! Open shades generally have a high color temperature (blueish cast) to begin with. Add the reflection of the sea and the sky and your temperature could be thousands of degrees above the desired 5600º (regular daylight). You have to compensate your camera settings accordingly or you’ll end up with a completely blue shot.

Lighting basics: Tungsten-spot beauty shot 2

Another beauty shot taken with a focusable fresnel tungsten spot. I use an ARRI 1000w in this case.

I always had a thing for “Hollywood diva” style beauty-shots. Even though these fresnel spots produce some of the hardest light imaginable, they can be very flattering for woman’s face.

In this shot my tungsten light was quite high above and little to the right of the camera. I shot from a slightly elevated point (good old applebox), and used a 100mm macro lens with a completely open aperture in order to get an extremely low depth of field.

The perception of contrast in this shot is emphasized by model’s dark lipstick.

Lighting basics: Softbox beauty shot

This shot for the packaging of a beauty-product was done in a classic beauty setup: A large softbox right above the camera with a soft bounce from below. You can see this kind of light in dozens of beauty ads in magazines. Using white or silver reflectors you can easily create several variations of this.

Softboxes come in all shapes and sizes, from the tiny ones that you can attach to an on camera flash to large “octagons” on heavy rolling stands. The general rule is: The larger the softbox the softer the light. Some brands have a layer of additional softening material inside the box, that can be removed (they are usually attached with velcro or pushbuttons). Try experimenting with this, depending on the subject it may sometimes be better to remove this additional fabric.

In this particular setup I used a Profoto 4×6 box, about 1 foot above the camera. To soften shadows, I placed a large white foamboard flat on a box, just around the model’s belt-line. You can try using a silver reflector instead, the reflection will be more intense but it will add a nice glow to the girl’s skin.

Another variations is to place additional foamboards (at 45º to the camera) to the left and right of the model to soften things even more.

Lighting basics: Ringflash beauty shot 2

Another ringflash beauty shot. Just like in Ringflash beauty shot 1 the model was about 10 feet away from the background. In this case we used a white studio wall, which was lit by 2 strobes, both with white umbrellas.

The lightmeter-reading in the background was about 2/3 stop above the girl’s reading. The result of this is a completely blown out, white background. You can even see some light spilling over (on the girl’s cheeks). If you want to intensify that “spilling” effect, you can turn the umbrellas more towards the model, so the light hits model and background equally.

Again - ringflashes don’t have modeling lights. Don’t forget to have some kind of light-source close to (or behind) the camera, so the model’s eyes can adjust and you don’t get any “red eye effect”.

Lighting basics: Small reflector beauty shot

One of my favorite lights: One single flash-head with a small, standard reflector on it. No filters, no softeners, nothing. This kind of light can be unflattering and unforgiving if used improperly, but intense and sexy if set-up right.

Some heads have the possibility to focus the light a little by sliding the reflector back and forth (e.g. Profoto), so you can intensify the shadows even more.

I was looking for deep shadows and contrast in this shot but I didn’t want to lose the light in the models eyes to I counterbalanced with a silver reflector. You may have seen these collapsible, round “5 in 1″ reflectors. They combine 5 different reflectors and/or scrims in one easy-to-handle package and can be very practical when shooting on location. Never leave home without them….

We used a textures silver surface for this shot and placed the reflector flat on a box, just around the girls belt-line. The result was a beautiful shine on her skin and perfect light in her eyes.

The background was a black studio wall with no additional lights.

Lighting basics: Ringflash Beauty shot 1

This shot of Kendra Bentley was for a magazine cover. With a beautiful face like this and absolutely flawless skin, there is not much to worry about, so I was able to use a ring-flash to make the jewelry and Kendra’s eyes pop even more.

Ring-flashes go in and out of fashion all the time. They were originally invented to aid in dental photography and later became very popular in marco photography. The fashion photo-industry quickly adapted them for it’s purposes and they became wildly popular in fashion magazines of the 80’s (and a few more times later….).

A ring-flash is a device that has a round, tubular flashbulb that surrounds the lens. With the light hitting the subject from all sides equally, there are hardly any visible shadows.

These devices come in different sizes, from small macro units to the quite big and heavy fashion-photo-type. As I don’t like to shoot with tripods I handhold mine every once in a while for an entire day. My chiropractor loves when I do that. Some models can be used with or without an attachment that softens the light by bouncing it into a white metal-ring around the flash.

The one thing you need to watch out for: Ring-lights don’t have modeling lights, so there is an increased danger of “red-eye-effects”. Placing a simple lightbulb somewhere behind or right next to the camera will solve the problem.

In this set the model was about 10 feet away from the background, a medium grey roll of paper. There were no additional lights used for the background.

Lighting basics: Daylight and strobe combined

This is an image from a fashion-catalog shoot in Spain.

We shot at a daylight studio with a large overhead window and sliding glass doors, which gave us nice ambient light and some direct sunlight for effects.

However, the contrast ratio between the model and the background (especially the highlights on the ground and on the floor) would have been to high. In order not to wash out the highlights we had to set up additional lights.

It was important to me to keep a soft daylight atmosphere in this shot, so we placed 2 strobes with regular heads and reflectors slightly behind the camera. Both of them would shoot into large white foamboards in order to create the softest light possible.

In a setup like this - remember: The larger the source of light the softer it is. Placing a light 2-3 feet in front of a white board will create a circle of light on the board that is probably not much bigger than the strobe head itself. Pulling the light back a few feet will result in the entire board being lit, which will essentially turn it into a very large softbox.

The strobe light should not overpower the ambient light by a lot in this shot, it should just support it. The idea is to balance the contrast ratio just enough to be technically on the safe side - without having any visible indication of artificial light in the shot.

Свет из окна и отражатель

- солнечный день, в окно студии светят прямые лучи солнца - подводим модель к окну таким образом, что бы солнечные лучи светили в спину модели и не попадали на лицо, идеально, если лицо закрывается от солнца волосами - используем отражатель для подсветки лица - солнечный свет отражается лайт диском (отражателем) на лицо модели - если использовать серебрянную поверхность или любую другую с глянцевым покрытием, то свет от отражателя будет более сильным (активным) и жестким - если использовать белую матовую поверхность, то действия отражателя менее активно, но значительно мягче, по сравнению с глянцевыми отражателями - подсвечивая мужчин можно располагать отражатель снизу, снимая женщин отражатель желательно располагать сверху - отражатель расположенный снизу дает очень прятный блик в глазах - представленные ниже фотографии не подвергались постобработке

Световая схема для коммерческих съемок

- суть данной световой схемы состоит в том, что свет идет практически со всех сторон - два источника фронтового мягкого света - один источник ставится сверху для основого свето-теневого рисунка - второй фронтовой источник ставится снизу для заполнения теней - для большего объема ставятся два источника контрового света (их можно делать как жесткими, как в данном случае, так и мягкими...в качестве мягкого контрового света отлично подходят стрип-боксы) - необходимо позаботиться о том, что бы свет от контровых источников не попадал в объектив камеры (предотвратить засветку бликами-паразитами) - в данном сулчае используются шторки, которые закрывают свет, идущий на камеру - необходимо очень тщательно произвести замеры всех источников для предотвращения пересветов - остается только поставить моделей и следить за равномерностью фронтальной подсветки (без глубоких теней) и за предотвращением попадания света в объектив от контровых источников (бликов в кадре)

Западный стиль съемки в студии с солнцем

- из окна "льется" очень приятный мягкий свет - по отношению к модели он является светом 90 градусов - следовательно, для того, что бы другая сторона у нас не оказалась в провале необходимо использовать заполняющий свет - решено было использовать большой софт или в качестве большого зонта можно использовать прозрачную ткань большого размера - ткань пропуская свет увеличивают площадь свечения, что делает свет очень мягким - самое главное не перебить вспышкой солнечный свет, т.е. главный свето-теневой рисунок должен делать свет из окна - остается только реализовать свои творческие идеи

На просвет

- при съемке использовались два источника света - зонт и софт-бокс расположены позади модели, то есть модель освещена контровым светом - такая схема позволяет добиться очень интересного светового рисунка - кроме того, выгодно подчеркивается одежда, которую можно показать на просвет

“Beauty Style” Headshot: Behind The Scenes

Apr. 13 1:22 am

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I got a few comments on Friday asking how I did the “beauty style” headshot featured in Westcott’s new Lighting catalog, and so I thought I’d show how to light it here. The shot you see in Westcott’s catalog (which was taken with 2 Spiderlite TD-5—scroll down to the next post to see the shot), was taken before Brad started working with me, so unfortunately I don’t have any production shots from that particular shoot.

However, I recently did a shoot using that exact same “beauty look set-up” (the shot at the top of this post is from that shoot) but I used strobes instead, and luckily this time Brad was there to capture the production set-up, which is shown below. So, just to clarify: what you’re seeing is the same exact position for the lights—which is what this post is all about—but in the production photo below I’m using strobes instead of continuous light Spiderlites. I use both Spiderlites and strobes in the studio, and I choose one or the other based on what I’m shooting that day (or based on what’s already set-up in the studio and ready to go. Sad, but true).

There are only two lights used for this look:

1. You’re actually using a large softbox as your background (you can see the subject standing in front of a large Octabank above), but you tilt the light back at a 45° angle (as seen above). NOTE: For the shot in the Westcott catalog, I used a 36″x48″ Westcott softbox behind the subject instead of the Octabank. Worked just as well (the Octa is actually a little overkill). By having your subject stand directly in front of the large softbox behind her, it makes the light wrap right around her face on both sides.
2. The 2nd light in this case is a Beauty Dish (the one shown above is actually a White Lightning strobe with a beauty dish attachment, but we’ve since replaced that rig with an Elinchrom strobe and beauty dish. I’ll discuss why in just a moment). NOTE: In the Westcott catalog, the front light was another Spliderlite TD-5, with a smaller 16×22″ softbox, but in the same overhead position as you see here. This light you put up high—directly in front of your subject, but angled down at her at a 45° angle (so basically, the two softboxes are aiming at each other).(2a) You also need a reflector down low bouncing some of that light back into your subject’s face (as shown above. By the way; that’s a celebrity guest-reflector holder; Photoshop World digital video instructor Rod Harlan). The reflector should be placed about chest level, just below the bottom of your frame (I just kept telling Rod “Lower….lower…lower…until I couldn’t see it in my frame any longer). NOTE: Since this shot was taken, I’ve gotten a Lastolite Tri-panel reflector (which reflects from three angles, using three different reflector mounted on one stand, and I would now use that instead—-that thing works wonders!).

Because you’re aiming directly at a softbox (the one behind your subject), there’s a decent chance you’ll get some lens flare back into your lens, so you could try and block the light as much as possible (by putting up some large black flags in front of you, and then shoot through a small slit between them), but instead what I do is just know that it’s going to be a little washed out when the Raw photo comes into Lightroom (or Camera Raw), but the fix is incredibly easy—-all you do is drag the Blacks slider to the right (as shown below) until the photo looks balanced. Works like a charm.

OK, so why did I ditch the White Lightning strobe and beauty dish? Honestly, it’s not really a bad rig at all for the price, but I had to to chuck it for two reasons:

1. Because this light winds up on a boom stand, each time we have to adjust the power output of the light, even the slightest bit, we either have to pull the boom stand down (right when we had it positioned exactly where we wanted it), or we have to climb on a ladder to adjust the power. Ugh! By using an Elinchrom strobe with a Skyport trigger, I can change the power output for my beauty dish from right on top of my camera (on the Skyport transmitter). You can adjust everything (even the light behind her) without ever putting down your camera or leaving your shooting position.
2. The second reason is; the White Lighting use sliders for adjusting the power of the strobe, and the modeling light, which makes the process kind of imprecise (to say the least). If you want to lower the power just 1/10 of stop—good luck–especially when you’re trying to do that on a ladder. Double-Ugh!

We finally couldn’t take it anymore, and ordered an Elinchome beauty dish. It’s been worth every penny (we had an Elinchrom strobe; we just needed to buy the beauty-dish attachment).

So, that’s how this look is done. Two lights and and a reflector: one right behind your subject, tilted back at a 45°; one light up high, directly in front of your subject, aimed down at your subject at a 45° angle. Put a reflector at chest level tilted back at your subject’s face. Have your subject pull her hair back in a pony tail (so the lines of the face are clean), and fire away (This was shot with a Nikon D3, at 200 ISO, at f/8 at 1/200 of a second, with a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens out at 200mm).

Once the shot is in either Camera Raw or Lightroom; move the Blacks slider to the right to bring back shadow saturation and you’re in business.

One last thing: I want to give credit to well-known fashion photographer Mary DuPrie, as she is the one who taught me this lighting technique. She teaches workshops on how to pose and work with professional models, and there is just nobody better! You can read about my experience at her workshop right here.

Hope that helps. Have a great Monday everybody.

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