Cowboy Studio lighting

[astroNikon]

Yeah .. Cowboy studio lighting.
But not Cowboy studio lights

The best method to photograph (studio) someone with a cowboy hat (or other hats like fedoras, etc).

I know I can't put a Key & Fill up above as it would create shadows from the hat brim.
So if I bring it down to properly get light under the brim I'm thinking I'll need a 3rd light on a boom (?) from up above to properly light the front/side of the hat?

I'm curious if others have examples of this and other more artistic flair photos of hat wearers ?

Thanks

 

[Braineack]

Elmer s Foamboard - BLICK art materials

 

[Derrel]

How about creating a very large light source? One that will cast plenty of light, across a fairly tall surface? Maybe bounce the flash off of a large reflector or wall, so that the light comes in from a pretty LARGE source. If you want catchlights in the eyes, then the source of the light will need to be, at least partially, below the level of the hat's brim. But not "all" of the light needs to come from below the brim...if you were to set a monolight up so that the light bounces off of a white door, or a wall, or a large reflector (cloth or foam board, whatever the reflector is made of is of little consequence) you could create the type of LARGE source I am thinking about.

If you do not necessarily want to have eye catchlights that are crisp and bright, you could light with any standard modifier, and use a large (preferrably 36 inches wide, or even bigger) under-chin reflector, positioned close to the face, to bounce light up under the hat brim. I suspect the under-chin reflector material Braineack was thinking of it what many of us use: foam board.

If the hat wearer has the hat tipped up in the front, or has his chin in angled up, a fairly standard lighting setup would give catchlights in the eyes.

 

[tirediron]

I don't have any handy, but generally what I do is use a fairly large softbox for key, and a reflector as close up under the chin as possible (if it's just a head shot), or for a full body shot, I'll use a third light, and snoot it, firing it into a reflector aimed under the hat. The trick is to get it diffused enough that the features are clearly visible, but not to get so much light that there's no shadow from the brim (or it will look totally un-natural). It always takes a bit of trial and error.

 

[astroNikon]

Elmer s Foamboard - BLICK art materials

So .. put a hat on top of foam board ?
block out the person entirely ... good idea ?!?!

 

[astroNikon]

Gosh darn ... so much to learn and much more to FORGET !!

I started with one flash and using reflectors
Now I've forgotten about reflecting .. duh.

I didn't even think of that -that makes it alot easier. I'll experiement and see how it all works.
I have your standard reflectors in addition to posterboard that I used as reflectors when I started taking pictures of my watches and stuff with only one flash. So now to pull that stuff back out and fiddle around.