Weekly Assignment #108: Edge silhouette

Nikolai

Typical silhouette is done with a well lit background and the subject not lit at all, thus making a strong black figure against the white bg. This time around we'll use black (or very dark) background. And to make our subject stand out we'll only lit its edge. This is typically achieved with one or more lights located behind the subject and turned towards the camera. You may wanna use a lot of flags, gobos and other modifiers to prevent the lens flares and the light spill on the bg.
Got edge? :wink

wats005

should it be number 108?

Nikolai

wats005 wrote:

should it be number 108?

Duh :bash
title fixed, requested the lsiting update
thanks!

SamirD

Nikolai wrote:

Typical silhouette is done with a well lit background and the subject not lit at all, thus making a strong black figure against the white bg. This time around we'll use black (or very dark) background. And to make our subject stand out we'll only lit its edge. This is typically achieved with one or more lights located behind the subject and turned towards the camera. You may wanna use a lot of flags, gobos and other modifiers to prevent the lens flares and the light spill on the bg.
Got edge?

This is exactly what I was trying to do in this shot from earlier this month:

But I wasn't able to get exactly the effect I wanted. :cry What did I need to do different?

Nikolai

SamirD wrote:

This is exactly what I was trying to do in this shot from earlier this month:

But I wasn't able to get exactly the effect I wanted. :cry What did I need to do different?

Samir,
first of all, we do not accept old shots.
Second - you must control you light and have nothing up front or on the bg. It's not that hard, actually.

baldmountain

Nikolai wrote:

Second - you must control you light and have nothing up front or on the bg.

Ummm, as far as I can see both those models have plenty up front.

eL eSs Vee

This'll be fun! I'm doing a shoot tomorrow and can cover a number of assignments with it, including this one.

SamirD

Nikolai wrote:

Samir,
first of all, we do not accept old shots.
Second - you must control you light and have nothing up front or on the bg. It's not that hard, actually.

I realized I can't participate in the assignment. :cry I was just looking for pointers.

We had a 3200 light behind her and no light on her from the side or front. But there was a white wall behind me and the light seemed to bounce. What could we have done differently to get the proper effect like in your photo above?

Nikolai

SamirD wrote:

I realized I can't participate in the assignment. :cry I was just looking for pointers.

We had a 3200 light behind her and no light on her from the side or front. But there was a white wall behind me and the light seemed to bounce. What could we have done differently to get the proper effect like in your photo above?

Samir,
all you need is a good light spill control.
Unfortunately, small rooms with white walls/floors and low (8ft or less) ceilings do NOT help in that respect.
That particular shoot was taken in a decent size room with a very high (22ft) celing, 40 degree grids on the rim lights and lot of black fabric behind and beneath her.
If you have a light meter and can reach 4-5 stop difference in your setup - you got it.

ian408

SamirD wrote:

We had a 3200 light behind her and no light on her from the side or front. But there was a white wall behind me and the light seemed to bounce. What could we have done differently to get the proper effect like in your photo above?

That white wall is more than likely the problem. Any light that spills onto it will be reflected back onto your subject. You can control the spill with barn doors, a snoot or something similar or eliminate the reflection by using a large panel or something to block it (a gobo (or "goes between")) from the wall. Alternatively, you could shoot in manual and knock one or two stops off the exposure and use more lights to get the detail you want.

If I might make a suggestion as far as reading goes. Try Light: Science & Magic.

Another good book is The Moment It Clicks by Joe McNally--less of a "how to" and more a series of examples, this shows you what can be done with light. He's got another book that should ship mid-March called Hot Shoe Diaries that covers the use of small flash units (SB600, 580EXII, etc).

Nikolai

ian408 wrote:

That white wall is more than likely the problem. Any light that spills onto it will be reflected back onto your subject. You can control the spill with barn doors, a snoot or something similar or eliminate the reflection by using a large panel or something to block it (a gobo (or "goes between")) from the wall. Alternatively, you could shoot in manual and knock one or two stops off the exposure and use more lights to get the detail you want.

If I might make a suggestion as far as reading goes. Try Light: Science & Magic.

Another good book is The Moment It Clicks by Joe McNally--less of a "how to" and more a series of examples, this shows you what can be done with light. He's got another book that should ship mid-March called Hot Shoe Diaries that covers the use of small flash units (SB600, 580EXII, etc).

+1

SamirD

Nikolai wrote:

Samir,
all you need is a good light spill control.
Unfortunately, small rooms with white walls/floors and low (8ft or less) ceilings do NOT help in that respect.
That particular shoot was taken in a decent size room with a very high (22ft) celing, 40 degree grids on the rim lights and lot of black fabric behind and beneath her.
If you have a light meter and can reach 4-5 stop difference in your setup - you got it.

It was a parking garage where we staged the shoot, so the ceiling was low and probably reflected light as well. I believe we had a 10 degree grid on the light. Everything was metered to 100ISO, f8.0, shutter 125. I think I played with shutter adjustments, but wasn't satisfied with the results.

Thank you both for the feedback. I'll look into the books for sure.

baldmountain

ian408 wrote:

If I might make a suggestion as far as reading goes. Try Light: Science & Magic.

+1 on Light Science & Magic. It is my favorite technique book. Really got me thinking about light.

eL eSs Vee

A Vintage Silhouette

Juliette

I took this yesterday. Two bare-bulb strobes and two friends holding foamcore flags.

Nikolai

eL eSs Vee wrote:

Juliette
I took this yesterday. Two bare-bulb strobes and two friends holding foamcore flags.

Great entry, Lee! Exactly what I asked for!
My only nit is it's TOO dark. Typically you want the edges bleeding pure white, while of course preserving next-to-zero innards..

eL eSs Vee

Nikolai wrote:

Great entry, Lee! Exactly what I asked for!
My only nit is it's TOO dark. Typically you want the edges bleeding pure white, while of course preserving next-to-zero innards..

Thank you, Nikolai! :ivar

Yeah, I wanted more white, too. I shot a couple of others, but they weren't dark enough all around. But, I'm certain Juliette will like this one all the same.

I'll keep practicing so that, someday, I'll be as good as you.

EDIT: Thinking about my set-up, I may have had the lights too close together. I also should have used my black flannel to flag the light from the lens (rather than the small foamcore panels) to also reduce the light from reflecting back onto Juliette.

Nikolai

Not exactly following the requirements for this class, but it's fairly close...
If you're not afraid of artistic nudity, check out this (18+) post in GoFigure forum:
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=121694 (password: optin)

eL eSs Vee

Nothing scares me . . . except body piercings and certain tattoos. *shudder*

Those are very nice, Nikolai! What was your approximate angle on the lights: From the subject? From the lights? What modifier(s), if any, did you use on them?