Hey Fellow Photogs!

I've been trying to get the look here: https://fashionablymale.files.wordpress … amp;h=1666

But have been getting some issues with either underexposure or overexposure. Could someone give me some tips as to how to achieve the look (lighting/background) of the image above?

Thanks!

Subject to background distance is going to be key to making this work.  My guess is a backlit silk or diffusion scrim for the background, and a bit of fill from the front.  I see a catchlight from the front fill in his eye.  Working with the models position relative to the background will change the amount and direction of wrapping light  as well as the muscle definition.  This is high key, so technically it is "overexposed."

Paul

Set your background11/2 stop over your subject.

The way I go about this is for example: I like shooting my D7000 at f7 so I set my bg lights at f11, then I change distance between bg and subject until I get a reading of f7 on the back of their head, then I set my main lights for f7 in whatever configuration I want.

Hope it helps.

Use a  hand held light meter ( incident  flash for your subject ) (reflective  flash your BG)  and you will not have this issue again until you meter it to be so … either for  your work or a client request  for such exposure fall off ..

Shoot outdoors with a reflector?

OK, this is the real basics.

You need to learn how to balance your lights and then obviously dial in the correct exposure settings.

The best way is to use a proper light meter and then you can check and balance everything.

There are so many factors in setting up a shot like this you really need to know the initial basics.

It can be as simple as shooting in a cloudy day and overexposing. I have seen it done before by a friend of mine. He also liked using a white sheet and overexposing it. I know some people will say that it is not true. It is possible. I have seen it before.

The background is the light source. It's being used as a giant reflector. Slightly more light is coming from above that the sides, so that gives a clue where to position the light.

Flag the light so that it doesn't go directly to the lens.

Darken the chest as necessary with brush adjustments that affect contrast, exposure or both.

Zack Arias wrote some tutorials on this for at least a few different equipment schemes. You should find plenty of info just by googling his name. He uses white seamless quite a bit. You can also do it by reflecting a light through a piece of white fabric. Bounce your light off a wall and into the fabric and it should be soft and smooth enough. White ripstop nylon is $3 to $5 per yard. You can get white polyester lining material from a fabric store for $1 to $2 per yard.

As mentioned above, you start by setting the flash value on your white background approximately 1.5 stops above the proper exposure for your subject. But in this photo I think the background flash value is brighter and the subject is underexposed just a tad. Monitor your shots with your laptop during your shoot to make sure you are getting the exposure on your subject's skin the way you want it. Don't rely on your camera display.

It's really a simple thing to do.  No strobe lighting is required.  In fact, I would bet the images linked was shot outside.  The wrapped light is coming in from all around.  Not impossible to do in studio but easy to do outside.  I do this kind of shot with some seniors sometimes. 

Open a garage door and set your camera back into the garage looking out.  Place your subject just at the edge of the shadow of the overhang/roof just outside the garage door so they are still in the shade and facing into the garage.    Now place a reflector to two to bounce the natural light back into the model to lighten him up a bit.  Meter for the front of the subject.  Since they are in the shade, the outside light is much much brighter and gets overexposed.   

I usually place a background behind the subject but you can use a white sheet or seamless (if not windy).  It's actually the ambient light that is wrapping around the subject that is giving you the look and also a little flare to lesson the contrast.  If you look at my sample, I'm not getting light from a scrim or seamless.  It's just the ambient sunlight light behind him and surrounding the back of him. 

Here is a sample I did of a senior.  Like I said, he is sitting just outside his garage in the shade but not quite in the raw light.  I used a painted backdrop.  A white one would blow out to pure white.  I exposed for the front of him.