OK, enough with the equipment, lets see some lighting!

[fotografz]

Luckily the canon units don't have the auto shutdown of the sb-900 which has my mentor and friend tearing his hair out (he's a PJ). I'm using 35mm cameras so I need far less aperture and hence less light, my dual speed-lights in a brolly are more than enough which is useful.

Not to get too argumentative about it because I really don't care all that much ... but the Canon flash most certainly does have a capacitor threshold shut down, and I've seen it happen with my shooting partner's 580EX, more than once. Both of us had our flash units shut down with-in minutes of each other at one hot summer day's wedding while shooting a back-lit scene ... his a Canon, and mine a Sony. The Nikon SB900s also used to shut down on me, and did so much more frequently because Nikon set the threshold to low. I believe you can by-pass it on the Nikon, or they did something to raise the shut-down level, can't remember exactly.

I know you use an older Canon unit as your main flash, (which I never had shut down), and using two TTL speed-lights in the umbrella helps lower the need for full output. But, trust me, the Canons WILL go down if they get to hot, and it takes upwards of 15 minutes to get them cooled down and back on line.

FYI, I use the strobes at weddings with 35mm mostly, the MFD is more for portrait work ... although that may change now that the S2 is in the bag. However, I agree that dual speed-lights and umbrellas work just fine at weddings ... but as full output studio strobe replacements they don't. It is to taxing on such expensive tools.

Anyway, back to lighting of all forms ... I hope to post a few new "lighting shots" by this week-end after a pregnant client session ... with the girl's permission that is I forgot how much I love working in the studio. I've become a photo hermit this winter ... :ROTFL:

Best to you Ben,

-Marc

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

Thanks for the heads up then Marc!

 

[fotografz]

Continuing onward and hopefully upward ...

Here is how I have staged my in-home studio for an upcoming shoot ...

Large 7.5' X 7.5' light-wall with 1400 w/s pumped into it to do a profile silhouette shot of a pregnant woman ... with and without a Scrim-Jim silk in front of her to try some shadowed diffused effects. All other lights shown will be off.

Then all that will be removed, and a 6' strip light added to the overhead boom to rim light her from the side lying in a Le Corbusier chair against the dark sweep ... the chair curve mimicking the opposite of her bump. Fill as needed.

Then that is removed and a few things done with the big boxes set very low and use of a beauty dish and grid ... and 9" reflector with grid and barn doors. Her and her husband will be part of these ... some dramatically lit "body as landscape" standard sort of stuff ... but I have a few different ideas for these.

Lighting is Profoto ... two D4 2400 boxes, a couple of monos in the Light-Wall ... large softbox camera left is a 7' Plume Wafer, and most of the other stuff is Profoto except a giant Elinchrom Beauty dish which uses an EL to Profoto adapter.

I have about 6 shots mapped out and staged as I remove elements to keep things moving quickly and not wear her out ... including a "Humpty-Dumpty" idea that'll require PS work afterwards. The gal is open to just about anything. Should be fun.

-Marc

 

[PeterA]

Looking forward to seeing the shots Marc. Interesting how you have organised your lights - within the context of (relatively) low ceiling height.

 

[lowep]

Thanks Marc, I also look forward to seeing what comes out of this session with Humpty Dumpty and Le Courbesier - though am suprised that if you have an S2 in your bag you need to worry about lights at all, since I thought that once a photographer has an S2 the light shines out of his... oh dear, I can see I am getting off topic again. :deadhorse:

 

[fotografz]

Yes, Peter the ceiling height is less than optimal. It's 11' high at one end and 8' 10" at the end I shoot from ... but the cross beams cut that some ... so I had to go with a 7' camera stand. The room is 20' X 25' ... what isn't shown is the storage behind the backdrop, and there is a large translucent shooting table camera left.

You would be amazed what I've shot in this little studio ... including Kayaks and all kinds of commercial advertising "people" work.

My home studio prior to this one was much larger with 12' ceilings and more open space ... the downstairs area here has 25' ceilings and a large open common area, but my wife nixed the notion of using that as the studio

I have access to a big studio when needed ... but for the most part if I plan out the shots, this works pretty well. So, those who have a smaller space to work in can take heart :thumbup:

Here's a few of the diverse things done here ... some bank loan graphics, jewelry retail, the wheels I shoot ... bread and butter stuff to pay for the toys

-Marc

 

[fotografz]

Thanks Marc, I also look forward to seeing what comes out of this session with Humpty Dumpty and Le Courbesier - though am suprised that if you have an S2 in your bag you need to worry about lights at all, since I thought that once a photographer has an S2 the light shines out of his... oh dear, I can see I am getting off topic again. :deadhorse:

:ROTFL:

Well, the only thing shooting out of my arse is money ... and trust me, the Hassey will be at the ready.

Hope this client doesn't cancel.

-Marc

 

[PeterA]

Yes Marc - I think of your current set up as 'real world' - intreresting for me to see studio layouts within home environment..as always I appreciate your willingness to share your experiences - very much appreciated.

Pete

 

[jsf]

I no longer do portraits but I am teaching a class in portraiture next month so it was fortuitous when an aquaintance called and asked me to do a portrait for her. My "studio" is in my basement and it is sort of set up for table-top things, certainly not for portraiture. So I had to use low wattage hot lights, (continuous lighting as I read here the other day) Three point lighting for the final product, and minimal retouching, some stray hairs and two small blemishes, little things like that. I took one photo in harsh light as an example for the class what lighting can do, the other two are just standard corrective lighting. Joe

 

[jsf]

As an addendum, these were all taken within a few minutes of each other, her makeup is the same, the camera (Nikon d700) and the lens is the same (105mm) the exposure was 1/40th at f/4 at if I remember correctly 1600 ISO, and the processing was pretty much what I do for any photo, (which in my case is usually inanimate) I think the major difference is in vibrance and saturation, I scarcely did any adjustment at all. I do virtually everything in Adobe Camera Raw and just a bit in PS, less than 5 minutes each from RAW to print, there just wasn't much to do. As you can see the subject is a good looking woman, mid aged but with great bone structure, when the lighting is set right you do not really need much to make a dramatic difference. The main was a 750 watt light into a silver reflecter, the fill was a 100 raw light bulb and the hair light was a raw 100 watt bulb focused with a fresnell lens.

 

[lowep]

I hope you paid your model well for the "harsh" sample, as it really is

 

[lowep]

Hmm... you guys are streets ahead of this sucker! :watch:

Until now like most people I have played around a bit with sometimes satisfactory and sometimes awful results using flash and this is where I find myself at the moment:

(1) like Marc's suggestion for a simple portable setup that can be used for portraits of either individuals or small groups. Would like to do this maintaining as much available ambient light to flush out the setting as possible and only do it if there is not enough ambient light to shoot without flash.

(2) have:
* two light stands (actually one is a spare tripod but ignore that)
* One powerful old Quantum Q flash with turbo battery and Contax 645 TTL adapter
* One old Metz c32 (4 rechargeable AA batteries) + 1 Nikon speedlight (rechargeable quantum battery) with multi-connector so they can be used together as "one" unit
* One thingy that goes on the end of the flash cable and automatically fires the flash when another one goes off
* 1 flash extension cable
* I Sekonic flash meter
* Two umbrellas; one with additional semi-transparent shell that turns it into a softbox
* 1 mini-lightbox that can be used for using shooting Quantum flash mounted on camera or on stand
* oh almost forgot: camera and digital back
* low budget (of course due to all of the above)

Then (3)...???

Obviously need to do some tests to figure out:
* what to use as main light and fill light?
* best to use manual or try to combine with TTL?
* best to use fill flash on camera or on a separate stand on the opposite side of camera from main light
* worth hassle of setting up Metz+Nikon flashes as one combo unit.

:loco:

 

[jsf]

TTL will always try to balance everything out. I would have off camera equipment in your case. If you have one unit that will support three heads and you can adjust each one that is the ideal. But you could just as easily use two systems, one for your Main and fill and the other one for hair light on a radio slave and that works just as well. The ratios should be: Main as 1, fill as .5to.75 and hair light as 1.25. That should set your ratios perfectly. Joe

 

[lowep]

thanks for input jfk will try this

 

[fotografz]

Continuing onward and hopefully upward ...

Here is how I have staged my in-home studio for an upcoming shoot ...

Large 7.5' X 7.5' light-wall with 1400 w/s pumped into it to do a profile silhouette shot of a pregnant woman ... with and without a Scrim-Jim silk in front of her to try some shadowed diffused effects. All other lights shown will be off.

Then all that will be removed, and a 6' strip light added to the overhead boom to rim light her from the side lying in a Le Corbusier chair against the dark sweep ... the chair curve mimicking the opposite of her bump. Fill as needed.

Then that is removed and a few things done with the big boxes set very low and use of a beauty dish and grid ... and 9" reflector with grid and barn doors. Her and her husband will be part of these ... some dramatically lit "body as landscape" standard sort of stuff ... but I have a few different ideas for these.

Lighting is Profoto ... two D4 2400 boxes, a couple of monos in the Light-Wall ... large softbox camera left is a 7' Plume Wafer, and most of the other stuff is Profoto except a giant Elinchrom Beauty dish which uses an EL to Profoto adapter.

I have about 6 shots mapped out and staged as I remove elements to keep things moving quickly and not wear her out ... including a "Humpty-Dumpty" idea that'll require PS work afterwards. The gal is open to just about anything. Should be fun.

-Marc

Here are a few samples of the results from the pregnancy shoot ... I posted these in the Leica S2 area, but a lot of folks interested in lighting might miss it there.

This is the Humpty-Dumpty idea completed ... the lighting was a beauty dish with a grid above her, camera right to sort of mimmick the ambient of the two composite shots of the sky and brick wall ... and the large 7' softbox behind me camera left for fill ... I shot her with a wide angle from floor level and further distorted her in PS.

View attachment 41290

These two were backlit with the "wall of light" and shot through the 7' X 7' Scrim Jim silk. Just a touch of bounce back fill happens from the silk.

View attachment 41291 View attachment 41292

This was shot the same way, except I added a Profoto light stick on a short stand hidden just behind her to lift the level of light and increase the bounce from the silk.

View attachment 41293

This is the one in the Le Corbusier chair that I mentioned. The backdrop was a charcoal grey cloth. I used a 6' Strip light on a boom above her and modified it by covering 1/2 of the soft-box face with black velvet to narrow the light ... and I left 2' hanging to act as an apron to keep any light from spilling onto the background. I also used another unmodified 6' strip light with it's normal diffusers in place to keep the light quality from getting to specular especially considering the chrome. It was placed on the floor just in front of me to provide some fill and light the chrome arcs of the classic chair.

View attachment 41294

-Marc

 

[lowep]

so there is more to an omlette than eggs

Why pay a photographer for a portrait when you can buy a camera for less and do it yourself? Here is the answer!

I reckon even if you shot each of these with a Kodak Brownie and the same light set up they would look just as good. But I guess the prints really bring out the contribution of the S2

I also like the portraits of the model not just the chair

Thanks

 

[fotografz]

Re: so there is more to an omlette than eggs

Why pay a photographer for a portrait when you can buy a camera for less and do it yourself? Here is the answer!

I reckon even if you shot each of these with a Kodak Brownie and the same light set up they would look just as good. But I guess the prints really bring out the contribution of the S2

I also like the portraits of the model not just the chair

Thanks

Right, it really doesn't matter what camera ... I could have just as easily used my Sony or Leica M, or even an APS-C camera and got decent results. The Medium Format cameras do help with a bit more dynamic range and more accurate color fidelity ... But those things are more for us than most clients who wouldn't know the difference.

Perhaps more importantly, with bigger files you have lots of data headroom to easily crop, manipulate and deal with skin retouching, etc. Or for dealing with extremes ... for example, the Mrs. H. Dumpty shot was really manipulated a lot, and the MFD file held up remarkably well without introducing all kinds of visible artifacts and pixel distortions at size. They are there, but the file is so big that it masks them when reduced to the size used. :thumbup: That print is 30" tall BTW.

The real notion here isn't about cameras and lenses, it is about thinking through ideas and designing the lighting scenarios to pull it off. That's the stuff that separates the work from an unimaginative Uncle Bob and his "Deer in the headlights" on-camera speed-light

-Marc

 

[jlm]

Marc:

the strip lighting works perfectly; but i checked them out: $ ouch!

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/367023-REG/Profoto_100737_Large_Striplight.html

 

[fotografz]

Marc:

the strip lighting works perfectly; but i checked them out: $ ouch!

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/367023-REG/Profoto_100737_Large_Striplight.html

That isn't the kind I'm using ... that is big time studio lighting. The regular Profoto strip-light is a soft box ... but not cheap either ... or you can buy one new at B&H from Creative Light for $155. Depends on how much you think you'd use it. I use mine a lot for background lighting and subject rim lighting, so I sprung for the big boy's version ... which are built to take a licking and keep on ticking Lighting stuff is expensive ... unless you are selling it, then it's worth next to nothing :ROTFL:

-Marc

 

[honeycomb]

This thread is really interesting!