How on earth can I do this?

Wandering through the web, I come across this superb portrait (almost a painting

in the lighting quality) by the dutch photographer Desir�e Doldron:

http://www.desireedolron.com/images/xteriors/03.jpeg

 

Please visit the rest of her exquisite, haunting, very pictorial xteriors

series, at her website (which also includes a very interesting documentary

series on Cuba).

 

My question is: How can I achieve this kind of lighting? Of course, there's also

(very well done) makeup and a careful choice of wardrobe. Looking closely, it

does seem an apparently simple configuration. Single light? Soft light (via

softbox)? Has it been flagged? What about the softness, silky look of her skin?

Is it just thanks to make-up and a softbox? Finally: Do you think it was taken

with just 120mm or was it 4x5inch film?<div></div>

You can guess by the above url the website's address: http://wwww.desireedolron.com

 

Oh, and I'm sorry: I added a non-existent "d" on her true name. It's Desir�e Dolron.

Another typo, I beg your pardon: http://www.desireedolron.com

Black background, black tight clothing , spotlight, photoshop and, from the lack of sharpness, probably digital.

If you look a couple of shots past this one on her website you'll see a full length shot next to a large window. I think that gives a clue that it's maybe window light? Possibly with a reflector for a bit of fill?

 

As a side note.. it's worth looking at the photos on the black pages within her website rather than the direct linked jpeg on the white background of a browser window. It's amazing how much more detail your eye can tune in to in the dark areas. Kind of irrelevant to this thread but I was quite suprised so thought I'd mention it.

Jose,

 

I disagree with portions of Mike's analysis. Light source is much broader than a spotlight - more akin to your speculation or even window light. No need for photoshop or, IMHO, evidence of its use. BAsed on size of image posted, I don't think you can make any reasonable guess as to whether digital or film and whether 120, 4x5, 8x10 or 35mm (by the way, size 120 film is 120, not 120mm).

 

Kind regards,

It could be a soft focus lens - I do NOT think this is a digital image.; Contrary to Mike's opinion, digital tends to be too sharp for these type of portraits - of course there's always PS:-)

Broader than a spotlight, yes. But not so broad as a large window unless it was partly shuttered. It has been controlled to keep the background quite dark, and this is hard to do with natural light.

 

I'm not wild about all of her images, but she certainly does know what she is doing when it comes to using light, both natural and/or artificial.

My guess is that the main light is from the window that if featured in second photograph after the one that you referenced. It might have been a bright but cloudy day, or more likely a diffusion panel in front of the window.

 

Also, you can see a bright reflection in the model's eyes that I would assume is a reflector used to bounce some of the light under her eyes and chin.

beautiful! This image has been heavily retouched including the silky skin tone and background plus some burning. The lighting is fairly simple: either a single softbox or window light on the side with fill. It is not spot light because of the soft edge transfer and evidence of wrap-around effect of the light source. Flag or spill control is not always necessary needed in large interior space like this one. The main things are the model, the styling and the interior, all adding up to the overall feeling of the image.

Alice is absolutely right. The image should be seen as it is shown on the website, surrounded by black.

Excellent lighting! My guess for what it's worth is the use of a softbox with barn doors to control the light fall off. Looks like only 1 light and not digital.

Try a small softbox to your subjects cheek level, left, pointing across in front of the face, not directly at the face. Tilt it upwards a little to reduce the light on the chest. Point a light at the backgound. And then start shooting. After a few hundred practices you will get the idea. The distance of your light to subject can dictate the softness and how much shadow detail you retain.

In this order:

makeup, costume, set fdressing, lighting, lots of expert photoshop use to really create those artificially smooth skin tones and color and deeper shadows on the right side of her face.

 

Specifically to your questions:

 

A medium size softbox at some distance to the subject and it appears to be both feathered (not pointing quite directly at her); a single light on her, possibly another on the background; yes it looks flagged but the lighting effect might be getting further refined in Photoshop; makeup + softbox + Photoshop. Whether it was sho with a digital or film camera is irrelevant.

I see a big window. The model is near the window, and there is some light in the shades, I think in the scatered and reflected light of the window in the surrounding space (the enviroment). The color of the skin resembles me to what happens when you desaturate an image making the a and b chanel of Lab mode "straight" in the central part of the curves. But maybe you can gets a similar effects doing a bleach bypass in the slides developing.

By the way. i don't think it is a "medium" window, but a really large. See the light in the top of the head. It is illuminated from above. The windows we cansee in the images of the web can do that kind of light.

So I supposse, natural light and a little help of photoshop to desaturate the colors.