How would you use 2 lights and a reflector?

09/18/2007 03:57:24 PM · #1

I have been playing around with 2 alien bee studio lights, a california sunbounce reflector, and a seamless paper background. I'm curious how others might apply these to a portrait session. It's obvious that one light becomes the key light, but do you use the other for fill, hair/rim, or background?

I'm just curious because I explained my approach to a friend and their take on this was completely different than mine.

bdenny

Sony DSC-H5

09/18/2007 04:04:52 PM · #2

There is no one right way to position the lights. There are plenty of different ways that will yield nice results. There are plenty of older threads that have great tips and even some with diagrams. My suggestion would be to have a shoot with a friend and just play around with different setups.

Gordon

RIM BlackBerry Curve

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM

09/18/2007 04:05:48 PM · #3

It depends entirely on the type of light you want to create and what feel you want in the picture. Start with working that out, then create the light you want with what's available to you, rather than setting up the lights first and then finding out what it creates.

The last time I used a pair of alien bees I set them up to shoot at 1/8th of a second and mixed them with ambient light coming through a shuttered window so that I'd get some blur in all the shots.

The light should contribute to the goal or concept of the photograph, so work that out and go from there.

Message edited by author 2007-09-18 16:06:13.

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

09/18/2007 04:12:36 PM · #4

I should have pointed out that I wasn't looking for a 'right' answer. I've played with:
- main light, fill light
- main light, fill reflector, rim light
- main light, fill reflector, background light
But... this may be constraining myself a bit by thinking of traditional light positions, so I was curious what other might try in this situation.

Gordon

RIM BlackBerry Curve

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM

09/18/2007 04:23:16 PM · #5

Originally posted by Nusbaum:

But... this may be constraining myself a bit by thinking of traditional light positions, so I was curious what other might try in this situation.

Fire both of them in to the back wall. Put them outside of the window and shoot the light through that. Maybe one outside the door and one outside the window. Find a plant and put one behind that to get some interesting shadows. Is there a mirror near by ? Hit one off that.

One off the floor, one of the ceiling.

Just a few things that spring to mind.

idnic

Canon EOS-60D

09/18/2007 04:40:25 PM · #6

In my mind order of importance usually goes like this:

1 - main light
2 - background / seperator light
3 - fill light
4 - hair light

Thus with your set up my first instinct would be to use one light as main, reflector as fill and the other light either on the back of the subject or on the backdrop to seperate the subject from the background. But of course, there are a zillion variations depending on the mood you are trying to capture.

Gordon

RIM BlackBerry Curve

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM

09/18/2007 04:45:35 PM · #7

Some of the suggestions I had came from this

09/18/2007 11:49:31 PM · #8

Originally posted by Gordon:

Some of the suggestions I had came from this

Thanks! I'll need to find some more victoms, I mean subjects, to experiment with.

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

09/24/2007 11:41:45 AM · #9

Originally posted by idnic:

Thanks!! I had not focused on a background or rim light as a separator and my images didn't have the depth that I wanted.

staticoy

Nikon D300

09/24/2007 11:49:54 AM · #10

Interesting enough, I recently did a shoot with two lights, and a foam board (for reflector). I put an image up on flickr of the setup.

//www.flickr.com/photos/mazakar/1428862874/

I had my key light on camera right behind a white shoot through umbrella, and my second "Fill light" on camera left hitting the foam board and white background. The foam board might not have done much.

Here is a link to the pictures taken with this setup:
//www.flickr.com/photos/mazakar/sets/72157602132106065/

I hope this is to some help to you :)

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

09/25/2007 09:35:10 AM · #11

Originally posted by staticoy:

I love the illustration, it was helpful and entertaining. I too have been keeping the bike at camera right and find it works pretty well :-) I'm also impressed with the results you achieved with that setup.

staticoy

Nikon D300

09/27/2007 02:58:52 PM · #12

Originally posted by Nusbaum:

Thank you! I am sure there will be more to come! Thanks again for the encouragement! :)

Prof_Fate

09/27/2007 03:42:56 PM · #13

What effect do you want?
What modifiers do you have (umbrellas -size, shoot thru or not, etc), softboxes, grids, snoot, beautydish, barndoor...

This is two lights - main is on the side of the subject w/ shoot thru umbrella, fill is behind camera w/ reflective umbrella (5.6 aperture, 60" umbrellas)

No reflectors, no hair light, no seperate light on the BG.
It's a bit flat but still shows some modeling. the fairly open ap gives some BG seperation.

//www.pbase.com/cpphotography/image/84061494.jpg

This is also two lights - on to camera left ( if i recall into a reflective umbrella feathered to keep light off the BG) and one with a grid over his shoulder behind and above him. A reflector could have been used for some fill for a bit less dramatic image.

//www.pbase.com/cpphotography/image/66510331.jpg

Message edited by L2 - Changed large image to link - please try to keep under 500 pixels and about 30kb :).

virtuamike

Nikon D2X

Carl Zeiss 35mm ZF f/2.0 Distagon T

09/27/2007 03:54:30 PM · #14

Sometimes I'll use a single unmodified light. Sometimes I'll spend an hour setting up 4-6 with modifiers, gels, flags, etc. Go with what works for you and what you need for your shots.