tim_ludwig2

<p>Avoid the basement. That orange will reflect back into the shadows in you photos and be awful.</p> <p>Your living room could work well just using the window and a couple of reflectors for a start. Just turn the subject slightly toward the window and have a bounce reflector on the other side. Window light is how portraiture began and it is still stunningly beautiful and soft light, especially from the north.</p>

<p>*I/3 ratio</p> <p>*Not as important just so you don't have them so close as to get in frame. Setting the power and the ratio are the key items. The closer they are, the softer the effect from the light. But, if you are too close on a group, those on one side will also be over bright compared with those on the far side.</p> <p>*Whichever side you place the key light, also place the the fill (but the fill right by the camera) to avoid any possibility of creating double shadows from the noses. This also gives a nice 3 dimensional quality to the highlight to shadow ratio. If you feel the shadow is too deep on the far side of the faces, control that with a large reflector, not by placing the fill on that other side. Keep a careful watch that you don't go too wide on the Key light so that one person's head casts shadows on any others that may be a bit behind them.</p> <p>*Umbrellas are far better for fill since they throw light all over the place. A soft box gives you far better control on the key position and direction.</p> <p>* Place the boom both above and very slightly behind the background then twist it forward toward the subjects. That should keep any light from falling on the background itself. If you notice any still on the background, either it has sagged back to a near down position, of you need to rotate it farther toward the subjects. Also keeping those bodies somewhat forward of the background (three feet or so) will help keep the hairlight aimed well away from where it would allow any spill on the background itself.</p>

<p>I pretty much agree with Bob that this is a ring light. The only other possibility would seem to be one light above and another below in a sort of clam shell arrangement since you can clearly see that the shadows from the top half of the image project downward and the shadows from the lower half project upward, particularly from the hands in both images.</p>

<p>One of the best is still the old Luna Pro. big range and very reliable. You can probably find one for around $50.00.</p>

<p>Thanks for the Kind comments, Bob. </p> <p>All credit for my use of subtractive lighting needs to go to not only Dean Collins (whose wonderful teaching materials are still available on line), and even more so to an unfortunately little remembered photographer named Leon Kennemer from Georgia who taught how to place a subject in the crappiest light, recognize that all you had to do was basically remove the grunge light from two directions, overhead and either side, by using two black reflectasols from Larsen, and you end up with stunning side portrait lighting. Sometimes he would add some bounce into the face from a white or gold reflectasol if needed, but the main technique was subtractive.</p> <p>From that it was very easy to stop thinking in terms of throwing more light at a subject to try to rescue a bad situation with even more bad technique, and instead think in terms of "seeing" where the problem is and backing off just slightly as in in this fashion shot, or more so as needed like in broad daylight at high noon without a natural subtractive element in sight. Kennemer was an absolute genius with the subtractive techniques and it's an honor to follow his lead.</p>