A lighting setup

[photosbymorgan2]

Hello All,

In this first picture you can see where my subject is and where my main and fill light are located. Main is on the left and fill on the right. The second pic is a close up of the subject so you can see how the lighting falls on the subject using the modeling lights to determine how the shadows will fall.





When I set up my lights, I know what I want my main light to be so I will figure how many stops difference I want the fill and main to be and meter my fill light to the lower f stop I want it to be while the main light is turned off. Once I have the fill light metered, I will turn on the main light and adjust it until I get the F stop reading I want. When I meter the main light, the fill light stays on and is included in the metering of the main. This gives me a more accurate reading. Of course you do have to take into consideration the skin tone of your subject. If it is a dark skinned person then you may want to open up your f stop by half or one. If it is a real light skinned person, you may want to stop your camera down 1/2 to one f stop.

This picture is of the subject using both the main and fill light. You will notice that you can see the shadow is light but still allows you to see contour of the face.



This picture is of the subject just using the main light and no fill light. You will notice that the shadow is darker and more defined.



To separate your subject from the background you could add a hair light or a background light. I did not show these as my subject has no hair.

I hope this helps.

[markperez]

very nice post. Thanks

[dminton]

do you use the ceiling fan for making the models hair billow? hehehe

[photosbymorgan2]

Originally Posted by dminton

do you use the ceiling fan for making the models hair billow? hehehe

The ceiling fan is an 1800's fan and is used for helping keep the room cool when I am working at my computer. I wish it would blow the hair around properly but it does not so if I wish to have the hair have a blown look then I use an antique table fan.

[srwatters]

Paul, What are the dimensions on the strip box? I have a 16x48 but I haven't used it as a key light yet. Gives me more ideas. I get quite a bit of wrap with my 36x48 multi-dome as key. Maybe I should switch them around...

Thanks for the demo. Maybe you should be running my workshop instead of assisting

[photosbymorgan2]

Originally Posted by srwatters

Paul, What are the dimensions on the strip box? I have a 16x48 but I haven't used it as a key light yet. Gives me more ideas. I get quite a bit of wrap with my 36x48 multi-dome as key. Maybe I should switch them around...

Thanks for the demo. Maybe you should be running my workshop instead of assisting

The softbox is 16 x 55 and has a 40 degree grid attached to it to control light spill.

And the folks are coming to learn your style of lighting. So I will assist where I can.

[brewdog]

What kind of lights are you using? A good demo of light control!

[photosbymorgan2]

Originally Posted by brewdog

What kind of lights are you using? A good demo of light control!

Lights are Alien Bee B800's

[Killeenguy]

That's one amazing piece of advice you just gave morgan...it's a very interesting subject :D makes me smile cause i know when i go back into "fun" monday i'll be messing w/ my lights now