Hard Light Questions

Hello all,

I am looking to create some hard light for fashion imagery.

I have been using a metal dish reflector, however it gives me a bit of a double / messy shadow.

I have been trying to research but I can't quite find the answers. Do I need to use a fresnel? or a spot reflector?

I need the shadow to cover an entire full length of a models body (not just portrait).

If I am using something like a fresnel/spot, what do you recommend doing so that the rest of the image is lit properly? I will have another light with a softbox.

Also, since I am using off camera flash, where do you recommend I place the light stand? I always have issues trying to line up the actual light, myself/my camera, with the model when trying to do this exact technique. Perhaps I need to use a boom arm? I find that I am always needing to stand exactly where the light stand is.

I will be shooting against a wall (not a backdrop)

I will attach a few examples of the shadow/light I am trying to create . . .

Any insight / ideas would be appreciated. PS - I shoot on a medium format camera with no hot shoe (or cold shoe), so attaching a light to the top of my camera is not really an option atm.

Hard light comes out of tiny sources. - Why not use (usually) on camera flash? Your examples look like that.

If you want a shadow next to your model, put the flash on a bracket. I used Metz hammerhead with my Mamiya.

IDK what you want to fill with your 2nd light. With on camera flash and a tiny room with white ceiling using a WA difusor creates enough spill for fill. But yeah if you are shooting your wall from a 45 degree angle, fill it's rear part.

• I firmly recommend to get an old crop DSLR and something 50mm lens, to practice or study lighting on a doll.
  

Oh dear, and there I was thinking that lazy Paparazzo lighting for fashion was a naff fad that was passe and over.

If you want hard, direct and coaxial light, just stick a speedlight in the hotshoe of your camera! Or strap your (tethered) camera underneath a studio strobe with standard 5" reflector.

The further back from the subject you have the light, the harder the shadows will be, and the more even the light. This is lighting 101. So maybe you need a longer lens and a bigger studio?