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DPChallenge Forums >> Photography Discussion >> How can i achieve this lighting?
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 03/04/2008 12:46:17 AM · #1
Ok, i LOVE this image, and have a bride - to - be requesting a shot like this in her wedding dress.



here's the lighting that i will have available that day:

alienbee 1600watt with large softbox
Sigma 500DG super on strobist stand (i'm guessing slaving behind her head, for the backlight effect?)
I have two hot lights, one large softbox and one smaller softbox. large 1000watts and small 500watts. not a WHOLE lot of light, but decent.
Sekonic lightmeter

ok, if i had to guess (and i'm guessing i'm way off) the setup would be as follows...let me know if i'm way off, or even close:

meter with lightmeter for strobe on bride's dress, adjust settings for this
softbox camera right, high shooting down, maybe 6 ft or so
sigma 500dg super on stand set to slave to go off when the wirelessly triggered alienbee will go off
maybe the softboxes placed for background lighting for the chairs in the theater i will be using?

i am curious to see if i'm even close here. if anyone has time to help me out here, i would be greatly appreciated. i'm just now really getting into off camera flash, and loving it! but i'm trying to dive in headfirst, so i appreciate any insight.

thanks so much!

Jon Ed Rowe
//jrowephoto.blogspot.com

Message edited by author 2008-03-04 01:40:16.
 03/04/2008 02:14:52 AM · #2
I think you've got it down pretty well with what you're working with. That alien bee is much stronger than the sigma so make sure to pay attention to the difference. I'm sure you'll have the sigma full blast and then adjust your power appropriately for the alien bee. I would think that your hair/background light is probably only a 1/2 or 1 stop below your main light.

I'd like to add to the question for others and see what you guys think about this too.

The light that is hitting the subject has a unique soft but hard quality at the same time. You can see how there is a highlight right down the center of her face with fall off on both the left and the right. Also, the shadow below her chin and neck is really quite hard and there is already noticeable fall off on right forearm. What light modifier is used for this?

I'm quite confident its not any softbox, the light from one is comparably much more flat. This is something that I see very often in fashion photography and I'm dying to figure it out. If any one thinks its significantly photoshop, cool, I'd like to know those tips too.

Message edited by author 2008-03-04 02:15:58.
 03/04/2008 10:12:33 AM · #3
thanks so much, great insight here that got me thinking a little deeper.

i really appreciate it!

any other insight would be greatly appreciated as well. thanks so much!
 03/04/2008 11:21:31 AM · #4
I think the strobe is over the camera at 45-60 degrees above the model. Look at the shadows under the chin and under her right arm. They don't angle at all.

I doubt any light is on the seating, instead relying on ambient light through dragging the shutter.
 03/04/2008 11:44:20 AM · #5
I'm by no means an expert, but judging from the difference in light strength from her face to her hand/dress, I'd hazzard a guess that the soft box is smallish, closish to her forehead, and just as far in front as to avoid putting her eye sockets in total shadow.
03/04/2008 12:39:06 PM · #6
beauty dish? or small gridded softbox?
 03/04/2008 12:41:58 PM · #7
in looking at the shot again, i do think that this might be some kind of beauty dish or ringflash (alienbees example). that would explain the rapid falloff of the light, and the way it seems to wrap around her arms.

i agree that the seats are probably not lit, but whether or not you want to gently light them would depend on your particular setup.
 03/04/2008 12:55:01 PM · #8
thanks so much everyone. the more and more i think bout it, it seems that the lighting on the seats could be a fall off of the backlight, or as stated through the dragging of the shutter...makes sense!

thanks again :)
 05/14/2008 10:48:10 AM · #9
since now commercial portraits/photographs have so much post processing done to it, sometimes it's quite hard to reverse engineer the light setup
especially the face area, with burn/dodge works
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