Studio and other lighting tips gleaned from the forum posts. (Most recent at the bottom)
(From dcdp) Yeah, it is such a useful piece of kit. I use it all the time now. I used to use shoot through umbrellas a lot but now I use it instead. I love the quality of the light. If you have speedlights I highly recommend it. Here are a couple of pictures of how it fits together
Almost all of my indoor images in the last few months have used it to some degree.
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(From Jo (Lostinbids) to describe an image here http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=10148563 ) Hi Iain, the set up was a clam shell set up. I was looking at the Profoto (I can dream) website on Friday and they have some new compact lights and some videos to advertise them. One of the two light set ups was this and I gave it a try. Basically it is 2 soft boxes one above the model and one below directly in front both angled towards the face. The bottom light is about 2 stops lower than the top light, it takes away shadows from under the chin and also brings out the check bones.
(From Dave(dcdp)) The clam shell is one of my favourites too. You can do it just with one softbox as well and a large reflector down below instead (if you don’t happen to have multiple lights or softboxes). It also gives cool double dot catchlights in the eyes.
(From lostinbids) Oh blimey, have I started a clam shell crazy? Silvia have a look at the 2 light set up on the profoto D1 mini site http://www.profoto.com/D1/index.php?lang=en click the bottom left for the videos. You can also lust after the lovely strobes too, just they are so pricey
(From Leviticus) Clamshell works in both vert and horiz configuration with two light or one and a reflector setup using umrella’s, softbox or panels. Think of one light as main and one as fill light.
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(From Leviticus) Sb900 with softbox above camera left and high, just out of frame on both axis. 1/32power with 12mm zoom
Vivitar 283 with grid table camera left, 1/64 power, bounced off a white reflector on the monitor.
Triggered with cybercync. (This image http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=10510628 )
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(From Susan Daniels) so for my shocking photo, ( here http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=10552493 ) i used two softboxes either side of my head, at head height, one flash was set to full, the other was set to 1/8th both are old second hand sunpaks from ebay, i put the reflector propped up at 45 degree angle against the light stand on the floor. Dont know if it made any difference, oh and i stood about 1 metre from the background this time, camera was f8 at 200 second with 50mm lens and pocket wizards.
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(From Carole Gomez) My set up was super easy, single Elinchrom light with a big soft box as high as my lighting stand would go & angled downwards (in an attempt to minimse the appearance of wrinkles with a sort of butterfly lighting). I started off with two lights, one lower than the main light but I prefered the look with the single light and the table is pretty reflective anyway (plus I was running out of room in my tiny dining room!) I dragged the shutter so that the daylight outside the window didn’t get lost, off the top of my head I think it was about 1/40th,
(These are Caroles images) http://www.istockphoto.com/file_search.php?action=file&lightboxID=6883386
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(From Susan Daniels) what i would like to know, is, how to get an accent light, ??
(From Carole Gomez) (replying to Susan) Do you mean like a rim light? Usually it’s a light set at higher power than your main and fill lights. Do you have an image you can show as an example so I can help? Do you mean something like the highlights on the back shoulder & hair (to seperate her hair from the background) on this one? Not the best example but only had a quick shuffle through my port! (Link to image) http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=8577010
(From Susan Daniels) very cool image Carole! and yes, your image is perfect for what i was trying to ask! You have picked out her far shoulder and the little highlights on the edge of the dress neck ear and hair, i was just wondering how to get that effect, where do you actually put the light just to pick out the edges like that, i am really appreciating how the pros use light, i want to try this technique
(From Ryerson Clark) The light usually comes from behind and to one side and just skims the model where you want it, and as Carole said, about 1 stop brighter. harder to do with modeling lights in your strobes, but with digital, you can play and still get the results.
(From Carole Gomez) (replying to Ryerson) Perfect, that’s exactly what I was going to say. I often turn off all the other lights and take a test image using just the rim light, it’ll all be black apart from the bit you want to highlight, it helps to see if you’ve got the placement just right.
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(From Lost in Bids) my home made diffuser works and I have had my first photo with it accepted. http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=10543053
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(From oneclearvision) I’ve had a few images accepted from my shoots this week using my experimental lighting set up and new model. (those ones and more from this series are still in the Q). Here’s a peak behind the scenes of my set up (which is itself a work in progress)
