Indoor promo shot... need technical help!

[transoptic]

so, I'm a student and I just started a freelance promotional

company. I'm doing a promotional shot for a local cafe/lounge. I'm

shooting photos and my partner is doing layout/design/Adobe

Illustrator stuff, and they are going to be printed on 5000 full

color 4x6 index cards and distributed throughout my city.

 

So basically, I need to make sure I do a good job and get the green

light to print!!!

 

I have a few shots/ideas lined up, and I think I can get most of

them down. But I need help on one that will require some s,

which I'm not yet very good at. Basically, there is a green couch

sitting in a corner of orange walls. There is a table and lamp in

the corner, and the couch is to my left of the lamp.

 

I'm thinking of having a semi-casually dressed couple sit on the

couch with some martini glasses, having a good time. I'm thinking

some fashion-type lighting is in order. There will be little ambient

light - about as much as you would expect in a lounge in the evening.

 

My equipment: 300d, 28-55 kit lens, Sigma 35-135 2.8 lens, Sunpak

auto 555 flash, Promaster 5000 TTL flash(I use this as my slave) a

couple stands. Shooting in RAW.

 

Can someone give me some pointers on good lighting for this

scenario?

[jtk]

You've got very small lights so it might be best to crop tightly on the couple and not attempt to get much of the club into the picture...maybe just something representative if the place has anything notable.

 

You're not making big prints so there's no reason to strive to reduce grain. If your client needs big prints you need professional lighting.

 

You might be better off with continuous lighting than with flash. Flash will make the scene look cold and harsh anyway, unless you intentionally warm it when you print.

[jim_g.1]

No matter how many people visit this cafe/lounge they will never see it in the same light as represented in a photograph using studio lights. I recommend that you use existing light, the lamp at one end of the couch for example to capture the true texture of the cafe.

[twmeyer]

and maybe a little fill, depending on the clientele. Use what light is resident on site, and make sure your models know what it means when you say "hold that!". You could slightly over expose the ambiant, so that it will look the same to people when they arrive at the lounge, but this means your subjects will have to artificially hold expression and position. If the demographic is young and hip, a little movement might actually add something positive to the shot. Try many different approaches to this session, and be sure to use a custom white balance. This will give you a benchmark to work from... you can bump the color temp in your raw conversion, and always use "as shot" to orient yourself. You might also try a contrasting low intensity blue fill against the warmth of the ambiant tungsten lamp you mention for a more radical look, but not as the <i>only</i> lighting scheme. Make a "safe" shot, and branch out from there... t<div></div>

[twmeyer]

oh yeah, a reflector to camera right, accentuating the legs... t

[jtk]

Nice theatrical shot Tom! Though I wouldn't have accented those legs with the particular woman in the particular outfit. If she'd been a sexy type in a sexy dress, posed differently, yes...but she looks pensive, not sexy.

[jtk]

...as for martinis...rather than making them just incidental props, maybe they (and their olives) could be distorted wide to dominate the foreground, or shot very tight with hands or faces...maybe use the biggest martini glasses they have...

it's a bar, a booze joint...therefore make the photo sell the alcohol and the sex (called "social activity") that most trendy bars develop as bait.

[transoptic]

thanks guys so far. To give more detail, I was going to start with just the couch, the light to add atmosphere, and maybe a coffee table to set drinks on. I'd be at about 30mm, 7 feet away, and tighten in from there. So yeah, I'm thinking ISO 400 or 800, f8 1/30 second to get a little glow from the lamp(much like Tom's example) and a little kinetic ambiance.

 

I'm fairly proficient at my RAW workflow, so warming up my final print won't be a problem. I just want to know if I should try something flattering with my main and slave, or if I should just try something a little more fashionable, and try to replicate a ringflash effect.

[jtk]

Is this bar long on ringflash effects? Something warmer, more sexy and naturalistic might appeal to people on the make.

[jtk]

...wait...green couch, orange walls? All bets are off :-)

[transoptic]

That's what I'm saying. The lounge has a "hip" stigma to it, based on the fact that it's part of a local coffee shop chain. So think of it more as a coffee shop with a full bar at the other end.

 

So personally, from my take, it seems it needs more fashionable lighting. What I meant by ringflash is that I'm thinking of flatter lighting. I might have thrown some off by mentioning martinis. Think more along the lines of Bacardi at the club. This place has DJs every Thursday night.

[jtk]

Hip and young don't need mood lighting, warm light etc...except to hide tats and piercing :-)

[streetlevel]

I'd gel your slave to a nice yellow/orange and put it up behind you...bounced off a big

piece of foamcore for some warm fill...

 

your main, kicking across the length of the couch - 90 degrees from the camera...maybe

above the table lamp, with a cool (steel blue) gel.

[twmeyer]

the Hip and Young don't want to <i>hide</i> tats and piercing. They didn't get them by accident... t

[jtk]

Tat removal is a hot growth industry, as is the associated plastic surgery. A less hilarious aspect is the recent explosion of staph infections.

 

IMO the models need to look credibly like the target market, not too much more beautiful/handsome. You don't want to de-motivate the less appetizing schmucks who actually make up that target market.

[jtk]

I like Will Strain's idea.