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I've been asked to do some buisness head and shoulder shots of a few people and wondered if anyione had any tips on lighting. I have white and black backgrounds and bowens studio lights (4 of), brollies, softboxes, reflectors etc.
Any lighting diagrame or even a web link to find them would be great
Thanks
Angus
Hi Angus,
I did exactly this set up last week for photographing 40 people for my company's intranet photos. Just used 2 Elinchrom Dlite2's and used a plain white wall as the background.
Make sure you have enough separation between the subject and the background - at least 1 - 1.5m.
I followed the Chris Burfoot tutorial over in the techniques section currently on the home page called 'Using a Main and Fill light - studio lighting beginners' guide'.
Worked a treat for me. Hope that helps.
John
Hi Angus,
I'd use the dark background, main light around 45 degrees and fill light more or less next to the camera. Set fill to be around 2 stops less than main for men and 1 stop less for women. I'd also use a hair light to seperate them from the background, about 1 stop brighter than main light.
To be honest I'd also consider finding a good natural background (boardroom maybe?) and use that for with lighting as above.
Also make sure your subject isn't sitting straight on to the camera, head yes, shoulders at an angle. Look out for reflections in glasses, if you get them move lights slightly, or turn head a bit or slide glasses down nose - better yet see if they'll remove them.
Thanks folks for the replies. I need to use a white background as that is the colour they have used before and on occasion the shots need to be cut out.
The tutorial seems simple enough and I will follow that, however I have another question:
He mentiones a 3rd light behind to create depth which makes sense, however he says that is should be 1 stop lighter but I dont know what it needs to be lighter than - is it 1 stop above the combined exposure of the fill amnd main or 1 stop above the main or 1 stop above the fill?
Cheers guys
Angus
Above the main light - all exposure is based around the main light.
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