New Lights

[Brett Jarnagin]

I just got studio lights two days ago... well anyway one of them came to me broken. Long story short, I shot this with one light. Comments Critiques? I know the lighting can be better... hopefully I'll get my replacement light soon.

http://images25.fotki.com/v950/photos/9/978152/5155788/IMG_4698-vi.jpg

This was actually a senior picture but I know this girl pretty well and she likes to do things different than the norm. So I came up with something that shows her personality.

[Twila Davis Reed]

I rather like it. Definitely out of the norm and very interesting!

Hey, if you want a GREAT book on studio lighting to help you learn (and to help you save money in the long run) pick up a copy of Christopher Grey's book, "The Master Lighting Guide for Portrait Photographers". Not only are there great diagrams, examples and explanations, he shows an apples to apples comparison of what various modifiers like softboxes and umbrellas all look like when used in the same lighting scenario. You'll save money with that because if you see a look you like that's consistent from scenario to scenario all being done with the same modifier, you can buy just that one rather than doing the trial-and-error method of purchasing a lot of us have had to do. I SO wish I'd had that book before I started buying equipment! Anyway, it's a great book and will grow with you as you learn lighting. You can also check out some of his other tutorial stuff over at ShootSmarter.com...you just have to sign up for a free membership.

[Brett Jarnagin]

Thanks a lot! I'll look into that!

I'm working in a pretty small space at the moment... It kind of sucks but I'm making it work for the time being until I get into an actual studio.

[Adam Schmidt]

Hey Brett,

Good to see that you've got an avatar.

What lights did you get?

I like the image, but I'm not a fan of broad lighting. While it has its place here and there, for the most part I feel it makes people look heavier.

[Brett Jarnagin]

I got a new dynaphos light kit.

It's 600 watts at full power. It came with a softbox and 2 different umbrellas.

I'm new to lighting so define broad lighting please.

[Twila Davis Reed]

(this is one of those things covered in the Master Lighting Guide LOL)

Broad lighting is where the side of the face closest to the camera receives the bulk of the light and the shadows fall away from the camera. The old saying goes, "Never broad light a Broad"...but people with thin faces can definitely get away with it. Heavier faces, not so much. You need the shadows to be more prominent on heavier faces.

[Twila Davis Reed]

This is broad lighting (and this is one person who actually looks much better with broad lighting than short -where the shadowed side is closer to the camera because she has a really heart shaped face with a square jaw and to balance the chin photographically, she needed to be lit from the front.) For this shot, I used a 22" beauty dish with diffusion sock as my main light, a large white reflector opposite of that along with a 12x24" strip softbox overhead for hair light and a 7" parabolic reflector with 20 degree honeycomb grid as the background light. I think I also had a 24x36" ambient fill light somewhere behind the camera position on pretty low power for just an "evener".
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/167/412805391_b4d41fc212.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/182/370555668_477133fbc6.jpg http://farm1.static.flickr.com/160/369626585_c65eb6f62e.jpg

[Brett Jarnagin]

I think I just need to buy that book haha. Your lighting explinations always sound so complex to me. I understand what you are saying but you use so much that it's just a little too much for me to fully grasp at this point. Thanks for the tips though.. I'm going to go buy that book!

[Adam Schmidt]

Brett,

To break it down to the simplist way I can think of, on the image you posted, posted again here, this is broad lighting. Your main light is to the right of the camera and it is lighting the part of her face that looks the widest to the camera.

If you were to put the main light on the left side of your camera a couple of feet, it would be short lighting. It would put the wide part of her face in a partial shadow, which will make her appear thinner.

Making sense? :)

[Brett Jarnagin]

It sure does! Thanks for the tip!