A lot of my studio work features one-light setups because it was often the only option available, but I recently started offsetting studio rental fees into all of my client sessions, making it possible to rent a studio space that provides a lot of lighting options for me that were previously inaccessible. The options are quite broad, but I'm starting simple and going from there.
This was a two light setup that I recently used for an actor session. A very large octa was placed to camera left as the main light, positioned low enough so that it's light still had coverage on his face without causing the brim of the hat to cast a shadow over his eyes, but still at a slightly higher axis than the model's face to create some of the sculpting effects that I like. A strip box with a grid was positioned high above and behind the model for the rim lighting (I had to place the stand behind the backdrop with the light hanging over the top of the backdrop). A large white V-flat was placed opposite the main light (camera right) in order to fill in the shadows on the right side of the portrait. You might recognize this model from my "A Simple Portrait" thread, which utilized a single light setup. I used an original Canon 5D with a Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens attached. Attached is also a link to the before and after to illustrate the editing. While the color grade might look simple, it was actually quite complicated and difficult for me to get "right".
Studio lighting is tough to master and you did an excellent job here, Daniel! I see the points Greg made above and I agree but those aspect can be addressed in PP.
A case study of Visual Perception v Visual Hierarchy?
De prime abord, all looks good in the eyes of the uninitiated...... and the latent questions arise.
1- The Ladder
- Why a Ladder?
- Why a Wood Ladder
- Is the Ladder a Prompt or a pose Anchor and does it have any bearing on a dressed up person?
2- The Watch
- Is it really related to the scene>
- To know the time of the shoot?
- Commercial reason?
- Relation to the person or to the Ladder
- Is it to appeal to the subconscious of Time?
3- The Wardrobe
- Hat and Dreadlocks to convey what or which message?
- A left tucked sleeve to reveal the watch?
- The right hand restimg on the leg looked forced in term of pose.
4- Composition and Light.
- The eye is unecessary attracted to a "bright" Ladder, the Watch and the rim light on the right hand thumb and sleeve.
- There is no definition between the black Tshirt and jacket lining.
- The "very large Octa" is placed too far away as shown with the catchlights.
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There will always be a visual disconnect in studio photography between the different elements due to a lack of experience on behalf of photogrpahers.
Shooting indoor or outdoor location is relatively easier as the non control of some elements is part of the picture. But in a studio. each micron of space is to be made to work for the image.
Here the "prompts" - "wardrobe" - "pose" - " lighting" et all are doing a disservice to the model.
Visual Perception of the image in totality might seem good to the uninitiated photographer and viewer, however a sense of design and perfection as well a Visual Hierarchy is absent.
Consider doing selective exposure, tone and color corrections via masks in post. For example - his jacket (and parts of the ladder etc.) became a bit hot in the before and after while the original might have been fine. YMMV
There's no doubt the original file oozes tons of extra "red/orange" but the side by side edit makes me wonder if you over corrected - however color is subjective and totally to taste so YMMV.
For the hair/rim light - experiment with toning it down for more subtlety/muted effect. Also something which is totally personal preference. For one person you might get away with a 7" reflector w/grid - it would let you focus the light better and minimize the spill.
With single subjects I am a big fan of one light and a reflector for fill for light on a single subject. A background light in some instances.
If you don't know his work check out Marc Hausers work. He died in 2018 at 66. IIRC he was doing a shoot with lift that he was in and it fell over causing him to loose part of a leg and an eye a few years earlier, He was a master of one light portraits.
I feel the first image feels more natural. Maybe because of the color combination you have used. Opaque clothes in an opaque background.
The second image feels more vivid, but maybe too much. Colors do look more briliant and your subject feels a bit overexposed, of course entirely based on my opinion.
At the end, generally speaking, both shots look great. But I think the first one is "better" in this case.
All the best!
gheller wrote:
The *after* looks way too bright on the ladder, drawing the attention away from the model.
His torso looks HUGE due to the way his jacket is open and lack of proper lighting in that area.
On the right track, with some tweaks.
Studio lighting is *very* difficult - took me years to fine tune my technique to the point where I was satisfied. Keep at it!
HTH
g
Thanks for taking to time to critique. Hopefully the next time I'll do better. Honestly there's no good excuse for poor execution of lighting because I have so many options available to me in that studio.
AGeoJO wrote:
Studio lighting is tough to master and you did an excellent job here, Daniel! I see the points Greg made above and I agree but those aspect can be addressed in PP.
Joshua
Thank you. I'm honestly getting to a point where I really dislike taking the time to edit my photos and have admittedly become a little bit lazy about it. Soon I really hope to be able to outsource to someone who actually enjoys photo editing and can do a better job than I.
Consider doing selective exposure, tone and color corrections via masks in post. For example - his jacket (and parts of the ladder etc.) became a bit hot in the before and after while the original might have been fine. YMMV
There's no doubt the original file oozes tons of extra "red/orange" but the side by side edit makes me wonder if you over corrected - however color is subjective and totally to taste so YMMV.
For the hair/rim light - experiment with toning it down for more subtlety/muted effect. Also something which is totally personal preference. For one person you might get away with a 7" reflector w/grid - it would let you focus the light better and minimize the spill. ...Show more →
Thanks for taking the time to critique and offer advice.
airfrogusmc wrote:
With single subjects I am a big fan of one light and a reflector for fill for light on a single subject. A background light in some instances.
If you don't know his work check out Marc Hausers work. He died in 2018 at 66. IIRC he was doing a shoot with lift that he was in and it fell over causing him to loose part of a leg and an eye a few years earlier, He was a master of one light portraits.
I really love the effect of good one-light setups as well. I'll look him up, thank you.
Burcu9320 wrote:
I feel the first image feels more natural. Maybe because of the color combination you have used. Opaque clothes in an opaque background.
The second image feels more vivid, but maybe too much. Colors do look more briliant and your subject feels a bit overexposed, of course entirely based on my opinion.
At the end, generally speaking, both shots look great. But I think the first one is "better" in this case.
All the best!
Daniel, I'm not sure which is the before, or the after image. I prefer the colors in the first image as it has more natural skin tones. Seems most of the other comments are offering advice about studio lighting, but I want to offer something that dramatically changed my studio work. I found it is the ratio of highlight to shadow that adds drama to an image. Don't just paint with light, but paint with shadow as well. Add reflectors to partially fill your shadows and reveal some of the hidden details. You can easily make a single light work as three lights by grabbing bits of the spill and throwing it into the shadows.
AGeoJO wrote:
Studio lighting is tough to master and you did an excellent job here, Daniel! I see the points Greg made above and I agree but those aspect can be addressed in PP.
Joshua
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+1. Ladder in first photo a tad too bright, especially at top of ladder, but I like the second shot's exposure of the actor as it appears to have a little more punch to facial feature..
