The Lighting Lowdown

This will be the first of many tutorials on Lighting, gear and basically the world how I see it. I was receiving all kinds of requests about how I created certain images, so I have decided to break it down for you all.

Recently I shot this beauty story and it gave me an opportunity to break out all my great gear from  FJ Westcott. I started by setting up a gorgeous back drop (black-on-black 4.5 ft x 12 ft velvet damask print ). I wanted to keep the image simple but at the same time very luxurious, keeping focus on the make-up. I used a four light set up, one back light on a small stand behind the model with a honeycomb grid, mounted to give the back drop some depth bringing out the damask print. The metering was 1F stop above the main light source .

I then use two Spiderlite TD5s with flash strobes at about a 45 degree angle and mounted the ever so versatile Bruce Dorn Select Asymmetrical Stripbank. The asymmetrical strip gives this nice feather affect. I also used the full stop front diffusion panel on the stripbank. This created a high key light wrapping around the model, helping her stand out from the back drop creating even more depth to the images.

My main light source is a single Spiderlite TD5 with flash strobes and 45in Round Halo. The halo is an umbrella frame which makes it extremely light – it’s one of my favorites for shooting on location. The round shape allows for 140 degrees of wraparound with a circular catch-light. I chose the halo because it was the perfect tool to give me that nice soft light, but at the same time using a Tri-flector. The three interconnected reflectors achieve total wrap-around lighting. Since I was also shooting details of the models lips and eye make-up I wanted to keep it fresh with great reflections on the glossy lips, hence my tri-flector choice. I was able to catch the extra light and create this glow effect, but still keeping the image sharp without having excess fill light.

The Spiderlite TD5 was positioned directly above and behind me so that I would not get crazy shadows on the neck and around the nose. My settings where at F5.6 @ 125sec for the main light source and F8 @ 125sec for the stripbanks.

What I use:

• Camera: Canon Mark II
• Lens:  24-70 2.8 Macro Kenko extension Tube
• Sandisk 4 Extreme Cf card

Thank You to:

• Studio: Jack Dog Studio
• Make-Up  Artist: Guerline Fequiere, Mac Cosmetics
• Models: Melissa Sherk & Taelyr  Hair
• Post-Processing: Jeff Fogarty, Gina Hdez