Shooting a model, Help.

JSPIN62R · Mar 24, 2015

Hello everyone. I need help. I have love for years the effect and look of these shots but I'm never able to achieve them. I don't understand, is it just photos taken in the dark with a flash. Or in the dark with a spot light? How do I achieve this high fashion look?

TomFord5ipad.jpg
TomFordipad.jpg

ronlane · Mar 24, 2015

WElcome to the site. One of the rules of the forum is that if you don't own the photos, do not post them on here. You can post a link but not the images.

JSPIN62R · Mar 24, 2015

ronlane said:
WElcome to the site. One of the rules of the forum is that if you don't own the photos, do not post them on here. You can post a link but not the images.

Gotcha, Now can you help me? :1219:

Derrel · Mar 24, 2015

The crisp under-chin shadow, and the shadows on the wall behind him are characteristic of a standard, parabolic type metal flash reflector. Most professionally oriented studio flash brands over the years have offered small, medium, and large-sized parabolic reflectors, which used to be called "pan" reflectors by a lot of people. In the Speedotron brand for example, there are 7 inch, 11.5 inch, 16- and 20-inch parabolics. Newer models made within the last 20 years or so are referred to as "grid reflectors", since they have a straight inner lip, into which a honeycomb grid can be press-fitted. Used at the right distance, this type of light functions as what is called a point light source, as opposed to the opposite, which is a broad light source. This type of look could have been achieved by any number of different reflector sizes.

This type of reflector has been around since the beginning of the bulb- and electronic flash eras in the late 1920's and late 1930's. The characteristic shape is that of a deep, sort of bowl-shaped reflector that throws, on average, a 50 to 65 degree wide swath of light, and which casts a crisp, well-defined shadow when the light is used alone,without diffusion or grid. When the light is placed higher than eye-level and rained down, it casts a deep, dark, crisp-edged shadow under the chin, and anywhere else the light casts a shadow. This look has been used for high fashion photography over many decades. One of the things it does exceptionally well is to light up fabrics and clothing items, with a crisp, well-defined light that has a lot of illuminating power; a similar look is seen today by the VERY SMALL, point light source quartz bulbs used in many retail environments. Point light sources give a specific type of look,a look of high definition, of clarity, to the objects they illuminate. The subject in those Tom Ford ads is not the model, but the clothing....hence the use of a classic point source lighting arrangement, which emphasized the clothing in a wonderful way.

Here is a CLASSIC-shaped, 50-degree grid reflector, seen on an older Speedotron Force series monolight:
im_50457.jpg

ronlane · Mar 24, 2015

From the looks of the hard line shadows, I would say that it was...... (Read Derrel's comments above)

I was going to say a dark room and a flash of some sort that wasn't diffused very much.

tirediron · Mar 24, 2015

I'm guessing that they've used a light in a fairly small (7-11") reflector as key, and probably shooting about 2 stops over ambient in order to make the rest of the room appear darker.

JSPIN62R · Mar 24, 2015

Derrel said:
The crisp under-chin shadow, and the shadows on the wall behind him are characteristic of a standard, parabolic type metal flash reflector. Most professionally oriented studio flash brands over the years have offered small, medium, and large-sized parabolic reflectors, which used to be called "pan" reflectors by a lot of people. In the Speedotron brand for example, there are 7 inch, 11.5 inch, 16- and 20-inch parabolics. Newer models made within the last 20 years or so are referred to as "grid reflectors", since they have a straight inner lip, into which a honeycomb grid can be press-fitted. Used at the right distance, this type of light functions as what is called a point light source, as opposed to the opposite, which is a broad light source. This type of look could have been achieved by any number of different reflector sizes.

This type of reflector has been around since the beginning of the bulb- and electronic flash eras in the late 1920's and late 1930's. The characteristic shape is that of a deep, sort of bowl-shaped reflector that throws, on average, a 50 to 65 degree wide swath of light, and which casts a crisp, well-defined shadow when the light is used alone,without diffusion or grid. When the light is placed higher than eye-level and rained down, it casts a deep, dark, crisp-edged shadow under the chin, and anywhere else the light casts a shadow. This look has been used for high fashion photography over many decades. One of the things it does exceptionally well is to light up fabrics and clothing items, with a crisp, well-defined light that has a lot of illuminating power; a similar look is seen today by the VERY SMALL, point light source quartz bulbs used in many retail environments. Point light sources give a specific type of look,a look of high definition, of clarity, to the objects they illuminate. The subject in those Tom Ford ads is not the model, but the clothing....hence the use of a classic point source lighting arrangement, which emphasized the clothing in a wonderful way.

Here is a CLASSIC-shaped, 50-degree grid reflector, seen on an older Speedotron Force series monolight:
im_50457.jpg

WOW!! Thanks a lot! Exactly what I needed to hear! I guess that explains all that over head point lighting in the those dark Hollister clothing stores too.

Derrel · Mar 24, 2015

Yes, overhead, very small, point-source quartz lighting has become a very common way to light in retail stores. It's dramatic lighting. It makes small details stand out very well. A lot of higher-end sections in various retail stores are using lighting arrays of 15,20,30,40 small 1.5-inch quartz lights.