In this photo, we use four speedlights to create zones of light in just two places: Around Eke and on the background.
Not to take anything away from Eke, but the background in this case was a beautiful hunk of sculpted wood that just made the room. So, I thought I would put him in front of it and do a little sculpting on Eke with multidirectional, hard light.
Hit the jump to see how we built the light.
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Without snoots (or gobos of some kind) the lights would have flared pretty badly, as they were pointed in the general direction of the camera from the back/sides of Eke.
The grid, along with the angle of the front light, keeps it from spilling badly on the background. This was important to me, because I wanted to keep the light on the back wooden panel warm.
To add a little shape to the tones on the background, I snooted that light, too. This seals the top and bottom of the frame with a lower tonal range, adding a little interest to the background. Snoots are very useful for making light more interesting, and I almost never use hard light without them. And if I am not using a snoot, I am probably gridding, or at least gobo'ing the light in some way.
To separate Eke from the background a little more, we decided to cool down his rim lighting a little. This was easily done with a CTB gel (cooling gel, opposite of a CTO) in 1/2 strength.
If I have any major problems from the light in question, the test pop shows me before I walk away from the light.
I have said it before, and I will say it again: You do not get a belly like mine doing any unnecessary walking.
Every light in the photo is hard, and there is no ambient contributing to the photo. But Eke has a nice, 3-D sculpted look because the front light is replaced by rim/side lighting as you work your way around him.
The gelled, snooted light on the background finishes the photo by selectively lighting the background and warming up the wood.
NEXT: Nest Egg
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Related posts:
:: L101: Hard Light ::
:: L101: Snoots and Gobos ::
:: How to Make Grid Spots ::
:: L101: Using Gels ::
:: On Assignment: Michael in Paris :: (Shot in same room.)
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