How can I recreate the lighting in the picture?

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I'm an aspiring fashion photographer and I'm new to photo.net, hopefully I will be able to find some answers here.</p>

<p>I'm shooting a lookbook next week, and I want to recreate the lighting as in <a href="http://www.sezane.com/en/product/winter-collection/eve-dress?cou_Id=1761">this link</a><br>

It's almost day light but there has to be more. I'm shooting in a studio where the background in concrete wall/floor so I'm not sure there will be enought luminosity in the room.<br>

I'm looking to find a low budget lighting, and since I dont have much experience in lighting tools, I'm looking for the simplest way to use lighting,<br>

Thanks for the help!<br>

Alex</p>

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Hi, if you want to recreate certain lighting effects, it is useful to learn how to study the results. Here are some things I see in your attached reference photo. I'll

describe left and right from the photographer viewpoint.

When I look at the body, the black outfit, I see how the fabric hangs on the left side by the lighter up/down highlights; these things don't exist on the right

side. So I know there is stronger light coming straight from the left side, but not from the right (at least not very much). Looking at the hands confirms this -

one hand, only, is brighter on the side. Next, because the darker hand does not go into deep shadow, nor does the shadow side of the face, I know that there

is a good amount of "fill" (fills the shadows) coming from the general direction of the camera. I doe not see brighter spots on the top of the head nor on the

shoulders, so apparently no overhead lights exist. So the main sources of lighting are: some from the general camera position and some straight out from

the subject's side (photographer's left).

Now, about the quality of the light - are the lights large (soft shadows), or are they small (hard shadows)? When I look at the model's face, on the

photographer's left, I see a fairly hard shadow across the forehead and cheek, from her hair hanging down. This suggests a fairly small light source, but

since I don't see this effect otherwise, I guess that it's due to a tall narrow light source, very likely tall, narrow windows. There was a slight effect like this on

the other side of the face, but not very significant. Regarding the light from the direction of the photographer, it is not leaving harsh effects, so I'd say that it

is a large light source, perhaps more windows. Lastly, there are some slight odd effects on the face, such as in the hanging hair shadow to the left. There

seems to be a "double shadow," one darker than the other. My guess is that the photographer was using a weak "on camera" flash as a further bit of fill; it

seems to be slightly left of camera, and possibly has a small diffuser on it. You can see signs of this flash as catchlights right in the center of the eyes as

well as in the tips of the shiny shoes.

Now, how for you to duplicate this? (with almost no lighting gear) I'd say best is to find the corner of a building with windows on both sides. And use a weak

on-camera flash if desired. Since you want to use your studio, I have to ask, exactly what lighting do you have available? And if you are going to buy

something, roughly how much are you willing to spend? Very roughly, more, or less than than $100? $300? More?

<p>If you have power; bounce it from something huge white at your left hand side, to resemble the daylight part - be sure to not hit your subject with that light's source. (You could also use softboxes, shoot through screens, whatever)<br>

Look into your reference's eyes and figure out where to position the fill. - To me it looks like on camera flash.</p>

<p>Thank you for your response! lot's of information, exactly what I need, if it can helps to detail more the picture, here is an <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/156922368246410223/">other picture from this set</a> and an other reference <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/ASZz0hI_CU0Q4T760hNSE_UitVa0T5M3aRGKmGk-CngO9jHOCrUotys/">here</a><br>

I want to be able to keep the back ground distinct from the model. Equipment wise I'm standing at a $200 budget, is it enough for this shooting?</p>

Big softbox or octa camera left and about head high to the model. You can practically see it reflected in the gold bracelet worn by the model. Fill is either from reflector(s) camera right, or more likely from the white walls and panelling of the room.

It's bog-standard window lighting really.

As far as lighting goes, think in terms of very large light source, such as a bank of floor to ceiling windows or artificial

lighting that emulates that such as multiple powerful flashes firing into umbrellas diffused a second time by 8x8, 12x12, or

12x20 scrims. On the opposite side from the lighting and around the front of the set - big reflector panels

If a large bank of windows is not available at the space you've chosen, and that scale of lighting is outside of your budget

and current skill level and you are committed to this kind of lighting, find a more suitable location. If that is not possible

rethink your idea and work with the space you have available.

[Alex] " Equipment wise I'm standing at a $200 budget, is it enough for this shooting?"

That's pretty shaky if you don't have anything to start with; it would be helpful if you had windows on one side, at least.

Here's one possible general method, following Jochen's suggestion "... bounce it [light] from something huge white at your left hand side..."

First you need a light source. Best is probably studio-grade electronic flash, but it's way beyond your budget unless you stumbled onto a

dirt-cheap used system in the next few days. But you could possibly find a small handful (maybe 3?) of older hot-shoe flash units for cheap.

(Note that you also need a way to fire these; you could possibly use "photo slaves" on each unit, firing them from a pop-up flash on your

camera. Alternatively you MIGHT be able to use some cheap NEW units bought online; brands such as Yongnuo ? Note that I have NO

experience with these; I've always worked with pro-grade U.S. gear, primarily Norman, Photogenic, Speedo, etc. But you might be able to get

3 of these with a triggering system for close to your budget. I'd make certain that they have "UV-coated" flashtubes, else most white

materials will take on a bluish tinge from brighteners fluorescing under the UV. Use rechargeable batteries if the budget will handle it - the

flash units will recycle MUCH faster.

For the large white reflector, try a local art supply store, white foam core board is great, but costs some money; I'm thinking perhaps 40x60

inches or so. To do this really cheap, you might find used cardboard (boxes) and tape white paper to one side, or even paint the cardboard.

A roll of seamless white paper can be really useful in a studio, but again, it costs money.

Anyway, if you could set a tall narrow white reflector to one side of the subject, and bounce two hot-shoe flashes off it (one high and one

low), think could take care of one light. Note that the light output may be marginal, but if you're using a digital camera you can turn up the

ISO speed, using trial and error to find exposure. For the fill light from camera position you could use another large white reflector with a

single flash unit bounced from it. As a last resort you could use a pop-up flash on camera for the fill, but it will have harsher effects and

hard specular reflections if the skin is even slightly oily.

If I were trying to do this with no lighting gear, I'd look for a different location and probably bring a folding reflector along. Something that

you didn't ask but might find useful in the future is the Strobist website - they specialize in use of hot-shoe flash for all sorts of effects. Best

of luck.

Ps, if you want to plug an older flash into a digital camera sync, check into the sync voltage situation first!