Dan Brady
Posts: 554
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
To the Model Mayhems great artists
If you would be so kind -
Could you choose - in your opinion, your best photograph (of a model) taken. Then link it here and give us a semi detailed tutorial on how you set the shot up?
It would be fantastic to learn from the pros and would benefit all of us little guys
I realise you're all extremely busy, so any information is fantastic.
I cheated and just grabbed this one from my tumblr. I think I went into more detail there, but its a simple scheme. A Fresnel spot as high as I could go with a lot of space behind the model so the cyc would get the gradient. Then, I used a black card to help anchor the shadows on the model.
Dan Brady
Posts: 554
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
ArtisticGlamour wrote: Dan, since I believe your work blows mine away...how about you do one too? Great idea for a thread!
Jeez man really? Wow - Made my day
Okies right now I love this one of mine
The setup
Mola Setti beauty dish above models face roughly 30 cms from her forehead. No nylon diffuser. Using the opal glass diffuser. F16
Lastolite triflector below her face with the side reflectors raised.
as a hair light on her right side (our left) I used a metre long strip light at f10 and on the left side of her I used a Kacey beauty dish with a nylon defuser at f8.
at the rear I used a single monobloc strobe to light the rear grey seamless paper. I had this at f18. I didn't need to have more than one light as I was just lighting the area around her head. Plus I didn't have any more lights left to use.
I had two large polystyrene boards just behind the model that had the black painted side facing her. This was to stop the back ground light from throwing light back onto her and the lens.
I found a picture of the setup on the models instagram
I was shooting straight into Capture One 7 with a Nikon D800 and the Nikon 105 2.8 Micro lens. I use this setup with beauty because it allows myself and the MUA so see exactly what the results are at macro level detail - instantly. We can then move in and remove things that will need removing in post production later such as hairs out of place or lip stick and eye liner errors. We also have the LCD monitor available for the model to see her progression so she can see what she is doing right and wrong. However, if we're going to be firing away a heap of shots, then I'll turn the models monitor off, or she will get distracted by always looking over at it.
Post production for this image was not a huge job. I cropped the image and rotated it so the composition was focused on the eye make up which is what the image was for. I cleaned up some skin imperfections and cleared the eyes up. A wee bit of a macro level dodge and burn and it was ready to go
Also this was shot in my home studio - so the space is limited. Hence the cramped setup in the above pic.
Dan Brady wrote: Jeez man really? Wow - Made my day
Okies right now I love this one of mine
The setup
Mola Setti beauty dish above models face roughly 30 cms from her forehead. No nylon diffuser. Using the opal glass diffuser. F16
Lastolite triflector below her face with the side reflectors raised.
as a hair light on her right side (our left) I used a metre long strip light at f10 and on the left side of her I used a Kacey beauty dish with a nylon defuser at f8.
at the rear I used a single monobloc strobe to light the rear grey seamless paper. I had this at f18. I didn't need to have more than one light as I was just lighting the area around her head. Plus I didn't have any more lights left to use.
I had two large polystyrene boards just behind the model that had the black painted side facing her. This was to stop the back ground light from throwing light back onto her and the lens.
I found a picture of the setup on the models instagram
I was shooting straight into Capture One 7 with a Nikon D800 and the Nikon 105 2.8 Micro lens. I use this setup with beauty because it allows myself and the MUA so see exactly what the results are at macro level detail - instantly. We can then move in and remove things that will need removing in post production later such as hairs out of place or lip stick and eye liner errors. We also have the LCD monitor available for the model to see her progression so she can see what she is doing right and wrong. However, if we're going to be firing away a heap of shots, then I'll turn the models monitor off, or she will get distracted by always looking over at it.
Post production for this image was not a huge job. I cropped the image and rotated it so the composition was focused on the eye make up which is what the image was for. I cleaned up some skin imperfections and cleared the eyes up. A wee bit of a macro level dodge and burn and it was ready to go
Also this was shot in my home studio - so the space is limited. Hence the cramped setup in the above pic.
Hope this helps!
Hey Dan sorry to be off topic, but I am an amateur when it comes to lighting ( I use yongnuo off camera flashes, no studio strobes).
When you are stating things such as F8 or F10 I take it they do not refer to the aperture of the lens, so what would that be referring to?
Hey Dan sorry to be off topic, but I am an amateur when it comes to lighting ( I use yongnuo off camera flashes, no studio strobes).
When you are stating things such as F8 or F10 I take it they do not refer to the aperture of the lens, so what would that be referring to?
With flash exposure, the only two things that control it are Aperture, and ISO. Seeing someone refer to "f8" or "f10", is actually the aperture value.
one large window with seattle's gray sunlight to my left. two 4x8 sheets of white home depot foam on my right to make a wall/reflector. existing room wall as a background.
Dan Brady
Posts: 554
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Images by Flap wrote: Ok I think I got it, when the light are at different F stops that is the intensity of the light coming from that light or reflector.
Like:long strip light at f10 and nylon diffuser at f8, are just different light intensities coming from them.
is that right?
yes. when I say the strip is f10 - the actual flash head doesn't show a reading on the side of f10, because it does not know how far away the subject is. Instead it has it's own brand specific numerical value.
the F10 is the flash meter reading my sekonic flash meter gives me when I give it a given shutter speed.
ie I dial in a shutter speed of 160 on the sekonic (because I decide to use 160 as the shutter speed), I then press the take a flash reading button on the sekonic, then I activate the flash remotely with the sekonics dome facing the strip. The sekonic then gives me an F reading based on my shutter speed and flash power output. If it is f16, then I would adjust the power on the flash head and test again until i had it down to f10. Once you do enough shoots, you will be able to know what the reading will be for the given distance in a studio from experience. But it still helps to use the sekonic to make sure it is spot on.
Dan Brady
Posts: 554
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Dan Brady wrote:
yes. when I say the strip is f10 - the actual flash head doesn't show a reading on the side of f10, because it does not know how far away the subject is. Instead it has it's own brand specific numerical value.
the F10 is the flash meter reading my sekonic flash meter gives me when I give it a given shutter speed.
ie I dial in a shutter speed of 160 on the sekonic (because I decide to use 160 as the shutter speed), I then press the take a flash reading button on the sekonic, then I activate the flash remotely with the sekonics dome facing the strip. The sekonic then gives me an F reading based on my shutter speed and flash power output. If it is f16, then I would adjust the power on the flash head and test again until i had it down to f10. Once you do enough shoots, you will be able to know what the reading will be for the given distance in a studio from experience. But it still helps to use the sekonic to make sure it is spot on.
I will also then set my camera to a shutter speed of 160. I didn't put that in the original post. Apologies.
Thank you very much for your patience and explanation caveman and Dan. I have an older off camera light meter, but I don't really use it, maybe I should start.
I don't know if many will find this interesting, but we had some fun this Halloween with this one.
So I took some of those thicker plastic folders from Walmart's back to school sales, and cut them up to fit on my flash. On this one I took the blue one and put it over my lens and took a manual shot in the light and set it to my white balance and it turned all the ambient light to a cool red color, then when I put the blue piece of plastic over my flash at full power, it made that light white again.
Again it was kinda fun to do some creative stuff in camera instead of just Photoshop for a change.
Dan Brady
Posts: 554
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Images by Flap wrote: Thank you very much for your patience and explanation caveman and Dan. I have an older off camera light meter, but I don't really use it, maybe I should start.
Dan Brady
Posts: 554
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Mark Laubenheimer wrote: one large window with seattle's gray sunlight to my left. two 4x8 sheets of white home depot foam on my right to make a wall/reflector. existing room wall as a background.
Here is a shot that I always wanted to do. It was my basic shot that you would hang in your den, favorite bar or cigar store. In fact, I did shot it in a cigar store. I wanted to take advantage of of the cinder block texture, the dark tones of the couch and smooth skin of the model, and the black boots.
The model and me took two months for or schedules to align right with the store owner. I had this vision of the model for this shot and Cindy was a perfect fit. I had look at several but Cindy had the look and attitude I really wanted. I sort of wanted to get away from the Blond Haired Blue model look.
I used to lights on each side of Cindy to give wall a little more texture. Cindy main light 52inch soft box which I shot fairly close to her to make the light as soft as possible.
This was a shoot that i did for a podcast with Kay Reena. Kay suggested this shot at the end of or shoot. It gave me a great opportunity to my ringflash and new hair light through its paces.
This a shot I did with Debra was shot the same day as Kay's image, for the same podcast. She was new to to modeling and a little shy, but as the shoot went on she got more comfortable, and it was bit fun, by the end of the shoot she just had sexy connection too. What was funny was the heaters went down in our office building during the shoot so we had space heaters going in a 60 degree rooms.
The lighting is basically a paramount style I learned back from my High School Teacher Eich.
This image while was shooting it just screamed B&W. I used Photoshop's channel mixer for the B&W conversion.
Vintagevista
Posts: 8,879
Sun City, California, US
I don't know that this is my best (it's only a fair scan of an older film image) - but it is illustrative of one aspect of shooting - and that is the importance of scouting.
There is nothing but natural light in this shot - The setup was just a exercise in scouting - the illustrated area of forest, is as plain as a mud fence for 50 weeks out of the year.
2 weeks a year - in Spring and Fall - there was a shaft of light, that angles down the path (for about 15 minutes). I only knew this, because I had scouted this forest relentlessly. I shot it ahead of time without any model and knew what I was going to be dealing with.
With a preshot image - I had a good idea of the space and framing - and knew where I'd like to have the model.
The model's red dress contrasted nicely - and it was her idea to try it with a handful of native flowers.
I have scouted for images with natural light that only existed for a few minutes - and it became a matter of logistics to have everything in place at the right moment.
Mola Setti beauty dish above models face roughly 30 cms from her forehead. No nylon diffuser. Using the opal glass diffuser. F16
Lastolite triflector below her face with the side reflectors raised.
as a hair light on her right side (our left) I used a metre long strip light at f10 and on the left side of her I used a Kacey beauty dish with a nylon defuser at f8.
at the rear I used a single monobloc strobe to light the rear grey seamless paper. I had this at f18. I didn't need to have more than one light as I was just lighting the area around her head. Plus I didn't have any more lights left to use.
I had two large polystyrene boards just behind the model that had the black painted side facing her. This was to stop the back ground light from throwing light back onto her and the lens.
I found a picture of the setup on the models instagram
I was shooting straight into Capture One 7 with a Nikon D800 and the Nikon 105 2.8 Micro lens. I use this setup with beauty because it allows myself and the MUA so see exactly what the results are at macro level detail - instantly. We can then move in and remove things that will need removing in post production later such as hairs out of place or lip stick and eye liner errors. We also have the LCD monitor available for the model to see her progression so she can see what she is doing right and wrong. However, if we're going to be firing away a heap of shots, then I'll turn the models monitor off, or she will get distracted by always looking over at it.
Post production for this image was not a huge job. I cropped the image and rotated it so the composition was focused on the eye make up which is what the image was for. I cleaned up some skin imperfections and cleared the eyes up. A wee bit of a macro level dodge and burn and it was ready to go
Also this was shot in my home studio - so the space is limited. Hence the cramped setup in the above pic.
Hope this helps!
Was there any reason for using that stripbox as opposed to a smaller softbox or such?
I'm surprised you didn't do much with pp - don't care to share the original, do you?
I've had the setti in my shopping cart for ages and your work is a reminder I need to pull the trigger on that (unfortunately, getting it will give me one less excuse for crappy shots lol).
Dan Brady
Posts: 554
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
ASheehy wrote: Was there any reason for using that stripbox as opposed to a smaller softbox or such?
I'm surprised you didn't do much with pp - don't care to share the original, do you?
I've had the setti in my shopping cart for ages and your work is a reminder I need to pull the trigger on that (unfortunately, getting it will give me one less excuse for crappy shots lol).
yes of course. but only at low res or I may be killed off by the models agency
*edited*
will message it to you. I'm not sure it's fair on the model to show unedited images on public forum
Used the strip box as I like the way it wraps light on the side of the face as well as the hair and shoulders.
The setti is fantastic. You will love it. Get the opal diffuser with it though. And also the carry case. It is huge!
I don't consider myself a "great artist" and I'm definitely not a pro, and these are maybe not my best shots. But, I like them, and since my lighting is usually just a basic loop set up... these are a bit different.
For this one, I just had Amanda jump in-between me and my ring flash, which has a soft box on it, and snapped a few just for fun. These turned out to be the coolest ones from the shoot. Funny how that works sometimes... Shot at f/9 @ 1/160th with the light at about 50%
For this one, I had Rivi lay in front of the open garage door on a sunny day, obviously But I also use my ring again here to add fill from over my shoulder. The light was set very low and I believe my settings were around f/2.8 @ 1/200th
I keep my lighting pretty simple so I can adjust it really easily on the fly. My models tend to move around quite a bit, so it serves its purpose.
ArtisticGlamour wrote: Makes me realize just how "lazy" of a photographer I really am! LOL!
Sat model on rock, in front of sweet sunset. Instructed pose. Tossed hair back naturally.
Rolled exposure wheel till I liked the SONY's Liveview look...just a "hint" of subject definition and color.
Pressed shutter button. Cropped and uploaded Jpeg.
Looked in mirror, realized I'm not worthy.
Dan Brady
Posts: 554
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
ArtisticGlamour wrote:
Sat model on rock, in front of sweet sunset. Instructed pose. Tossed hair back naturally.
Rolled exposure wheel till I liked the SONY's Liveview look...just a "hint" of subject definition and color.
Pressed shutter button. Cropped and uploaded Jpeg.
Looked in mirror, realized I'm not worthy.
Backdrop is a 12x12 light-bank with 2 monolights firing inside. Model is keyed with 22" beauty dish camera-right, her rim light is from a B800 with 30 degree grid and blue gel camera-left and rear. There is a piece of plexi in front of entire model mounted on C-stands covered in water droplets to catch the blue backlight and create the bokeh patterns. Reflector lower-left in front of model to fill shadows.
Sony A850 and Zeiss 24-70, all alienbees B800 heads, triggered with cybersyncs, cyber commander, post in LR4 and CS5
When you took the Seconic flash meter reading of the strip light at F10...I need to ask...isnt the known initial distance from the strip light to the flash meter... also very important to the equation? I would want to quantify a strobe output based on ISO... an agreed upon shutter speed...and especially the base distance...say 10 feet from head to meter. If a flash produces F10 at ISO 100 at 160 sec then I could figure everything else from that? Dont I have to know the distance that the F10 reading was based on?
I could be wrong...but I didnt sense that the base distance between the flash head and the seconic meter was a big factor in how you explained things.
When you took the Seconic flash meter reading of the strip light at F10...I need to ask...isnt the known initial distance from the strip light to the flash meter... also very important to the equation? I would want to quantify a strobe output based on ISO... an agreed upon shutter speed...and especially the base distance...say 10 feet from head to meter. If a flash produces F10 at ISO 100 at 160 sec then I could figure everything else from that? Dont I have to know the distance that the F10 reading was based on?
I could be wrong...but I didnt sense that the base distance between the flash head and the seconic meter was a big factor in how you explained things.
Cheers
Ray
Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't personally view the distance of the light to subject to be relevant to metering, considering lights have variable power settings regardless of placement. A light meter will not be able to tell the difference between a 1/8 power head that is 1ft away from the model vs a 1/1 power head that is 15 ft away (assuming these have equivalent exposure at these distances)- the only thing that changes is quality of light but that is not measurable
Dan Brady
Posts: 554
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
TMA Photo and Retouch wrote: Hey Dan,
When you took the Seconic flash meter reading of the strip light at F10...I need to ask...isnt the known initial distance from the strip light to the flash meter... also very important to the equation? I would want to quantify a strobe output based on ISO... an agreed upon shutter speed...and especially the base distance...say 10 feet from head to meter. If a flash produces F10 at ISO 100 at 160 sec then I could figure everything else from that? Dont I have to know the distance that the F10 reading was based on?
I could be wrong...but I didnt sense that the base distance between the flash head and the seconic meter was a big factor in how you explained things.
Cheers
Ray
F10 measured at the subject from a light source that is 1 metre away and f10 measured at the subject from a light source that is 5 metres away is still f10 at the subject.
The variables are the power of the light source ie the flash. And the distance. But that is measured by the light received at the flash meters dome. That isn't to say the distance is metered - just the level of light.
Have you ever told a light meter how far away the sun is when metering natural light?
I don't have a particular photo that I call my best, but this photo satisfied both the goal of the project and matched my pre-shoot vision. The goal was a red-carpet/velvet rope feel for a dress catalog. The client wanted spot lighting to create an event or Hollywood theme for the evening gowns.
I believe the set-up is actually less complicated than it appears. The background is simply black seamless set up in a warehouse. We rented a red carpet, velvet ropes and a DJ lighting set-up for props. I had a general arrangement of spot-lights in mind which I roughed in myself. Once I was at the camera I had my assistant help me focus the beams to the lens.
We simply put the model on an applebox to give the illusion that she is swinging on the rope. Camera is model's shoulder level. The model is lit with a Plume Wafer 100 softbox (Profoto Acute) from high and camera left which gives a slight direction and scupting on her face. From the rear, 2 softboxes are aimed at her back/shoulders for separation lighting on the dark dress.
I measured my strobe exposure with a flash meter and did a range of different shutter speeds to find the ambient level from the spot lights. The spectral/star-effect happened in camera without filter. Once I got my strobe balance down I could rip thru each dress with various poses. I held the models on the set on my favorite dresses and played around with strictly ambient light from the spots for a slightly different effect which can be seen on my web site:
http://www.danhowellphotography.com/#a= … 00&s=7&p=1
LA StarShooter
Posts: 1,035
Beverly Hills, California, US
Dan Howell Tearsheets wrote:
I don't have a particular photo that I call my best, but this photo satisfied both the goal of the project and matched my pre-shoot vision. The goal was a red-carpet/velvet rope feel for a dress catalog. The client wanted spot lighting to create an event or Hollywood theme for the evening gowns.
I believe the set-up is actually less complicated than it appears. The background is simply black seamless set up in a warehouse. We rented a red carpet, velvet ropes and a DJ lighting set-up for props. I had a general arrangement of spot-lights in mind which I roughed in myself. Once I was at the camera I had my assistant help me focus the beams to the lens.
We simply put the model on an applebox to give the illusion that she is swinging on the rope. Camera is model's shoulder level. The model is lit with a Plume Wafer 100 softbox (Profoto Acute) from high and camera left which gives a slight direction and scupting on her face. From the rear, 2 softboxes are aimed at her back/shoulders for separation lighting on the dark dress.
I measured my strobe exposure with a flash meter and did a range of different shutter speeds to find the ambient level from the spot lights. The spectral/star-effect happened in camera without filter. Once I got my strobe balance down I could rip thru each dress with various poses. I held the models on the set on my favorite dresses and played around with strictly ambient light from the spots for a slightly different effect which can be seen on my web site:
http://www.danhowellphotography.com/#a= … 00&s=7&p=1
Wonderful work Dan, and I'm so glad that you stopped by. Conceptually excellent and you really delivered.
LA StarShooter
Posts: 1,035
Beverly Hills, California, US
FKW Studio wrote:
Backdrop is a 12x12 light-bank with 2 monolights firing inside. Model is keyed with 22" beauty dish camera-right, her rim light is from a B800 with 30 degree grid and blue gel camera-left and rear. There is a piece of plexi in front of entire model mounted on C-stands covered in water droplets to catch the blue backlight and create the bokeh patterns. Reflector lower-left in front of model to fill shadows.
Sony A850 and Zeiss 24-70, all alienbees B800 heads, triggered with cybersyncs, cyber commander, post in LR4 and CS5
I really like the complexity of the setup in this. Great planning and execution.
Dan Brady
Posts: 554
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Dan Brady wrote:
F10 measured at the subject from a light source that is 1 metre away and f10 measured at the subject from a light source that is 5 metres away is still f10 at the subject.
The variables are the power of the light source ie the flash. And the distance. But that is measured by the light received at the flash meters dome. That isn't to say the distance is metered - just the level of light.
Have you ever told a light meter how far away the sun is when metering natural light?
But to add to it, different modifiers will behave differently from various distances to give off a different kind of light. But the measurement at the subject will still be the same regardless, given that the power of the light is increased as it is moved away from the subject.
Wenya is a very talented MUA and on previous shoots we had discussed this all silver body painting concept.
The lighting was pretty simple:
-The sun is real, and was at the perfect position for this.
-2 strobes at full power camera right to counter the sun's power and light the model
-1 strobe at 3/4 power lighting the side of the structure, camera left
All 3 strobes had a basic cone reflector on them, very hard light all around.
Camera was set to f22 if memory serves me right, definitely a small aperture because of the direct line with the sun.
Post: High contrast adjustment, vignette, clean-up of miscellaneous bright orange power cords on the floor were the basics. The difficulty came from the skin color showing through the silver make-up, and in places where we didn't feel it was safe to apply any . Correcting this by applying more make-up would have taken too long so I resolved this by removing all color from the skin (full blown desaturation with brush) so the model is now basically B&W.
Dan Brady wrote: Jeez man really? Wow - Made my day
Okies right now I love this one of mine
The setup
Mola Setti beauty dish above models face roughly 30 cms from her forehead. No nylon diffuser. Using the opal glass diffuser. F16
Lastolite triflector below her face with the side reflectors raised.
as a hair light on her right side (our left) I used a metre long strip light at f10 and on the left side of her I used a Kacey beauty dish with a nylon defuser at f8.
at the rear I used a single monobloc strobe to light the rear grey seamless paper. I had this at f18. I didn't need to have more than one light as I was just lighting the area around her head. Plus I didn't have any more lights left to use.
I had two large polystyrene boards just behind the model that had the black painted side facing her. This was to stop the back ground light from throwing light back onto her and the lens.
I found a picture of the setup on the models instagram
I was shooting straight into Capture One 7 with a Nikon D800 and the Nikon 105 2.8 Micro lens. I use this setup with beauty because it allows myself and the MUA so see exactly what the results are at macro level detail - instantly. We can then move in and remove things that will need removing in post production later such as hairs out of place or lip stick and eye liner errors. We also have the LCD monitor available for the model to see her progression so she can see what she is doing right and wrong. However, if we're going to be firing away a heap of shots, then I'll turn the models monitor off, or she will get distracted by always looking over at it.
Post production for this image was not a huge job. I cropped the image and rotated it so the composition was focused on the eye make up which is what the image was for. I cleaned up some skin imperfections and cleared the eyes up. A wee bit of a macro level dodge and burn and it was ready to go
Also this was shot in my home studio - so the space is limited. Hence the cramped setup in the above pic.
Hope this helps!
Dan, first of all thx for your interesting contribution :-) ...
I would like to know some few more insights:
1) I'm considering to buy the Mola Setti and I wonder if you used the White paint version or the Silver version... also it would be nice to see the unretouched version of the picture, just to have a better idea of the incamera effect of your lighting choice... of course if you'll send me via pm I'll never show to someone else: I know that Models Agency are jealous of those kind of secrets ;-)
2) If you ever had the chance to use both the white Setti and the Silver one, what do you think about the difference in between?
3) Do you think the Mola Demi 22" worth the extra money or it is better to buy the cheaper Kacey version?
4) As for the background light, I'm curious to know which kind of grey was your paper: I mean, if you exposed just a third of a stop higher than mainlight (and camera setting), how you reached the complete white look of your BG? To me looks more like you used a white seamless instead of a grey one or, even better, you lighted a thunder grey 2 stops higher than camera setting...
Thank you very much for sharing those "secrets" and have a great evening
Dan Brady
Posts: 554
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
MorittuPhotoGraphy wrote:
Dan, first of all thx for your interesting contribution :-) ...
I would like to know some few more insights:
1) I'm considering to buy the Mola Setti and I wonder if you used the White paint version or the Silver version... also it would be nice to see the unretouched version of the picture, just to have a better idea of the incamera effect of your lighting choice... of course if you'll send me via pm I'll never show to someone else: I know that Models Agency are jealous of those kind of secrets ;-)
2) If you ever had the chance to use both the white Setti and the Silver one, what do you think about the difference in between?
3) Do you think the Mola Demi 22" worth the extra money or it is better to buy the cheaper Kacey version?
4) As for the background light, I'm curious to know which kind of grey was your paper: I mean, if you exposed just a third of a stop higher than mainlight (and camera setting), how you reached the complete white look of your BG? To me looks more like you used a white seamless instead of a grey one or, even better, you lighted a thunder grey 2 stops higher than camera setting...
Thank you very much for sharing those "secrets" and have a great evening
LOL!
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