One light set up advice.

[eric-holmes]

Say you have one SB-600, a beauty dish and a reflector. How would you set upyour lighting for a beauty style headshot? I am looking for something flattering. A beauty shop has contacted me about shooting a few headshots of their employees for their website. They are not expecting anything big, they could probably do what they want with a point and shoot. But, I am looking to really put a twist on it. I have a large studio strobe but I've yet to buy a modifier for it so it could only be used as bare flash if I chose to use it.

 

[Derrel]

Beauty dish above the subject's head height a bit, and angled, downward, so that a catchlight is visible in the top part of the eyeball. Underneath the chin, angle a small 20x20 to 40x40 inch reflector upward, so that it catches some of the main light and bounces it back, forming a catchlight on the bottom of the eyeball. This is *the* classical way to do a beauty headshot with one light.

 

[eric-holmes]

I was thinking this. It's called clam light or something like that. Right?

 

[Derrel]

The setup I described above is thought by some to be a type of modified clamshell lighting, yes. I consider "clamshell" to be two separate light-emitting sources, but this produces somewhat similar results, except that the lower-eye catchlight is more subtle and looks more-realistic.

 

[gsgary]

Beauty dish above the subject's head height a bit, and angled, downward, so that a catchlight is visible in the top part of the eyeball. Underneath the chin, angle a small 20x20 to 40x40 inch reflector upward, so that it catches some of the main light and bounces it back, forming a catchlight on the bottom of the eyeball. This is *the* classical way to do a beauty headshot with one light.

Exactly what i was going to say :thumbup: add a hair light or one on a grey backgroung even better

 

[eric-holmes]

Thanks for the advice guys. Here is the product...

 

[photocist]

I think a vertical crop would have helped a lot...

Lighting looks good though.

 

[kundalini]

You should bring the beauty dish and reflector to camera right an inch or two so that it aligns vertically with the pupil. You are getting an uneven shadow on the nose. Get behind your subject to look at the setup of the beauty dish, adjust either the light or the subject as necessary.

 

[eric-holmes]

I think a vertical crop would have helped a lot...

Lighting looks good though.

As much as I am an advocate for vertical portraits, I hated these in vertical. She was wearing a hoodie and it kind of showed. They also had a very bad "mug shot" feel. So, I went with these.

You should bring the beauty dish and reflector to camera right an inch or two so that it aligns vertically with the pupil. You are getting an uneven shadow on the nose. Get behind your subject to look at the setup of the beauty dish, adjust either the light or the subject as necessary.

Thanks, I will keep that in mind. I knew it was slightly off to the side. It's hard to shot around that light pole. Maybe a boom is in order...

 

[eric-holmes]

Another

 

[adversus]

I'm not a portrait shooter, but I like the B&W version.

 

[Village Idiot]

And you can make modifiers for your larger light. I shot a photo that the lighting turned out to look amazing on. It' was a sheet clamped to a roof overhang with four speed lights behind it.