Flash Lighting Set Up for Portrait and Full Body

Hey people,

Wanting to know what about lighting full bodies and close ups. What's the best lighting for each one of those possibilities.

I get realized that using the same light for full body doesn't work so good in Portraits but cannot figure why.

Any tip is welcomed!

thanks in Advance!

Ø3

Leonardo Boher said:

Hey people,

Wanting to know what about lighting full bodies and close ups. What's the best lighting for each one of those possibilities.

I get realized that using the same light for full body doesn't work so good in Portraits but cannot figure why.

Any tip is welcomed!

thanks in Advance!

Ø3

Click to expand...

Hi Leonardo,

What look are you trying to achieve? That defines what lighting you might go for. From you work, I know you like window light hat's soft and diffused. Well for that one can use window light or else a very large light box thats fairly close to the mode that opens the shadows and another long strip light to give that directional accent.

You can go one step further and add a grid to the lateral strip and raise it and angle it down giving it just a little more power than the large light and adjusting them to get the light to wrap around the model and give a soft set of shadows from that one side light.

That's what I'd do first, since that's related to the light that's given you the best work. Little trick set ups that other people use for their signature work will not be as good as you working with a simple set up and your own strong point, your use of light that comes after 5 pm by the window.


Asher

Asher Kelman said:

Hi Leonardo,

What look are you trying to achieve? That defines what lighting you might go for. From you work, I know you like window light hat's soft and diffused. Well for that one can use window light or else a very large light box thats fairly close to the mode that opens the shadows and another long strip light to give that directional accent.

You can go one step further and add a grid to the lateral strip and raise it and angle it down giving it just a little more power than the large light and adjusting them to get the light to wrap around the model and give a soft set of shadows from that one side light.

That's what I'd do first, since that's related to the light that's given you the best work. Little trick set ups that other people use for their signature work will not be as good as you working with a simple set up and your own strong point, your use of light that comes after 5 pm by the window.


Asher

Click to expand...

Thanks for the long reply, Asher. I think I should invest some money in flashes with modelling light. I find better results with the sunlight because of that.

The problem with portraits is that the shadows covers too much parts of the face. It almost divides the face in light and darkness. Of course, rotating the subject, and why not the sun! the thing changes but sometimes it doesn't, resulting into 2 flat areas: light and dark.

You can also use white light bulbs behind a sheet of white translucent plastic.

asher

Asher Kelman said:

You can also use white light bulbs behind a sheet of white translucent plastic.

asher

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Nice idea... Would be nice to attach some bulb to the flash inside the umbrella, but I'm figuring if that can be too hot and burn the umbrella...

Leonardo Boher said:

Hey people,

Wanting to know what about lighting full bodies and close ups. What's the best lighting for each one of those possibilities.

Click to expand...

Hi Leonardo,

The equipment you use is secondary. Understanding the interaction between light and subject matter is what it is really about. The best advice I can give is to get hold of a copy of this really helpful book:
http://www.amazon.com/Light-Science-Introduction-Photographic-Lighting/dp/0240808193

When you understand the interaction, the type of lighting will logically follow as the best way of achieving a specific goal, whether using natural light, an artificial lightsource, or modifiers of some sort/shape.

Cheers,
Bart

Bart_van_der_Wolf said:

Hi Leonardo,

The equipment you use is secondary. Understanding the interaction between light and subject matter is what it is really about. The best advice I can give is to get hold of a copy of this really helpful book:
http://www.amazon.com/Light-Science-Introduction-Photographic-Lighting/dp/0240808193

When you understand the interaction, the type of lighting will logically follow as the best way of achieving a specific goal, whether using natural light, an artificial lightsource, or modifiers of some sort/shape.

Cheers,
Bart

Click to expand...

Hi there Bart Van Der Wolf

Thanks for suggesting the book, but for some reason, Amazon doesn't deliver stuff to Argentina. I already wanted to buy some stuff there but thye don't ship to Argentina.

Got four flashes and experimenting

Bart_van_der_Wolf said:

Hi Leonardo,

The equipment you use is secondary. Understanding the interaction between light and subject matter is what it is really about. The best advice I can give is to get hold of a copy of this really helpful book:
http://www.amazon.com/Light-Science-Introduction-Photographic-Lighting/dp/0240808193

When you understand the interaction, the type of lighting will logically follow as the best way of achieving a specific goal, whether using natural light, an artificial lightsource, or modifiers of some sort/shape.

Cheers,
Bart

Click to expand...

Leonardo Boher said:

Hi there Bart Van Der Wolf

Thanks for suggesting the book, but for some reason, Amazon doesn't deliver stuff to Argentina. I already wanted to buy some stuff there but thye don't ship to Argentina.

Click to expand...

Leo,

Bart's so right! without the knowledge in this book you'd need to get a time machine and go back to the old masters to understand light so well that you could overcome any issues. This book is by my bedside and I reread chapters. It's like visiting a guru, a shrine and your old school teacher. It's not complicated but one of the most important foundations one can get n photography.

PM me and we can arrange to get round the restrictions!

BTW, what lights did you end up buying?

Asher

Asher Kelman said:

Leo,

Bart's so right! without the knowledge in this book you'd need to get a time machine and go back to the old masters to understand light so well that you could overcome any issues. This book is by my bedside and I reread chapters. It's like visiting a guru, a shrine and your old school teacher. It's not complicated but one of the most important foundations one can get n photography.

PM me and we can arrange to get round the restrictions!

BTW, what lights did you end up buying?

Asher

Click to expand...

Ooohhh... I'm a fan of trial and error Light is there, we can see it as Newton saw the Gravity Law on an apple. I'm more that kind of people

SB900 Speedlights Impressive flashes! Portables and powerful!

Leo

You don't even need 4 flashes. Personally I'd advise taking two table lamps and working with a doll or similar infront of a white then black background. Position just one lamp at various angles 360 degrees around the doll. shoot. Then try it with two, again at evry angle. Learn what the light does differently for each angle. Broad, short, rembrandt lighting. Then with two you learn fill, seperation, etc. You can even work ratios by changing the distance of the lamps and put a sheet of paper in front to act as diffusion.

A lot cheaper and IMO far more valuable way of learning lighting than using flash or strobe light at the beginning which IMO and from my own experience is a mistake. Learn light then you can apply it equally well whether using ambient, window or flash. If you just learn flash then it's far harder to learn light.

Ben Rubinstein said:

You don't even need 4 flashes. Personally I'd advise taking two table lamps and working with a doll or similar infront of a white then black background. Position just one lamp at various angles 360 degrees around the doll. shoot. Then try it with two, again at evry angle. Learn what the light does differently for each angle. Broad, short, rembrandt lighting. Then with two you learn fill, seperation, etc. You can even work ratios by changing the distance of the lamps and put a sheet of paper in front to act as diffusion.

A lot cheaper and IMO far more valuable way of learning lighting than using flash or strobe light at the beginning which IMO and from my own experience is a mistake. Learn light then you can apply it equally well whether using ambient, window or flash. If you just learn flash then it's far harder to learn light.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I've been doing that for years due the low budget (let my ego tell that I didn't know who was Rembrandt at all when I did this picture).

Here is my best example of natural light:


I think there are no mistakes, because we learn from them if we have the ability to comprehend.

Thanks for your comment!

Leo

Leonardo Boher said:

Yeah, I've been doing that for years due the low budget (let my ego tell that I didn't know who was Rembrandt at all when I did this picture).

Here is my best example of natural light:

I think there are no mistakes, because we learn from them if we have the ability to comprehend.

Thanks for your comment!

Leo

Click to expand...

Leo,

There are hundreds of thousands of pictures I've seen. In all my viewing, few have held a spell on me for so long as this one. It's important for me and I am glad to see her again and the light from heaven reflected from her face. Understanding what you've done to be able to repeat that with other circumstances would for me be a wonderful thing.

That's why I invest in reading after each exhibit I visit. But first it must be that little red paperback for under $30, a priceless insight in shaping though light of so many kinds. Bart is so right in this. Take heed, he's the person who helps travelers with a destination find their way. If he gives advice, ignore the witches of the left and the right and take his words as a gift. That's the way to your destination.

Both your photograph above and this key book are worthy of stopping for and taking in beauty and wisdom.

Asher

Asher Kelman said:

Leo,

There are hundreds of thousands of pictures I've seen. In all my viewing, few have held a spell on me for so long as this one. It's important for me and I am glad to see her again and the light from heaven reflected from her face. Understanding what you've done to be able to repeat that with other circumstances would for me be a wonderful thing.

That's why I invest in reading after each exhibit I visit. But first it must be that little red paperback for under $30, a priceless insight in shaping though light of so many kinds. Bart is so right in this. Take heed, he's the person who helps travelers with a destination find their way. If he gives advice, ignore the witches of the left and the right and take his words as a gift. That's the way to your destination.

Both your photograph above and this key book are worthy of stopping for and taking in beauty and wisdom.

Asher

Click to expand...

Thanks for your words Asher, I will see if I can buy it through B&H. Amazon doesn't send stuff to my country, and considering how things are around here... I hope to get that book (plus other toys unshopeable around here).

I think I can read a 300 pages book anyway I'm already reading one about quantum physics and I'm on the middle of the book. Been reading it for... I don't know... many months. Let say I read 3-4 pages each 3-4 days, haha. Been a good reader when kid, learnt it fast at my five, but lost the interest at my seven, you know, it ¡s much better climbing trees than reading about climbing trees I must say I'm an explorer by nature!

Have a nice day or night!

Mart

It's available as an ebook, do a search and you should find it.

I like it as a book about lighting basics but it's not that orientated towards portraiture. Portraiture has its own rules which counteract what you might do with still life for example.

Ben Rubinstein said:

It's available as an ebook, do a search and you should find it.

I like it as a book about lighting basics but it's not that orientated towards portraiture. Portraiture has its own rules which counteract what you might do with still life for example.

Click to expand...

Hi Ben,

Well, it's a book about light, and how it interacts with reflective/transmissive materials. Portraits are just another material, from the lighting point of view. And there is a small section about portraits, insofar they need different considerations.

Portraiture on the other hand is a subject of its own. Skin/makeup/lights/pose/focal length/interaction/emotion/entourage/etc.

The lessons to be learned about light and lighting can be universally applied. It's essential knowledge for us who write with the stuff, light. And there is magic for those who master it.

Cheers,
Bart

Bart_van_der_Wolf said:

Hi Ben,

Well, it's a book about light, and how it interacts with reflective/transmissive materials. Portraits are just another material, from the lighting point of view.

Bart

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Don't agree at all I'm afraid. You don't use short or broad lighting for still life and I've never heard of rembrandt lighting for a bottle of wine. Clamshell lighting and the reason to use it is totally alien to other genres of lighting and I've never seen a ring flash used for product photography. The book gives a basic outline of how light works and how it responds to different uses but it is basic in the extreme when it comes to portrait philosophy of lighting. I agree that this book has to be learnt as the basics of lighting but as far as portraiture lighting is concerned it barely scratches the surface.

Ben Rubinstein said:

Don't agree at all I'm afraid. You don't use short or broad lighting for still life and I've never heard of rembrandt lighting for a bottle of wine. Clamshell lighting and the reason to use it is totally alien to other genres of lighting and I've never seen a ring flash used for product photography. The book gives a basic outline of how light works and how it responds to different uses but it is basic in the extreme when it comes to portrait philosophy of lighting. I agree that this book has to be learnt as the basics of lighting but as far as portraiture lighting is concerned it barely scratches the surface.

Click to expand...

Hi Ben,

I think we agree more than you make it seem to be. Portrait lighting is about accentuating (or hiding) certain features, and setting a mood.

But to do that effectively one needs to recognize that the angle of the light, and the size+shape of the lightsource, and it's distance, have a specific effect on skin/hair/clothes/background reflection but also the length/angle/harshness of shadows and their darkness. That also means that a lightsource from behind the subject will produce more specular reflections than that same lightsource from the front, and thus requires different exposure. That's all common knowledge when one has understood the principles.

Some principles of lighting setup for portraits are useful as a starting position, but one should first practice portrait lighting with a single lightsource. For that, one can use Leonado's trial and error method, and still not understand WHY it works as it does. That's a recipe to using tricks because they somehow 'worked' earlier. Real learning comes from understanding why it works, and the suggested book is very useful for that, regardless the subject.

Then, and only then, it is useful to pick up some standard tricks to add a hair light or strip lights to separate the subject fom the background. How it's done better/best again refers to understanding the basic principles about how light interacts with matter (e.g. the shape of a strip light has a different effect than an umbrella).

Cheers,
Bart

Makes sense, I have never been as clinical in my breakdown as that with portraiture lighting which is no doubt where I a) misunderstood you b) am probably lacking in my own understanding as to why certain lighting is preferrable for certain effects. No doubt I'd be a better photographer if I understood that better. I wonder if the greats understand why the lighting they choose has the effect that it does or whether they just know from experience that if you want look X then you use lighting Y.