Neon Nancy Campaign Shoot

For this shoot, the main concern was capturing the LED light that was emitted. It was a very small amount of light, so you will notice that the speedlites were turned all the way down in order to capture the LED. Check out the BTS video of the shoot.

Lighting diagrams from my shoot with Dani Dikeman

A couple weeks ago I posted a lighting diagram showing how you can emulate Martin Schoeller’s lighting by using gaffers tape and foam core. One person commented that the catch-light makes the subject’s eyes look like a cat. This got me thinking about what would happen if I were to change the pattern of the tape into various shapes. Here’s what I discovered.

In my previous setup, I used black tape to narrow the amount of bounce light coming from the white board. I decided that since I was now wanted to easily create shapes with the white bounce areas, it would be easier to use white tape on black foam board.

Lessons like this one as well as 25 other lighting diagrams are available in my new e-book, RGLR, The Run & Gun Lighting Resource for $10. 

nickfancher:

Fourth and Final Attempt

I finally nailed down a technique to emulate Martin Schoeller’s lighting (diagram included). Just needed a bit of black gaffers tape.

Lessons like this one as well as 25 other lighting diagrams are available in my new e-book, RGLR, The Run & Gun Lighting Resource for $10. 

This is the lighting diagram for the Abby Zbikowski and the New Utility shoot. It was shot in a large warehouse with concrete floors and a grey wall. I used four Canon 430 speedlites. They were triggered with Radiopopper PX transceivers by the Canon ST-E2 master unit (I normally use these strobes for high speed sync use). There were all bare bulb, two of them placed directly on the floor and two on stands at head level. I shifted the WB to a cooler blue hue in post.

Use Perforated Hardboard as a Backdrop for Epic Portraits with Beams of Light

I have a couple large sheets of perforated hardboard that I picked up at the hardware store. I’ve been experimenting with how to modify light with them. The most effective way I’ve found is backlighting a subject with it. Then today I had the thought of adding smoke from a smoke machine. This would turn the pins of light into a radial of light shafts. I couldn’t wait for my next shoot to try it out so I thought my sons Halloween costume would work just as well. He wouldn’t stop staring at the main light, which turned into a happy accident as it gave him that heroic superman gaze.

Read more at http://www.petapixel.com/2012/10/26/use-perforated-hardboard-as-a-backdrop-for-epic-portraits-with-beams-of-light/#iw19Y14Ab2G0fJ3H.99 

The Ohio State University Dance dept shoot: Lighting Diagram

I have been shooting dancers for several years now. It started off as a personal project and has since evolved into working directly with the OSU dance department. This shoot is for their fall 2012 dance. It is happening around Thanksgiving, so they wanted the shoot to have an element of abundance. We didn’t have a concrete vision going in to the shoot, but as the dancers began their routines, this Herb Ritts photo came to mind. And I think this pose was a good representation of the theme of abundance.

For lighting I had the two background lights on the floor. This allowed the white background to transition from white to grey. The main light was bare bulb and raised to around 12 feet, with a wide zoom. This is necessary when shooting a moving dancer. I made sure that there was at least a four stop difference between the main and background lights.