Van Cleef & Arpels ads

<p />How do you get the lighting effect in the Van Cleef and Arpels' <a

href="http://www.visit4info.com/advert/Van-Cleef-Arpels-Magic-Alhambra-Collection-Van-Cleef-Arpels-First/52208">Magic

Alhambra Collection ad?</a>

 

<p>It seems like a large softbox is being used as a fill, located adjacent to

the camera. The key light must be another softbox to the photographer's right

and parallel to the model. It's the highlights on the photographer's left that

have me stumped, as well as the ratios.

 

<p> It seems like a great deal of retouching also contributes to the almost

porcelain look of the model.

I think those particular highlights - and many more parts of the of image - owe more to the airbrush tool than lighting technique.

Amul,

 

As I can't see a larger version of this add, and hence, can't get a good look at the catchlights in the eyes, or the shadow edges near the model's nose, I can't make a judgement on the main and fill sources, but I think your guess is pretty good. The ratio between fill and main lights appears fairly low. It appears to me that the highlights at the edges of the model, and that is on both the left and right sides, are the result of kicker lights placed behind the subject, just out of the view of the camera lens on the left and right. The kicker lights always look noticeably brighter than the frontal lighting at equal settings, so I'd guess the incident reading of the kicker is about the same as the fill light. The kickers look to be about at shoulder height. The kickers appear to be fairly large sources too, perhaps large strip lights. If you are planning to use this kind of lighting, don't forget to place flags or black flats between the kickers and the camera, or you'll can get some wicked flare.

I think it's just a light on the front-right and one in the back-left (that creates the left highlights), probably a fill light behind/over the camera.

 

Compressed dynamic range in post, cut out background and added butterfly.<br />

 

o------<br />

---x---<br />

------o<br />

---c---