Reinventing the Ordinary

We “rediscovered” the red, scratched doors of our studio and thought they could serve as an interesting backdrop. We agreed that the roughness of the doors would serve as a great contrast to the elegance of our model. Here’s a shot of our studio doors, photographed using an on-camera flash. [figure 1]

We wanted to create a scene with a strong lighting ratio—meaning a large difference between the highlights and the shadows—so we decided to use a medium-sized octagonal soft box by itself without a fill light.

We chose to use a StarFlash 650 with a 5-foot OctoDome over a conventional square soft box because we knew that this would allow the light to wrap around our model a little more, which would keep the shadows from being too dark. [figures 2 and 3].

Wanting to create a dramatic portrait with a lot of contrast, we intentionally positioned our model so that she would ultimately be standing in shadow. We placed our soft box about seven feet high so that the light would feather off toward the lower portion of the photograph

We positioned the light 90 degrees camera left, perpendicular to the position of the camera lens, to reduce the amount of light hitting the background. Feathering light off of your model this way can create greater definition of your subject due to its position and soft quality of light.

As you can see in the set-up shots, we also added a circular translucent LiteDisc between the main light and the background to further cut down the light hitting the background. We set the ISO in the camera to 200 and got an exposure of f/10 @ 1/200th of a second. Our focal length for this image was 19mm.

Here's our first shot. [figure 4]

While the lighting of this result was dark and edgy, it wasn’t quite the direction we were going for. So we continued to play around with our lighting scenario and decided to add a light just outside the door.

We attached a small HalfDome soft box another strobe and removed the face and baffle. Without the diffusion, the soft box would essentially become a large reflector that would project high-contrast, specular light. We also taped an orange gel to the strobe head to warm up the light, relative to the main light. We then positioned the light about six feet high and pointed it down at about a 30-degree angle. [figures 5 and 6]

We maintained the same setup for the main light. [figure 7 and 8]

Here’s the result. The light spilling in through the crack of the door added just the effect we were looking for. It added an element that gives the viewer an added point of interest — something to ponder with respect to the story going on in this scene. [figure 9]

Next, we tried using the light coming through the door as a rim light on the model. We had the model stand on the opposite side of the door, mirroring her first pose. We had to adjust the exposure slightly due to the new proximity of the background light to our model. [figure 10]

Finding a Different "Set"
Next, we explored more nooks and crannies of our studio in search of another interesting composition. We settled on a doorway we walk through almost daily. We felt the contents of the dressing room behind it could create a dramatic image.

We also utilized some props by rearranging the contents of the dressing room. Once again, we wanted to add an element to the shot that the viewer could connect with and come up with their own story of the scene. The contents helped to add to this sense of intrigue. Here, we see a snapshot of the dressing room. [figure 11]

To start, we set up a monobloc strobe in the room, attached a small HalfDome to it, positioned it about five feet high, and angled it almost directly at the wall. We positioned it this way to suggest lamp lighting in the room. By bouncing the light off the wall, it created a smooth, controlled gradient across it. We also placed a yellow gel over the strobe head to mimic the warmth of a Tungsten lamp. [figures 12 and 13]

Once again, we used a StarFlash 650 as our main light. 650 watts is more than enough power to use in a shot like this, but we chose to use it because it enabled us to power it down to 1/4 power and still have enough light to work with. This is an important strategy to employ when photographing people because a strobe will recycle much faster at a lower power setting than if it's maxed out. And faster recycling times ensure that you won't miss the shot due to waiting for the strobe to recycle.

We attached a 5-foot OctoDome to the strobe and removed the external diffusion to create a slightly more specular quality of light. [figure 14]

We placed the light about eight feet high, angled it almost directly down, and feathered it forward off of our subject slightly. This made the bottom portion of our image a bit darker and created a nice wrap-around light on the model. We then powered off the background light so we could see exactly what the main light was doing and took a shot. [figure 15]

We decided next that we wanted to add in a slight amount of light on the lower portion of our model's legs. To do that, we grabbed a LiteDisc with translucent white material and placed it on the ground about two feet from our model. [figure 16]

We angled it up slightly so we could bounce light from the OctoDome off of the LiteDisc and into the dark areas. It was a very minimal change, but just enough to complete the image in the dramatic style we had been aiming for. [figure 17]

Conclusion

Using a single light source is a great way to create dramatic imagery because you get a large ratio between your highlights and shadows. At times too, adding a strip light like the HalfDome or a LiteDisc is a quick way to add a second or fill light to enhance your images for your needs. Finding small elements to help tell a story in your images can also take your pictures to the next level.

The important thing to remember when building an interior shot like this is to allow time to experiment with your lighting set-ups and model positioning. If something isn't working as well as you expected it to, take a break from it. Then come back and take the time you need to get the shot you want.


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