Using the off camera flash as a hair light

How does one position it?  Ideally high on a light stand and pointed at the top of the subject's head. 

How strong is the flash?  Not too strong as the angle will make it brighter than it actually is.  Also, hair color has an effect.  It's brighter on blonds vs. brunettes.

How high?  With my stands, I can go to about 8' or 9' above the subject. 

What happens if it's too low?  The flash will go into your lens and cause flare.

 This is what happens when the hair light is too low.  You get lens flare.  Some people like flare.  I don't.

Here's a setup of a recent portrait shoot.  It was sunny outdoors but the wind was howling.  I had to do about 20+ portraits of a group of pageant contestants.  The only place that looked decent was this corner with the rock wall.  The hair light was put on a stand and raised to the highest point of the light stand.  Flash was a Canon 550EX at 1/128 power.

The light source for the portrait was the outdoors coming in through the windows.  Because there was a roof overhead, the light direction was at the proper angle from the front and back of the subject.

By using a long telephoto, it compressed the background so no extraneous items appeared on the side.  Care had to be taken so the angle was correct.  Subject was also placed away from the background so the rock wall would kind of go out of focus.  Exposure was 1/200, f2.8 ISO 200

The final result.  You can also see that the flash for the hair light also illuminated the rock wall and there was a kicker light coming in from the window behind the subject.

What's a kicker light?  Come back later and see in a future post.

Tweaking the image by adding a hair light.

 This is the effect on the hair that I like to have.  If the sun is out, and you can get the head in the right position it's an easy thing to do.  When you're in the shade or if it's a cloudy day, it can be difficult or it needs to be created somehow.

 This image was created in the shadow of a building entrance.  The open sky was the main light source but since the subject was in the shade, there's no separation between the hair and the background.

By adding a small flash unit on a light stand and triggered by a radio slave, a hair light can be created to add more separation between the subject and the background.

 What do I use for the hair light?  It's a simple Vivitar 285HV mounted on a Cheetah light stand.

It's triggered by a Radio Slave.  The brand doesn't matter but it does need to be dependable. The ones I currently use are Pocket Wizards but I also have a set of Cactus triggers and receivers which I have found to be pretty dependable.  I also have a Youngbu set which I haven't tested on my normal flash units. 












This is my current setup.  It's normally raised a lot higher as I need to avoid any of the flash hitting the camera lens.  If it hits the lens one will have the tendency to have flare.  I normally don't like flare as it muddies the image.

 This is what it looks like when the camera triggers the flash.

 At one time I was a fan of cloudy days as it allowed me to have a soft light.  I kind of prefer bright sunny days now as the light level is higher and I have more options as to what I want my images to look like

This was taken on a cloudy day out in the open.  Because the light comes from all over (primarily on top), one gets the raccoon eye look.  The light is soft though.

I wanted a more distinct hair light so I set up my flash unit high and behind the subject.  Now there is a glow off the top of the head leading to more separation of the head from the background.  Since the light is still coming from above, we still have the raccoon eyes.

How to fix?  Get a reflector and place it below the subject's face.  That will add light into the shadow area brightening up the face.