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"must have" modifiers for hotel glamour?
I've only done 2 hotel shoots, so-so results, as neither had adequate window ambient light avail...and I really didn't know what I was doing in terms of controlling lighting in a smallish space. I know there are photogs who take everything they have....but, what would you say are the lighting "essentials" for sucessful glam in a hotel shoot, not a suite. Using bed & bath mostly. Have a decent array of brollys, gridded softboxes, gridded reflectors for studio shoots....i just haven't done much in the way of interior location shoots where setup time was limited. Jan 01 08 10:30 am Link Softbox on your flash -- it will help soften the light -- that may be your only option in a place like that -- now if you have a fast lens you may be able to get away with the overhead lights -- I know some use florescent bulbs but they give off one heck of a hue when shot naturally -- I would try to work with just one light -- either on camera or set off from the camera with a softbox on it and it SHOULD give you the light that you need. Jan 01 08 10:33 am Link I've shot in some pretty tight areas in hotel rooms. I've tried to make due with one light when I could; modified through a small umbrella (Brolly? Are you from England?!) Also, I've sometimes used the umbrella for a fill and placed a diffussion material over the reflector on a strobe for direct firing. Jan 01 08 10:41 am Link Thanx, Well, I understand studio lighting ok, but feel in a small room, low ceilings.....that CONTROLLING the light is crucial, to emphasize the model, not the room, controlling reflections. Specially in what could be a highly reflective bathroom. I've seen lovely things using only hotel-motel ambient light ,.... window or practical, (existing lamps) ...though these were more moody looks, which I love....but ain't Playboy, Maxim looks. I'd love to take a glam workshop that focused on interior location setups....homes, hotels...to learn how to make the best of an existing situation. With limited setup time, and a limited lighting package. Jan 01 08 11:04 am Link Henri3 wrote: From the sound of it, you want something simple. Since your first inclination was to use the window, and since their usually only facing one direction, then it makes sense to bring one light. Jan 01 08 11:05 am Link Henri3 wrote: Try a simple setup of 2 Photoflood lights with umbrellas, & NO FLASH. Set for a higher ISO unless you are using a tripod and cable release. Then adjust the shutter speed to control the light. Don't mind that the Aperature will flash , shoot it anyway and see what comes out. I think you will be surprised. Jan 01 08 11:10 am Link If ambient light is not enough with reflector then i used combination incadescent as well as ambient and white balanced. There is always a way just straight flash i had to use but results sometimes looked amateurish. Trick is to find a large enough room with preferablyly north window light. Jan 01 08 11:10 am Link I can say from a recent shoot, in a hotel suite. I used the table lamps without the the shades, but when we moved to the bedroom area, I forgot to remove the shades. I wasnt expecting to use that room other than for dressing. The shots came out with a horrible yellow tint. Best recommendation is show up early and experiment with different light techniques and positions. Jan 01 08 11:14 am Link Here is a GREAT site that is extremely informative on lighting. Especially with flashes. This is one of the truly best photography "how-to" sites on the web. http://strobist.blogspot.com/ The issues you are dealing with are color temperature and light balancing. The key is to balance you lighting using a light meter and slow down the shutter speed in order get more temp balance. Additionally you might have to gel some or all of you flashes/strobes to get the temperature correct. M Jan 01 08 11:18 am Link the shot in the link was done in a hotel room using a single SB 800 flash fired through a 4 foot diameter photoflex diffusion disk. the disk folds down to about a 12" diameter making it very easy to carry on any trip. the sb 800 was also fitted with the diffuser provided with the flash to further soften the light. to flag the sb 800 and prevent light bounce off the ceiling and walls i ended up putting a black sock around the sides of the on-flash diffuser. the flash was triggered by the nikon commander unit fixed to the camera hot shoe. a black muslin was hung from the wall of the room. all of a 5 to 10 minute set up. 18+ https://www.modelmayhem.com/pic.php?pic … id=2088834 Jan 01 08 11:22 am Link Henri3 wrote: I shoot in hotels a lot and subscribe to the less is more ideology. Plus, the more equipment you take, the greater the likelihood that you will attract unwelcome attention. Jan 01 08 11:23 am Link Here's a shot from last week. It's lit with 4 daylight flourescent bulbs on a homemade light bar through a white umbrella. 18+ https://www.modelmayhem.com/pic.php?pic … id=5127088 Jan 01 08 11:30 am Link For me controlling the spill in the room is key in the look you are describing. I have made up several "grids" for my flashes and lights. These grids allow the light to come out...but they tunnel it in a tight pattern... so the light does not light up the whole room or bounce excessively. This allows the light to stay on the model and not light up the entire surroundings. These grids can be fluorescent lighting grids you see used in overhead lighting and purchased at a Home depot kind of store...or they can just be cardboard or plastic or fabric squares that channel the light. Look at several lighting manufacturers and see what their expensive grids look like. I make my own, achieve the same results, and cost a lot less. A grid that is 2.5 feet by 5 feet is superb for lighting a full length model and keeping the light off everything else but her. Ray Jan 01 08 11:30 am Link another example. this was shot in a rental cabin. for this one there are 2 sb 800s. one is camera left and the other is obviously in the room behind and to the right in the image. for this one i did not want diffuse light, but instead wanted a bit harsher look, so only the small diffusers provided with the flash heads were used. again the commander unit attached to the camera hot shoe was used to trigger the flash units. 18+ https://www.modelmayhem.com/pic.php?pic … pid=821878 Jan 01 08 11:31 am Link Z_Photo wrote: Very nice image. Jan 01 08 11:32 am Link Here are a few things things I've learned from shooting in hotel rooms: 1) If you want to shoot using ambient light you need to find a hotel that is likely to have good rooms for this. For example in Minneapolis, the Graves would be better than the Grand because even though the Grand is a big old hotel it is built next office buildings which block the light in many rooms where the Graves has nothing around it. 2) Use one or two flash's like the canon ex and too get a more natural look make sure a) put a correction gel b) use the flash a fill since not all hotel rooms have crappy lighting if you want to be able to move the model around. 3) Black and white solves the color correction issue. 4) Generally I find to use the artificial light in the room shutter speed that I can handhold I need really fast ISO's; generally 1600. 5) Less is more when it comes to bring gear. Maybe one or two flash's and reflector. 6) Chip Willis shoots alot in hotel rooms...maybe he will weigh in. mike Jan 01 08 11:32 am Link G Images wrote: thanks, G. for a little more economy i supplement the 2 sb 800s with older (and cheaper) sb 26 units that are mounted to photocell triggers. i dial them to the desired level. i would have to go look at the nikon model numbers on the little triggers, but they initiate the flash when light from one of the sb 800s hits the cell, and stop the flash when the main flash cuts off. Jan 01 08 11:36 am Link Hensel Porty is what I use in hotel rooms, outdoors, wherever! It's a really fine piece of lighting equipment. There's a photo in my port ..... bottom row black and white that was made while shooting a lingerie catalog that was lit using just that light (sorry, haven't figured out how to post that photo as a link yet). I recommend it highly! Jan 01 08 11:39 am Link This was shot with with flash one or two stops under and bounced off a the cieling in the room: http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj95 … 007057.jpg These two were shot with flash bounced off one of the walls to give more a soft side lighting: http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj95 … 007047.jpg http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj95 … 007014.jpg Shot in the bathroom was existing artificial light (no flash): http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj95 … 007046.jpg Flash bounced off high and to the side and flash one stop over ambient light in the room. http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj95 … 007061.jpg http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj95 … 007062.jpg mike Jan 01 08 11:40 am Link mike- better link the 18+ images or the mods will lock the thread and take revenge on you Jan 01 08 11:45 am Link Michael Sloane wrote: Lovely collection of work! Jan 01 08 11:46 am Link guys- MM rules violations. please remove the nipples from the thread or it will get locked and obliterated Jan 01 08 11:48 am Link great stuff mike mark it 18 + with the link anywho i used one light not sure its what your going for though  Jan 01 08 11:57 am Link I like narrow strip boxes. Jan 01 08 12:08 pm Link Thanx for all the tips. Will look more closely later. I've considered the Graves hotel, with 2 models. MOST hotels I've researched have traditional decor that I hate...for glamour. Think I'll just use a modest hotel for a couple shoots, to get more experience, with one model, then do something in a high end place with 2 models when I've figured out what works for me. Haven't use tungsten in 2 yrs, but it's an idea. I'd prob shoot windowlight w/strobe softbox fill or reflector....OR simply strobes, after dusk...and not really try mixing sources. Same as I do at my place for the same genres. I used ex580's, for last hotel shoot, with brollys, but prefer the modifiers my studio lights accept. Last shoot, last year, was a really nice, contemporary room, but faced the interior courtyard with zero usable windowlight. A mistake I won't make again. I don't wanna cart more lighting crap than I absolutely need to get the look. But will probably use more controllable studio lights next time, as I rarely use 580ex's for anything. Jan 01 08 02:17 pm Link Look into Plume Wafer softboxes. They are roughly half the depth of the same size category as Chimera which is helpful in narrow room situations. In order to isolate the lighting effect in smaller rooms, also think about eggcrate grids for banks which preserve the softness of the box but reduces the spread (as below). Lighttools makes eggcrate grids for several softboxes.  Jan 01 08 02:42 pm Link Grids or optical spot heads or fresnel spot heads. No need for softboxes - use a white sheet or two or three from a bed for diffusion or bounce. No need for bounce umbrella - use the silver platter on the dresser - you know, the one with the empty glasses/cups and free coffee on them. Close the curtains. Jan 01 08 02:45 pm Link I find I still prefer the control of having soft boxes over umbrellas. You are right about the reflection from walls due to the small space. I have 70 lb of equipment in a ultra large suitcase when I check in. A luxury suite can often be less expensive than renting a studio for a day and also having to rent a hotel room when you are travelling. You also have som props available if you choose your hotel appropriately. I am going to try off camera flashes my next trip instead of AC strobes. You can mount the flash inside the softbox speed ring with buggy cords. So you can get the effect of a soft box without the weigh of a strobe. I have 3' X 4' softboxes hat break down ultra small. The rod for each the 4 sides break down to 8 pieces so it packs away ultra small. I have seen wide angle lens used to great effect, but I find I don't like the look myself. I tend to stay away from any length less than 24MM on a crop sensor camera. Jan 01 08 09:44 pm Link Depends on what you wish to achieve... If you want the seedy motel look, go w/ grids or barebulb. If you want soft smooth light, large softboxes... Paul Jan 01 08 10:55 pm Link Please take a look at my hotel room shots. Shot with ambient light and one profoto D1 with umbrella http://wphotography.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d5pviu3 http://wphotography.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d5q3w26 Jan 05 13 11:24 pm Link Ring flash and ceiling bounce or gelled soflighter to wash out it's distinct halo. Jan 05 13 11:46 pm Link RingFlash https://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/16212645 18+ Good ole natural light https://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/17214077 18+ Generally I go visit the Hotel during the time I am expecting to shoot just to determine the type of natural light I will get. As far as lights and modifiers generally RingFlash and or (one) Beauty Dish/head, or Umbrella/head. Jan 06 13 01:09 am Link Off camera AlienBees ABR800 with 56" Moon Unit - http://www.modelinsider.com/inline/138550 (18+) Jan 06 13 09:33 am Link My studio lighting packs up into a small kit and it goes with me whenever I do a shoot in a hotel room, etc. I use monolights. For bathroom shots, I usually bounce the light in a corner of the bathroom away from the area that I am shooting. In the main hotel room, I normally use a single light with a 24" or 28" softbox and then use additional lights as necessary to reduce contrast level or create highlights - rarely with anything other than a reflector (bounced for fill). Jan 06 13 09:41 am Link You'll want adequate ambient lighting to focus. Unless you are shooting an extreme fast lens, your viewfinder will be dark just using the room lights. I've used some CFL for just making the room brighter to work. Then use the strobes/flashes for the actual lighting. tight space? A reflector comes in handy - and bigger is not always better. Jan 06 13 12:02 pm Link Folks, this is a DEAD OLD thread - the OP is no longer on MM! Jan 06 13 01:24 pm Link ChristerArt wrote: I'm glad that you noticed that. I didn't. Jan 06 13 01:28 pm Link I think this is actually a record! i've seen 4 year old threads resurrected but never 5. Jan 06 13 07:38 pm Link WPhotography wrote: i have to ask. was there a particular reason for reviving a 5 year old thread? Jan 06 13 07:41 pm Link In such tight spaces my set up is very simple: 2 off camera speedlights, one that I bounce off the wall/ceiling to create the main light I want and usually the 2nd with a grid for hair lighting. Here's an example with just one light being bounced: https://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/31199339 Jan 06 13 07:55 pm Link |
