Studio Lights Setup

dandaluzphotography · May 12, 2011

Hi Guys,

I have been working on shots in my studio for about the past week and I have noticed that my shots appear to be overexposed. According to the histogram on the camera and in Lightroom, the exposure is perfect but the photo just seems blown out. I have been taking pictures of my wife that is pretty fair-skinned and the left side of her face seems to be blown out. Again, according to histograms the photo is not.

My setup is one flashpoint monolight at camera left and behind the subject pointing to a black background at 1/2 power firing through a diffusing umbrella. The second monolight is at camera right and to the front left of the subject. I also have a reflector at camera left to the right/front of the subject and firing through a diffusing umbrella.

The right side of the subject's face is nicely lit, but again, the left side of the face is almost white because of the harsh light. Any ideas how I can remedy this? I am looking for a nice even exposure. I could probably just put the two lights at camera left and right in front of the subject bouncing of umbrellas and this would remedy it, but then I would think both side of the face would look overexposed.

I'm new to this. Need help!

Thanks,
Danny

SrBiscuit · May 12, 2011

could you offer us a simple diagram with the layout and power setting of each light?

"left side of the face..." now is that camera left or subject left?

i think a diagram might help the solutions roll in

gsgary · May 12, 2011

first off why are you firing one at the black background ? There is no way of answering your question without seeing a photo and knowing what the settings are
you could just turn down the power on the flash on the front right

SrBiscuit · May 12, 2011

gsgary said:
you could just turn down the power on the flash on the front right

i was thinking it was just a question of power too...good call.

Big Mike · May 12, 2011

A common mistake (well, not really a mistake, but a trap) that many photographers fall into, when trying to learn lighting...is to just right in with multiple lights. It's much more complicated than just using one light to get you started.

As we've told you before...there are a few things that affect the flash exposure. The lens aperture, the ISO, the flash power setting and the distance from the flash to the subject.
So if you are getting overexposure...you just need to change one of those things (without changing the others).

If you can break it down into these simple terms, with one light...then it should start to make more sense for you. And after you have a good handle on that, and have experimented with just one light...then you can add in the second light. And using the same simple terms, work out the exposure for the second light. You'll then realize that light is additive...and if you light the same thing with two lights, it will be brighter than if lit by either one individually. But you still use the same things to control the exposure...aperture, ISO, power setting and distance.

Derrel · May 12, 2011

Post a photo and we could probably diagnose the issues within a minute or two.

And YES, you could position two lights in umbrellas, one on each side of the subject's face OR two umbrellas, one high, and one low, stacked one on top of another; those types of lighting setups are called side-by-side and over/under, and they give big, bright, dual eye catchlights, and very soft, almost shadowless lighting with a very,very low ratio, often 1:1. Those two methods minimize skin texture and wrinkles, and look pretty good on women in their 40's,50,60's,and older. Over/under lighting is pretty easy to do if you have a sturdy, heavy-duty light stand like a Matthews or Avenger, and then use a clamp to clamp on another flash head and umbrella onto the main column. Because the camera is shot right through the gap between the two lights in both these set-up styles, the lighting is basically very much on-axis, and because the lighting is coming from the same axis as the lens, that makes the shadows, what little there are, fall in an almost invisible way--much the same was as a ring light does!!!

Because the two lights are very close to one another, the overall SIZE of the light is quite large, and that makes the light soft, since it is a big source, and close to a human subject. So, yeah, if you want soft, smooth lighting for a female subject, you CAN use two umbrellas, one on each side of the subject, OR two umbrellas stacked one above the other.

dandaluzphotography · May 12, 2011

Below is the diagram. Let me answer a few of the questions first.

@ SrBiscuit - I meant left of the subject.
@ gsgary - I was just trying something different by firing at the background; to see what effect it would have. I don't have a pic with me at work, but the settings were 1/160, f/9, ISO 100.
@BigMike - without changing the others? Wouldn't this leave me underexposed? According to the histograms anyway.

Now, if I lower the power of the lights, wouldn't that have the effect of lowering the exposure causing me to compensate somewhere else like with the aperture or shutter or ISO whereby getting me to the same overexposure?

Thanks for all the responses.

Danny

Derrel · May 12, 2011

Well, the one obvious problem is that the reflector in that location,and at the angle shown, is NOT going to reflect much, if any, of the main light onto the shadowed side of a person. The reflector would need to be placed closer to her, and the back,background edge of the reflector would need to be moved from its current 10:00 o'clock orientation to a more 12:00 o'clock angle, and inserted in line between roughly her, and where the background umbrella is firing. If this diagram is accurate (? is it?), your MAIN light is hitting her, but the reflector is not "seeing" the main light, and is NOT providing much fill-in light. To better gauge it, stand behind the reflector, and look at the main light...do you literally, visually "SEE" the main body, the main mass, the main "swath" emanating from the main light??? You need to...and so a slight re-positioning of the main light and the reflector might be in order.

tirediron · May 12, 2011

Lose the background light, it's not doing anything useful, and move the reflector so that it is more like about 90 deg subject right (camera left). A lot has to do with the light to subject / subject to camera distances as well. As Mike and Derrel mentioned, start small; some amazing shots have been taken with a single light.

dandaluzphotography · May 12, 2011

Derrel said:
Well, the one obvious problem is that the reflector in that location,and at the angle shown, is NOT going to reflect much, if any, of the main light onto the shadowed side of a person. The reflector would need to be placed closer to her, and the back,background edge of the reflector would need to be moved from its current 10:00 o'clock orientation to a more 12:00 o'clock angle, and inserted in line between roughly her, and where the background umbrella is firing. If this diagram is accurate (? is it?), your MAIN light is hitting her, but the reflector is not "seeing" the main light, and is NOT providing much fill-in light. To better gauge it, stand behind the reflector, and look at the main light...do you literally, visually "SEE" the main body, the main mass, the main "swath" emanating from the main light??? You need to...and so a slight re-positioning of the main light and the reflector might be in order.

It is accurate. I think I understand what you mean. So angle the reflector perpendicular to the background so the light on the camera's right can be reflected to the subject who should be closer to reflector? I'll try this.

Danny

CCericola · May 12, 2011

If you use an accurate light meter you will not have these issues.

dandaluzphotography · May 12, 2011

tirediron said:
Lose the background light, it's not doing anything useful, and move the reflector so that it is more like about 90 deg subject right (camera left). A lot has to do with the light to subject / subject to camera distances as well. As Mike and Derrel mentioned, start small; some amazing shots have been taken with a single light.

I'll change things around tonight. Thanks!

dandaluzphotography · May 12, 2011

dandaluzphotography said:
Now, if I lower the power of the lights, wouldn't that have the effect of lowering the exposure causing me to compensate somewhere else like with the aperture or shutter or ISO whereby getting me to the same overexposure?

What about this question I had from my last post?