Applying studio lighting techniques on location

Cloudy day, subject placed under a roof with the main light source coming in from camera left.  The roof is preventing any of the light coming from the top avoiding the condition called "racoon eyes."  The light coming in from the side also creates texture and form on your portrait subject and the gentleman behind her.  There is also light coming from behind and above the subject sing she was on the edge of the roof creating a hair light.  The large lens opening and the longer focal length throws the background out of focus

ISO200
1/200 f 2.8
Canon 70-200 f2.8 IS @170mm
Canon EOS 7D Camera Body

Outdoors - It's all about the light!

Now that we have a basic knowledge of lighting and studio lighting, we can use that knowledge and apply some of it to your outdoor portraits.  In as much as your background is important in location (outdoor) portraits, if you truly want good portraits, it's important that you find a good light source.  This is the location

 All the light areas is your light source.  Granted it's being partially blocked by the trees and overhang but there's a good amount of light coming through.  Once you determine your source of light, then you can look for your background.  As you see in the first image there's a tree and also a brightly lit sky.

If I didn't watch what my background was and my angle of shooting ended up with the light background behind the subject, the face might flare out and the background will compete for attention taking your eyes away from the subject.

If you just moved your angle so the dark tree was your background, then the face would be the center of attention.  Another thing to consider is look where you position the head.  It's still getting light from the sun behind her so that the hair lights up in the portrait.

 Here's a different location.  Sky is your primary light source.

 How does one determine if the hair would be lit?  Look at the shadow on the ground.  If the head is in the sun, you'll see the shadow of your subject's head in the light area and not the shade.

 A major consideration would also be your lens focal length.  You can control how your background looks by your lens focal length.  If you use longer focal lengths, the background gets magnified and results in a better effect.

This shot was taken with the lens at 70mm 1/320 sec f4.0 ISO 200.  Notice the tree is out of focus but then the two bright areas to the sides of the tree compete for attention.  70mm IMHO is the shortest focal length one would use for outdoor head/shoulders portraits. 

 I prefer to use longer focal lengths.  This one is shot at 195mm, same shutter speed, same f stop, same ISO.  Notice the enlargement of the background and how it fills the frame resulting in less distraction in the background.

Because I generally work without assistants for most of my portrait work, I've had to learn to find and use the light without depending on handheld reflectors or other light modifying devices.

End of today's blog post.
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Basic Studio Lighting

This is stuff I learned back in the early 70's and it still applies today.

You can have basic portrait lighting with two lights.  A Main Light and a Fill Light.  The Fill light which is positioned above camera position is to give your portrait the overall base exposure.  The Main Light which is positioned off to one side is to create the depth, roundness and texture of your portrait's subject.  I normally use three to four lights depending on the effect that I want.

 This is my fill light.  It's located in the back of the room centered above the camera to give a non directional flat exposure. 

The position and what it looks like on the subject is illustrated at left.

 This is my main light.  I usually use an umbrella but you can use a soft box, a large reflector dish, or even the wall if it does what you need.  Exposure is one to two f-stops stronger than your fill light depending on what kind of ratio you would want for your portrait.

The Main Light is usually 30-45 degrees to one side and about 30-45 degrees above the subject's head.  You are looking for a nose shadow that goes below the nose.  If it goes up, then your Main Light may be positioned  too low.

 The Hairlight that I use is a standard reflector with a honeycomb grid on it with a "Bastard Amber" filter inserted to warm the hair.  It is attached to my ceiling so I don't have to move a boom in or out.

It adds separation between the subject and the background.  Because it is not diffused, it's set at a lower power.

 This is my basic Background Light used to illuminate your background.  There are different ways of using this depending on the effect that you want.  It also assists in separating your subject from the background.

The exposure using the background light will depend again on the effect you want.  If it's a high key (white) background, I would want a pair of lights illuminating a white background

 All four lights

 Fill Only

 Fill and Main

 Fill, Main, & Hair

All Four Lights
















End of lesson...

Rule #2

In conjunction with Rule #1 - the larger your light source, the softer your light is Rule #2.

2-The closer your light source, the softer your light.

This works because as you bring your light source closer to your subject, it's going to get larger resulting in a softer light.

The first image's light source was about 8' away and the second image was just out of camera range.  One seems contrastier due to the difference between the fill and main but again, look at the edge shadows.  The one that is closer is softer than the one further away.

This one is further away

This one is closer

And she's happier because the light is softer... :-)

Starting with the basics

As a starting point, we need to understand what affects the quality of light.  There are two basic rules that was taught to me by Dean Collins back in the early 80's.  They are:

1.  The larger your light source, the softer your light. 

If you use a small light source like these Photogenic Mini Spots, you'll have a harsher light.

Note the edge shadow by the nose and how the shadow is defined.

 My usual light modifier are umbrellas.  The larger surface area makes for a softer light.  Note edge shadows on nose.  It's not as harsh

 On occasion, when I need a really soft light and I have a neutral light colored wall, I'll bounce the main light off the wall to create even a softer light.

The two lights in the back are to illuminate the background for a high key effect.

End of today's lesson.

Time to get something on this blog

Ok, I created this blog to hopefully teach photographers (no matter what skill level) some of the stuff I've learned as a photographer for almost 40 years.  I'll start with a calender I created to hopefully get some insight to a friend who wants to improve her skills.

I was testing a new flash to see how it would work.  Had I left it on my camera, it would have looked flat and meh...  What I did was put it on a stand and raised it up high enough so that the angle emulated the angle of the main light in a studio setting.  I also positioned it to camera left so that I would create texture on the subject.  A light stand helps a lot to get it high enough.  Granted you could have someone holding it with their arms extended but unless you get someone who is a basketball center with long arms, the normal person could not get their arms high enough.

ISO 200
Canon EOS 7D
Canon 24-105mm IS L lens at 24mm
1/160 sec, f5.0
Using a Yongbu flash unit which cost about $100 for the flash unit, the radio slave transmitter and receiver.  Cheap but it's a manual flash unit but it works.