Portable Lighting for the Studio and on Location

For this lesson, I wanted to try and demonstrate the versatility of the new Photoflex® XS OctoDome nxt Basic Kit with Grids by shooting both in the studio and on location with it. On the day of the shoot, however, I discovered that I did not have the Grids that come with this kit, as I had thought. So rather than postpone or scrap the shoot, I decided to carry on and demonstrate the rest of the kit with the thought that there'll be more lessons upcoming that will demonstrate the use and effectiveness of these Grids.

In the meantime, if you're interested in learning more about Grids in general, take a look at these lessons:

Fine-Tuning Your Soft Light With Grids - Part One
Fine Tuning Your Soft Light with Grids - Part Two

The Lighting Gear
The equipment used in this lesson all folds down very compactly. Here, you can see all the components that make up this kit. The only other pieces of equipment missing in this shot are the Photoflex® XS OctoDome Grids and a Medium Photoflex® LiteStand.

Here's what you're looking at:
A: Photoflex® Heavy Duty Swivel
B: Photoflex® Adjustable Shoe Mount Hardware
C: Photoflex® Basic Metal Octoconnector
D: Photoflex® OctoDome nxt: extra small

NOTE: The attached brass mounting stud shown here mounted to the Adjustable Shoe Mount Hardware (B) actually comes with the Heavy Duty Swivel (A).

We decided to start off with a simple full-length portrait on white seamless paper in the studio and wanted to use two sources of light: the light from the XS OctoDome Kit and the natural light coming through the large studio windows.

With the OctoDome mounted to the camera bracket, we were now ready to attach the shoe mount flash. [figure 3]

After adjusting the primary cold shoe of the Adjustable Shoe Mount Hardware for positioning, we then secured the shoe mount flash to it. Once the shoe mount flash was in place, we mounted the secondary cold shoe to a wireless receiver and secured it to the rail of the Adjustable Shoe Mount Hardware. [figures 4 & 5]

To see this process in more detail, check out the following lesson:
Baby Portraits with the XS OctoDome Kit

A Simple Full-Length Portrait
My assistant, James, had already set up the white seamless paper background and supported it with a Photoflex® ProDuty Support Kit, and our model for the day, Whitney, was all ready for the shoot. We all thought it might be interesting to start by having Whitney's chic dress juxtaposed against her pair of silver rain boots.

For the lighting, I decided to start by having the window light serve as the main light and have the OctoDome serve as a hair light. So, James mounted the soft box to a Photoflex Boom and Boom Stand and positioned it so that it was approximately two feet above Whitney's head. [figure 5]

I realized that Whitney's left side would fall into pretty strong shadow, so I decided to set up a LitePanel Kit, position it off to the left, and bounce light from the window into the shadows.

Collapsed, the LitePanel frame doesn't take up very much room at all. And since all of the pieces of the frame are shock-corded together, it's easy to pop into place. [figure 6]

Once the frame was set up, James attached the Crossbar for added stability. It's also an ideal part of the frame to mount the supporting hardware if you're only using one LiteStand, as you'll see. [figure 7]

Next, James set up the LiteStand (included with the kit), attached the GripJaw Clamp (also included with the kit) to the top of the LiteStand, and mounted the Crossbar to the clamp. [figure 8]

This is a great setup for the studio, as you can angle the panel however you want it and don't have to worry about any wind knocking it over. Outdoors, it's best to support the frame on both sides of the frame with two LiteStands and WeightBags.

Once the LitePanel Kit was all set up with a Silver panel attached, I positioned it to the left of Whitney and angled it until I could see the reflection of the window light bounce into her shadow side.

With everything in position, I went to power up the camera. [figures 10 & 11]

I took a series of close-cropped shots and saw that the OctoDome was doing a good job at illuminating and separating her hair from the background and that the window light was doing a fairly decent job at illuminating the rest of Whitney. [figure 12]

Accentuating the Window Light
The look was clean and simple, but I realized that I wanted the emphasis to be on Whitney's face, rather than her hair, which seemed to be stealing the show. Since I was only using one light, I decided to reposition it so that it would serve to accentuate the main window light, rather than compete with it. [figure 13]

So, I took the box off the Boom, mounted it to the LiteStand, placed it in a similar position as the window light, and angled it to illuminate Whitney's face. [figure 14]

I then took a few shots with and without the shoe mount flash going off. Here, you can see a side-by-side result. [figure 15]

As you can see from the result on the right, the OctoDome really helped to brighten up Whitney's face, while not detracting from the overall quality of the window light.

In reviewing the images, though, we all decided that the boots weren't really working for this shot, and so we decided to have Whitney wear some classier shoes. Once she changed her footwear, I took a few more shots. Here's one of our favorites of the bunch. [figure 16]

As you can see, we captured a pretty good full-length studio portrait using just window light and one small additional light source. It just goes to show that you don't always need a ton of lights to get a classic look.

Have Kit, Will Travel
For the rest of the morning, we shot two other lighting lessons (which will be up on the site soon). After lunch, we decided to bring this kit on location for some outdoor portraits.

During January in Maine (where we were shooting), you aren't always blessed with tolerable weather for shooting portraits outside; but we happened to get lucky this day as the temperature soared to almost 40˚F! We packed up our lighting kit, drove down to Portland's Old Port, and walked down to the fishermen's wharf, where many of the streets are made of cobble stone, brick or dirt. Perfect for those silver rain boots! [figure 17]

For the first shot, I decided to have Whitney walk down a side walkway with an old brick building in the background. James set the light up to the left of Whitney, and I tested the transmitter to make sure the shoe mount flash was firing. [figure 18]

Once everything was dialed in, I took a series of shots, both with and without the flash going off. [figures 19 & 20]

Here, you can see a huge difference with the quality of light and overall contrast. Without the strobe going off, Whitney's face falls in shadow while the rest of this backlit shot is fairly well exposed. With the strobe going off, however, Whitney's face and jacket are much more vibrant and really pop off the page.

Outside the Fish Market
Right around the corner from this side street is a great seafood market, which has an old wooden porch out front. For the next shot, I had Whitney stand in front of the building and I came in tight with the telephoto lens. [figure 21]

One of the nicest things about using a portable soft light like this is that you can expose the background however you want without necessarily affecting the exposure of your subject. As you can see here, I wanted to keep the background somewhat dark so that Whitney would again pop off the page, and this was only possible with the OctoDome kit going off.

Here are the results with and without the flash going off. [figure 22]

On the Docks
Finally, we decided to shoot a little further down near where the lobstermen work. This time, I set the OctoDome to the right of Whitney and took a series of shots. [figure 23]

This shot ended up being one of our favorites. [figure 24]

As you can see, this simple lighting accessory can really make a big difference with with the end quality of your results. Below is a cropped comparison of this scene taken with and without the OctoDome triggering. [figure 25]

Remember to experiment with your lighting and have fun in the process!

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Written and photographed by Ben Clay, contributing lesson writer for WebPhotoSchool.com and Photoflex.com.

Modeled by Whitney Stone.

Setup shots by James Helms.