Lightning suggestions for child portraits in a small space?

[DaveAndHolly219]

I'm looking for some suggestions for lighting solutions for shooting portraits of my daughter in the room shown in this photo. As you can see, I am very limited on space so I'll likely need to get a bit

creative. I'm getting decent results with an on camera speedlight with a Gary Fong Lightsphere attached, but I know off camera light would likely provide better results and more options for creative lighting.


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[goooner]

I'm not a portrait guy, and I'm sure the pro's will weigh in shortly. I have had very good results with bouncing my flash off the ceiling, looks like you have a white ceiling so that should work. That paper looks a bit busy though.

 

[Derrel]

One broad, soft source of light would be the fastest and easiest to work with; it could light her, and the background at the same time. An umbrella would work, and would be broad in coverage; a small to medium-sized softbox would work; you could also fire a flash unit, or two synch'd together, off of a wall or the ceiling or off of a 3 x 4 foot foamboard panel, or fire the flash through a diffusing panel made of thin white fabric or tracing paper or waxed paper (yes, the kitchen kind!) stretched or taped or glued onto an old window screen frame or a PVC pipe frame (Tinkertools).

In a smaller, low-ceilinged room, a shoot through umbrella will tend to send 60% of the light through the fabric, and the other 40% or so will bounce off, and will hit the walls and ceiling and create what's called ambient spill light. The smaller the room, and the more ambient spill there is, the more it can act as a fill light for shadows, so be aware that a fill light or reflector might not be necessary if you light that set with a shoot-thrugh umbrella.

The patterned vinyl backdrop will tend to photograph a bit darker than white if the shutter speed is fast; slow the shutter down a bit, and it will tick up in brightness; depends on the ISO in use, the f/stop in use, and the shutter speed. At slow dragging the shutter speeds, like from 1/8 to 1/20 second at f/8 at ISO 400, the background will likely photograph about as the human eye sees things.

You could use any number of light modifiers,depending on the desired effect. The Lightsphere is actually quite decent in smaller rooms, where it sends light all over, and gives a broad light that refelcts off of multiple places. If you're on a tight budget, I think the best thing is a piece of foam board angled toward the subject, and a flash aimed right at that board, so it reflects, makes the 1 x 3 inch flash panel (three square inches) into a 30 x 40-inch, 1,200 square inch light source. You can rig up any number of ways to get this $4.99 piece of foam board so it bounces onto the set properly: prop it on a barstool, string, fishing line harness, masking tape, A-clamps, whatever you have on hand.

A 32- to 45-inch umbrella would work well too. Small 28 x 28 inch square softboxes will work too. You can also use a gray fabric backdrop, or a white fabric, or a white wall if you have one available.

 

[Derrel]

Here is a link to a pretty good-performing umbrella box type light modifier.

Softbox Umbrella Reflective 42inch

I have a pair of these, and a pair of much more expensive Lastolite Umbrella Boxes. I LIKE the light this type of umbrella box creates in a small space. These units from Steve Kaeser Enterprises are good performers with speedlights, and I prefer the drawstring closure method these use over the three-zipper system that Lastolite uses.



These portraits were shot using the Lastolite Umbrella Box camera right, and I fired a red gel onto a large, pale gray-toned projection televison screen that was wall-mounted, in a low-ceilinged family living room on-location, working around furniture, with very little room to maneuver. One light from the right, and the gel-fitted flash (which did have a burned out center spot that gave this gradient) was fired straight back at the light gray fabric projection screen; your backdrop would likely look about the same color/density with the right amount of flash fired at it too. This is "small space" child's portraiture.

 

[DaveAndHolly219]

In case there's any interest, here are today's results.

Zoey's Photoshoot 03.16.17

 

[Derrel]

You did alright, but I think you need to brighten-up the shots a bit to get maximum impact out of them. Great expressions on well over half of these. A little bit more light making it to the eyeball surfaces and eye sockets would help: tossing a big, white bedsheet on the floor right in front of the backdrop could help with that, and maybe try to get the light source a bit lower, I think. You need just a little bit more "lightness", from one methiod or another to leverage these. If you do not have a big sheet, tape down aluminum foil on the floor, 3 or 4 widths of it, clear across the front of the backdrop.

 

[DaveAndHolly219]

You did alright, but I think you need to brighten-up the shots a bit to get maximum impact out of them. Great expressions on well over half of these.

Thank you for the input!

Shots were looking overexposed on the camera screen when I first started so I dialed in -2/3 on my flash. Turns out the camera screen isn't all that accurate. There was only so far I was willing to go with the exposure slider in Lightroom before the details started getting blown out.


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[Derrel]

Yeah...looking at the LCD can be deceptive. The histogram will not lie to you, but now you now for certain. I would pop the memory card right back into the camera tonight, and look thru the shoot and look at the histograms and get a feel for how those look, knowing ewhat you now know. Having the LCD too bright, for easy viewing and focus-checking is a major sticky wicket regarding gauguing flash exposures. So, now you know, keep the flash exposure at 0.0 and not Minus .7. I know what you mean, there's a limit to how much an exposure can be boosted.

 

[table1349]

That LCD screen is not good for judging exposure. Use if for general reviews of composition and blown high lights.

 

[Derrel]

I hope you don't mind, but I pulled this one screen cap into Lightroom, and did five clicks of Iris Enhance in lightroom, and a bit of + Exposure( Plus .7 EV, to show what the minus .7 flash comp did!)

and a little + Fill light on a typical exposure from the session shot today. Then I put a very slight vignette on the edges. I think it could have been pushed brighter too, especially for viewing in this site's all-white browser window, which tends to make things look just a bit darker than LR's gray and black work areas.

 

[DaveAndHolly219]

I hope you don't mind, but I pulled this one screen cap into Lightroom, and did five clicks of Iris Enhance in lightroom, and a bit of + Exposure( Plus .7 EV, to show what the minus .7 flash comp did!) View attachment 136666 and a little + Fill light on a typical exposure from the session shot today. Then I put a very slight vignette on the edges. I think it could have been pushed brighter too, especially for viewing in this site's all-white browser window, which tends to make things look just a bit darker than LR's gray and black work areas.

I don't mind at all, thanks so much!

I really enjoyed this session. First time I've shot her in a semi planned out manner. Makes me want to get some lighting gear and a nice fast prime lens.


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[nickgillespie]

quickest, easiest, and cheapest would be a ttl cable for your speedlight, a lightstand and a shoot-through umbrella.

you'll be amazed what 50$ in those three things will do.

Also, shoot in manual mode on your flash if you can. You will get way more consistent results.

Step one: turn off all mixed light. You don't want any tungsten or florescent mixing with the flash.
Step two: set your exposure... something like 2.8 at 1/100 @ iso 400
Step three: turn your flash on, take a test shot, check exposure and adjust flash output up or down. Repeat.

It will take some experimenting with where to put the flash for your favorite look (45 degrees to the side, etc)

 

[Designer]

Makes me want to get some lighting gear and a nice fast prime lens.

Why "a nice fast prime lens"?

Of course we all want nice fast prime lenses, but with flash you simply don't need anything but your existing zoom lens. Seriously; there is nothing wrong with using your existing lens, especially since you're using flash.