In my last entry, I discussed the lighting equipement that I used for location photography. In this post, I am going to show some examples of the results that I get from it.
In this image, I used two strobes in 32" reflective umbbrellas. The flashes were set on manual. The main (or key light) was placed to the subject's right. A white reflector was placed to the subject's left. I am very particular on how I set up the key light. It is crucial to the success of this type of portrait. Firstly, set the height of the light. It needs to be high enough to create shadow under the nose and chin yet low enough to light up the eye sockets and put a catch light in the eyes. Next, ensure that the light is pointing in the right direction: any light is brighter (or hotter) in the center than it is at the edges. You DO NOT want the brightest part of the light hitting your subject directly. Instead, feather the light across your subject so that the brightest part of the light actually passes in front of them. This will give the light a softer feel and a more natural wrap-around effect. Next step is the placement of the reflector. For this type of portrait I prefer to use a white reflector to avoid having speculars in the shadow of the face. The reflector should be slightly in front of your subjct and around the same height as your key or main light. The reflector bounces the light from the center of your stobe back into the shadow side of our subject. To control the brightness of the shadow, move the reflector closer (for brighter) or farther away ( for darker). The second light is placed on the same side of the subject as the main light but it is high and behind the subject. I will usually colapse the umbrella around the flash to give it some directional control. This light will give some life to the hair and separate the subject from the background. (If the subject has no hair, you may not want to use this light.)
I set my exposre to around f4 on the highlight side of the subject. I control the exposure on the shadow side visually using the reflector. The exposure from the hair light will be the same as the main light is the subject has dark hair. I the subject has light hair, I will set the output at one stop less than the key light. The background light is just the ambeint light and is controled by changing the shutter speed. I then make a test shot and adjust the exposures to get the final effect.
This shot was made in exactly the same way. The only difference is that it was taken outdoors. The versatility of this setup is wonderful. Once it has been practiced a couple of times, it becomes very easy to repeat, making it a great starting point for a location portrait.
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In this image, I used two strobes in 32" reflective umbbrellas. The flashes were set on manual. The main (or key light) was placed to the subject's right. A white reflector was placed to the subject's left. I am very particular on how I set up the key light. It is crucial to the success of this type of portrait. Firstly, set the height of the light. It needs to be high enough to create shadow under the nose and chin yet low enough to light up the eye sockets and put a catch light in the eyes. Next, ensure that the light is pointing in the right direction: any light is brighter (or hotter) in the center than it is at the edges. You DO NOT want the brightest part of the light hitting your subject directly. Instead, feather the light across your subject so that the brightest part of the light actually passes in front of them. This will give the light a softer feel and a more natural wrap-around effect. Next step is the placement of the reflector. For this type of portrait I prefer to use a white reflector to avoid having speculars in the shadow of the face. The reflector should be slightly in front of your subjct and around the same height as your key or main light. The reflector bounces the light from the center of your stobe back into the shadow side of our subject. To control the brightness of the shadow, move the reflector closer (for brighter) or farther away ( for darker). The second light is placed on the same side of the subject as the main light but it is high and behind the subject. I will usually colapse the umbrella around the flash to give it some directional control. This light will give some life to the hair and separate the subject from the background. (If the subject has no hair, you may not want to use this light.)
I set my exposre to around f4 on the highlight side of the subject. I control the exposure on the shadow side visually using the reflector. The exposure from the hair light will be the same as the main light is the subject has dark hair. I the subject has light hair, I will set the output at one stop less than the key light. The background light is just the ambeint light and is controled by changing the shutter speed. I then make a test shot and adjust the exposures to get the final effect.
This shot was made in exactly the same way. The only difference is that it was taken outdoors. The versatility of this setup is wonderful. Once it has been practiced a couple of times, it becomes very easy to repeat, making it a great starting point for a location portrait.
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