playing with Low Key lighting - Self Portraits

[cgipson1]

do you have to have dark background to do this? I am not much of studio lighting person. If you are in a room, the lights will bounce everywhere wont it?

I did see online you could do low key lighting with no backdrop. Instead you'd use 2 rooms - one blacked out and one lit up. Not really sure how it'd work though - I'd have to look it up.

Yes.. that would work also. It gives you a black background.. because there is nothing in the dark room behind you to reflect light. (Assuming the dark is behind the subject!)

 

[cgipson1]

More of the same.. but with a reflector subject left....

 

[cgipson1]

The shots I see on my monitor are a bit light and well defined than the uploaded shots here. For instance.. the top B&W, shoulders are clearly defined, although barely visible here. hmmm!

The same ones on Flickr look a lot better!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67377820@N08/6738957023/
BW Self Portrait with Guitar by CGipson Photography, on Flickr

Self Portrait with Guitar by CGipson Photography, on Flickr

 

[GeorgieGirl]

Charlie I think the results in the 2nd shot in this set above ^^^ get you where you want to be...I do think you still need a tiny little bit of separation from the BG...on my monitor I am seeing none.

 

[Robin Usagani]

I am going to try that today!

do you have to have dark background to do this? I am not much of studio lighting person. If you are in a room, the lights will bounce everywhere wont it?

I did see online you could do low key lighting with no backdrop. Instead you'd use 2 rooms - one blacked out and one lit up. Not really sure how it'd work though - I'd have to look it up.

 

[cgipson1]

Charlie I think the results in the 2nd shot in this set above ^^^ get you where you want to be...I do think you still need a tiny little bit of separation from the BG...on my monitor I am seeing none.

Thanks, GeorgieGirl! I appreciate the feedback! I was keeping the separation very minimal! Did you check out the Flickr.. because that is more accurate than the shots here. In the last B&W, I checked the background vs shirt in CS5 using the color sampler tool.. and the background is around a 4/4/4 and my shirt is at 6/6/6. Not much difference, probably too close!. I will remember in the future to make it a little more distinct!

 

[cgipson1]

I am going to try that today!

do you have to have dark background to do this? I am not much of studio lighting person. If you are in a room, the lights will bounce everywhere wont it?

I did see online you could do low key lighting with no backdrop. Instead you'd use 2 rooms - one blacked out and one lit up. Not really sure how it'd work though - I'd have to look it up.

Cool! Let us know how it goes!

 

[oldmacman]

The light levels are ok, and could certainly be tweaked in post if you had to. It may be personal taste, but I'm not loving the red cast to the images. I find that's a sign that you are under exposed, or perhaps you pushed the colours there?

Yes, you can shoot low key without a dark backdrop. Set your exposure, without flash, is set so that your scene is dark. Add the strobe to the setup and make the light directional and away from the background.