Ideas on how this was lit?

[Phtoo]

imgur: the simple image sharer
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]any ideas on how this photo was lit? - background lit separately. main light - large like an octabank , or small umbrella/beauty dish type source[/FONT]

 

[cgipson1]

Look at the shadows.. that will give you some idea of light placement. Single light camera right... maybe a beauty dish with no sock. Light was a little harsh, on purpose for strong contrasts. This is just a guess.. and there are others here that would be better able to make an educated guess than I!

 

[Iron Flatline]

Octabank from right of subject.

 

[Iron Flatline]

Btw, if you're interested, Melissa Rodwell takes the whole lighting education several steps further than Strobist. Check out her DVD.

 

[MLeeK]

Based on the shadows and the falloff from the top to bottom it was a medium/large softbox/octabox to the camera right. Not any larger than about 36-48 inches max. Roughly placed just about breast height on the model or just above. Because it's so harsh I'd guess it's 48 inches backed off a bit much. Looks like there were hot spots that were smoothed in editing.

 

[unpopular]

I could be totally wrong here, but I am wondering if there is a subtle tone mapping element?

 

[Phtoo]

whats tone mapping element?

 

[unpopular]

I'm wondering if the raw file was tone mapped through some kind of HDR program, and then applied in a specific way. Their appears only to be one light source, yet very little diffuse, especially in the clothing. I don't see any signs of a reflector, and the hilights remarkably very well managed.

I am kind of doubting that this is the case. It just looks a little "too good" to be traditionally processed.

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On second look, she's pretty close to the background which is prob where the indirect light is coming from.