Lighting a Fashion Shoot

[Thayli]

Also i'm surprised no one suggested the option of normal size softboxes or modifiers one above the other for even lighting

Ok I'm probably going to look like the village's special citizen for the 2nd time today, but I'm assuming this was sarcastic?

Ive actually considered doing this a couple of times as I have a couple of identical smaller boxes but no really big ones. :er:

 

[Derrel]

No, it's a real method that has been employed for decades. You can take two umbrellas, for example, and place then one above the other, on the same light stand even, and shoot right through the space between them, in an over/under setup. It gives very soft light, with minimal shadows, and can give an upper-eye and a lower-eye catchlight, which looks kind of cool. Same with side-by-side, with two umbrellas placed close together, and the camera aiming right through the space between them...same story...a large source of soft, nearly shadowless lighting. Same with softboxes...two,or three can be stacked. For lighting large expanses, I remember a How We Shot It write-up of a Lear jet on the tarmac, that had been lighted by eight, 400 Watt-second umbrellas spaced along the entire length of the aircraft and powered by generators...and the light was very nice and even along the entire length of the plane, which was shot at dusk.

I would wager that just about every odd lashup, jerry-rigged, cluster-f****d combination of lights and modifiers and panels and scrims ever possible has been used, at one time or another...

 

[Thayli]

No, it's a real method that has been employed for decades...

Thank you very much, I thought this was going to be a whole new "What?!? You don't know about...?" moment for me.

 

[tevo]

Thank you all for your replies. The shoot is in a couple of hours, I'll be sure to post the results.

 

[ghache]

I use from beauty dish, to 84 inch umbrellas, to 3X4 softbox and bare flashes. there is no secret tool for fashion photography. it all depends what your trying to do.

 

[tevo]

So far...


BTWFS by theofficialtevo, on Flickr


BTWFS by theofficialtevo, on Flickr


BTWFS by theofficialtevo, on Flickr

This is to endorse a school fashion show, so none of these are professional models. The shoot was semi quick and dirty. I ended up only shooting full body portraits of the girls, haven't gotten to those yet. The gentleman in the first photo handled most of the poses, as I realized shortly before shooting that I was not amply prepared to pose models. Will post more as they get processed.