Studio Lights Setup

[dandaluzphotography]

Well, that's side-by-side umbrella lighting: soft lighting with almost no shadowing, big double catchlights in the eyes. She has a lovely, very symmetrical face, which is great for photography. I honestly think it would have looked better to have used one umbrella to light her, and just used a reflector for a little bit of fill on the off-side. her skin is still very smooth and un-wrinkled, and so, I think you ought to save this lighting setup for another 30 years or so, for her.

Agreed! If you want something to look interesting, don't light all of it.

My vote would go for what Derrel said, and then use the other light as a rim/hair light to give her some separation from the black void. Right now it has about as much depth as a postage stamp. A little separation light to make her pop off the background would give a long way.

This separation light would be aimed at her. Right? I haven't thought of a hair light providing separation. I've always heard of a background light providing that. My original shot had the light point to the background (there's a diagram of the setup earlier in the thread) and gsgary pointed out how bad it might look if the background wasn't perfectly flat.

Danny

 

[gsgary]

This is a crap photo of my partner i was shooting dogs and in between waiting for more customers i told here to pose (she hates her photo being taken)
but it gives you an idea of what a hair light looks like even if it is a bit strong

I've seen examples of a snoot being used with a hair light. Is this generally a good method? You mentioned the hair light is a bit strong. My idea of a hair light is very faint light just to bring out highlights. Is this thinking correct?

Danny

In that shot the light coming from behind is from a 7" reflector with a honeycomb fitted to keep the light where i want it and to stop lens flare, if the lights had been set up for my partner i would have used a snoot

 

[Big Mike]

Separation can come from lighting either the subject (hair) or the background. As long as you light one (or both) of them so that they don't blend together...then you have separation.

You typically don't want your hair light to be too much brighter or darker than your main light. The hair color and background color will likely dictate your choices here.

I don't like to put hard labels on things...but I usually think of a hair light as a light that is more above the subject and an accent light (or kicker) as a light that is hitting the subject from behind. Either one can give separation, but a hair light also helps to light the top of the subject, if your main or fill lights aren't getting much light up there.

Photographers will differ on this point...but one instructor of mine, suggested that the hair light should always been on the same side of the subject as the main light. Will gsgary's example above, the hair/accent light is opposite the main (right & left). This is OK, but it really gives the shot a very 'studio-ish' feel because that pattern of lighting would rarely occur naturally. But if you can have the hair light on the same side as the main light, it just feels more like natural light. Of course, it can be harder to get that separation when lighting the hair from that side.

One important factor is that you don't want your hair light to light too much (or any) of the face. In the example above, note that the hair lights is not hitting her nose at all, which is the right way to do it. If it was hitting the nose, it would have been too far around and would have to be moved back.