Trying To Mimic Certain Lighting Setups, Opinions?

[ooti_billeaud]

<p>I have a moderate knowledge of off camera lighting and am trying to mimic the lighting from a few American Apparel shoots (see links below) with the gear I have. I have some different paper backdrops (including white), plenty of studio room to shoot long if I want the compression, some shoot through umbrellas, 39" elinchrom deep throat octabox, some speedlights and a 400w monolight to light everything with.<br /><br />SFW Setup 1: http://americanapparel.net/gallery/photocollections/models/jillian/010/<br /><br />potentially NSFW (girl in bikini) Setup 2: http://americanapparel.net/gallery/photocollections/models/jillian/001/<br /><br />Disclaimer: I'm really not good at guessing on studio lighting setups but just to offer my opinion, I am gonna guess that Setup 1 is using either a huge softbox or umbrella (maybe 40x60?) to the right and slightly shooting down and setup two is maybe another big softbox or umbrella above the camera shooting slightly down at her? Please don't butcher my guesses, haha although I would also guess that the lighting scenario isn't much more complicated than what I guessed if I'm wrong.<br /><br />Thanks in advance for the help and if you have a lot of information to provide, feel free to ramble on! :) </p>

[dhbebb]

<p>Looks to me like the lighting is virtually equal from left and right (one large softbox or similar on each side aimed horizontally to provide even head-to-foot lighting), with a less powerful softbox somewhere on the right side angled down to provide some modeling in the girl's face. In the pix you show. the model has of course been cut out of the background, if you want to light the background to reproduce pure white. you will need to light this separately with a light each side giving a brightness one stop more than the lighting on the model (or even brighter if you want a featureless white). Play around with this set-up, at a rough guess if you had two strobe lights of equal power left and right, the top light could well need to be 1/4 of the power of each of these.</p>

[terry thomas photos]

<p>The lighting here may be more complex than you think. It is not at all what you expect.<br>

Actually, there are two different lighting setups at work here at the same time.<br>

Setup #1: <br />the girl is lit but none of her lighting hits the background. All her lights have gobos to keep the lights from hitting the background. (I buy $7USD black foamboard from office supply stores or craft/hobby stores.)<br /> <br>

As a matter of fact if Setup #2 did not exist the background would photograph medium to dark grey!<br>

<br />Setup #2:<br />the white background is actually 20 to 30 feet behind the girl. 4 matching lights evenly illuminate the background (2 on each side, one above the other). Large panels are set up out of camera view to block these 4 lights from hitting the girl or lens. Some people purchase bi-fold doors at Home Depot / Lowes and paint them white. Because the doors are sturdy and hinged they are self-supporting. I like to go to these same stores and buy 4x8 foot sheets of foam insulation (one side silver / one side paintable paper). These foam panels are fairly light weight and cost only about $8USD each. If needed I can quickly chop them to any size I want. The four lights are not aimed at the background as there would be areas that are lighter or darker than others. Instead, the lights are aimed at the panels then the light bounces off and hits the backdrop for a smoother result.<br>

By setting up the lighting this way a photographer has full control of the amount and style of light for each of the two subjects: the girl and the background. Also this eliminates a lot of post-production time because the subject is already knocked out of the background.<br>

See? Not at all what you expected, was it?<br>

BTW, I really don't like umbrellas of any size too much because they throw light everywhere and it's hard to control. I much prefer soft boxes, standard reflectors or reflectors with grids inserted. I tell novices it's like comparing a hand grenade to a rifle - one gives you far more control on what's hit.<br>

Terry Thomas...<br />the photographer<br />Atlanta, Georgia USA<br /><a href="http://www.TerryThomasPhotos.com">www.TerryThomasPhotos.com</a></p>