Full Length Studio Portrait

The Set
Included with the Photoflex StarFlash 150 Gemini Umbrella Kit are two 45" silver umbrellas. In this first set-up, we set up a 9-foot roll of background seamless paper for our model to stand on. We then set up the two lights on either side of the model, one about 9 feet high, the other about 4 feet high. [figures 1 & 2]

Once our model was on the set, we adjusted the camera settings in the camera to sync up with the power settings of the lights and took our first shot. [figure 3]

Silver-Lined vs. White Shoot-Through
Upon reviewing the shot, we noticed that the model’s skin had some specular highlights. This is common occurrence when using silver umbrellas, which produce light that is higher in contrast than white umbrellas.

One of the main advantages to using silver umbrellas is that they reflect significantly more light than traditional white umbrellas, and allow you to use a smaller aperture setting should you need to obtain greater depth of field. For portrait work like this, however, you don’t often need to have more depth of field. In fact, many portrait photographers would rather have less depth of field in order to make the background somewhat soft, or out of focus.

Subsequently, we decided to substitute the silver umbrellas with white convertible shoot-through umbrellas [figures 4 and 5], which we ended up using for the rest of this lesson. Once the lights were set, we took another shot. [figure 6]

In the result, do you see how the change in umbrellas has made a difference? Notice how the light on the model's face is not so specular and that the shadows cast on the background are somewhat softer.

Below, you can compare the two results side-by-side. [figure 7]

Now let's take a closer look at the positioning of the lights.

One Light
We decided to position our first light roughly 45 degrees to the right and about six feet high. The reason we chose this position was because we wanted to create flattering lighting on our model’s face. With your main light positioned high and pointed downward, the face becomes the brightest lit area of the shot. Many portrait photographers like a model's face to be the brightest element since it's typically the most important element of a portrait.

This type of lighting set-up tends to create what is known as a "loop lighting pattern" on the model's face. This is created when the lighting creates a downward diagonal shadow from the nose, angling toward the corner of the mouth. Ideally, the shadow will be halfway between the nose and the corner of the mouth.

As you can see from the result, a one-light set-up is effective at creating a dramatic portrait with a high contrast ratio (a large difference between highlights and shadows), but is not typically ideal for clean portraits, which is what we set out to accomplish here.

Another problem we had with using just one light was that the background became fairly dark and we lost light in the curve of our sweep. (Notice the bottom third of the background.) Adding a second light helps to brighten up the background, as well as the shadows on the model.

Two Lights
Next, we brought in our second fill light to lower the overall contrast and fill in the shadows. The fill light often helps to create a more flattering light, while still maintaining a sense of dimension.

Notice how we placed our fill light close to camera position -- roughly chest high -- to create an even spread with the light that evenly fills in all the shadows. [figures 11 & 12]

Adding this second light made a considerable difference compared to our first image. The first image has a dark, moody feeling that we didn’t want for this casual portrait. Our two-light image here has a brighter, crisper feeling to it because we eliminated the dark shadows and brightened up the background. [figure 13]

Below is a comparison of our first two images. On the left is the one light set-up and the right is the two-light set-up. Notice the change in the shadows on the right side of our model and the brightness of the background. [figure 14]

Next, we had a wardrobe change for the model and had her take a new position, seated on the floor and creating a horizontal full-length portrait.

With our model now seated on the ground we decided to switch our main light from camera right to camera left [figure 15 & 16]. We did not need to move any lights. Instead, we just increased the power our StarFlash 150 on the left.

We then moved our light down to about three feet high and angled it down at about a 30˚ angle. Our light was roughly four feet from our model. As with our standing images, the one-light setup creates a fairly dramatic light [figure 17]. Note that it is not as dramatic as the first set-up since we have our light positioned more to the front of the model. This helped us to achieve a shorter loop pattern (same light pattern as first light setup, but with a shorter shadow.)

We also now have the same issue with losing light into the curve of our sweep backdrop and having a background that is too dark for our casual portrait. One new issue we have with this setup is that we are losing all detail on our model's left shoulder because no light is hitting the shoulder. Adding our second light will help to correct this issue. One other thing to look out for is having detail in black and/or white clothing. Here we are maintaining detail in the black shorts and it is always extremely important to maintain some detail in the blacks and whites of your subject's clothes.

With our second light added in from around 45˚ [figure 17 & 18] camera right and about two inches lower than our main light we get a more pleasing casual portrait with more even lighting and a brighter background [figures 18 and 19].

Here you can see that we now have detail on the left shoulder of our model. We have now solved the problems with the light on our model, but now we want to brighten up our background, get a nice gradient, and get rid of the dark line of lost light in the curve of our backdrop. Which we will accomplish by adding in a StarFlash 150 on the background with a Photoflex Adjustable Umbrella.

In our final setup [figures 21 & 22] we have added in a StarFlash 150 on the background with an Adjustable White umbrella. We also setup a 39"x72" LitePanel with a black/white fabric on it in between our model and the umbrella.

We have done this because we do not want light spilling on to our subject’s shoulders and head from the umbrella. The easiest way to ensure that you have your LitePanel in the right place to fix this problem is to turn off your main and fill light. Then look through camera as someone else moves the LitePanel around until it is in the correct position.

Once we had our lights set up, we took another shot and the difference is quite noticeable. [figure 23] Our background went from muddy light gray to having a nice gradient ranging from white without detail to middle gray. We have successfully eliminated the dark shadow that was getting stuck in the curve of backdrop and our model now stands out from the background more because of its brightness. One general guideline for doing horizontal gradients across your background is to have the brightest part of your background starting on the side that is the shadow side on your model. Rules are made to be broken, but this is a classic approach to balancing gradients.

To compare, figure 24 shows the use of one light and figure 25 shows our final three-light set-up. Notice the difference in the brightness on the model’s left cheek, the smoothness and brightness of the background, and the detail in the black clothing. This simple set-up helped us create a pleasing full-length casual portrait in a minimal amount of time.

Keep in mind that this is just one way to create a full-length portrait that is quick and easy. Remember to experiment with your own configurations.

As you can see from this lesson, large, bulky studio strobes are not necessary in lighting a full-length portrait in the studio. Save yourself time, stress and money by using the new Photoflex StarFlash 150!