Photography, Tutorials

On location single flash lighting

Graduating High School Senior–Samantha Some of you might recognize Samantha who modeled for my students when I taught my Small Flash Lighting workshop a few weeks back. She’s got such a pretty face and great skin, it’s hard not to get a good picture of her. I kept things simple for the most part. I used one Speedlite and a silver reflector for this picture.

One of the most invaluable skills I acquired while at the newspaper was learning to assess my lighting options on scene quickly.

Most of time it meant I would use what’s already at the scene. This approach means you have 2 light sources:

  • what you bring (your small portable flash units) and
  • what available light there is

So, in those instances I had to also figure out the color temperature of the available light.

If  that sounds technical, just relax.

With the digital cameras all you need is to take a picture and see how skin tones are rendered and adjust for them.

What I mean by adjust is, if you’re shooting in a room lit by florescent lights, then you need to slap a florescent green filter on your flash.

You have to match the color temperature of your light sources or else you’ll be kicking yourself when you sit in front of the computer.

When you’re choosing a location, after security and safety, your next concerns should be lighting.

Unless you plan on bringing your entire arsenal of gear, you should think of locations that have light.

Not lots and lots of light, but places with very directional light.

The pictures  of Samantha were  setup in a hallway which had a doorway leading out to the roof.

The open doorway on the right is providing me with the hair light in this instance.

Canon 40D camera set at 1/400 sec @ f2 ISO 400.

My main light was the Speedlite 550EX, set on Manual @ 1/64th power bounced into either a silver or gold reflector on the left to give me f2.

The light from the doorway on the right metered between f2.8 and f4.

One Light Setup

As with most things in photography and art in general, I can’t say a certain type of lighting is wrong or right.

It only matters if my subjects like the picture I make of them.

Here are 2 examples of using just one light.

Ted was lit by a single light/flash placed about 10 ‘clock on the left behind my subject Ted.

If you look at the setup, you will see that there is no reflector or any fill at all resulting in a low-key portrait.

I like how this emphasizes the masculine face. Again, to me what matters is that Ted likes his portrait.

For this portrait of a member of the Macintosh Users group which I belong to, I used a variation of the same one-light set up.

The only difference, if you study the setup, is I added a reflector. There was no light modifier attached to my flash.

There was a white board that was on wheels at the senior center when I did this demo, so I just pushed this into place next to my subject.

If you look closely at his glasses you will see the  tell-tale reflection.

Your biggest hurdle with this sort of lighting is figuring out how to prevent the light from behind the subject from entering the front of your lens.

If that happens, your image will look terrible because of the loss of contrast and you will also get flare.

Yes, there are lots of folks who love that look, that’s why there’s a Filter within Photoshop called “Lens Flare” for that.

I see that applied indiscriminately because it’s so cool– even when there is obviously no backlighting.