There are two things that make up Rembrandt Lighting… A light on one half the face, and a triangle of light on the shadowed side of the face called a chiaroscuro.
So far, this has been the toughest setup of the project because getting the chiaroscuro right takes a bit of fussing around. Even with all my fussing, I'm not quite sure I got it. I also get the feeling that a person with a more prominent nose will be a bit easier.
I started with the key light in the normal 45 degree height position but it didn't work. It wasn't until I got the light just above head height that the triangle became distinct. I think using a smaller softbox or the large box in horizontal postion may have worked better. I tried it in horizontal position but it threw too much wrap around light on the opposite cheek and we were a bit rushed this morning so I ditched the idea and went back to vertical position.
2-Light Setup
Key light - 30x60" softbox set to f/5.6
Fill light - none
Hair light - 30 degree gridded strobe set to f/5.6
BG Light - none
1/250 @ f/5.6 ISO 100, 170mm focal length
Here is a second shot with only the addition of a 3rd light for fill. I used a 42" shoot-through umbrella set to f/3.5.
I'm just diggin the pics of you wife, wrong or right they dont get old! JK But Hackbones comments are great, and looks like you applied them well on this latest set. Awesome
Well done again!!! I like the first without the fill better I think. One down side to this thread... you are making me want a lot more gear than I have. Great setup and I am loving the pull-backs! Keep it up! Oh, Hackbones... were you suggesting the first or second pose with the hand on the hip comment above? Pose #2 here looks a little forced and much less natural than the first. Just curious as it was good feedback. The shoulders look much, much better.
Well done again!!! I like the first without the fill better I think. One down side to this thread... you are making me want a lot more gear than I have. Great setup and I am loving the pull-backs! Keep it up! Oh, Hackbones... were you suggesting the first or second pose with the hand on the hip comment above? Pose #2 here looks a little forced and much less natural than the first. Just curious as it was good feedback. The shoulders look much, much better.
Don't I know the feeling of gear envy.
As for the last two, I'm not sure how I feel about the first one. I like it but I think I can do better. Also, I don't know if it works to well for the shape of my wife's face. Rembrandt is typically used to shoot men. It's a more masculine light form.
I actually like the pose in the 2nd shot better. I like the shoulders and her head position. I also like her expression. Very natural for her.
One thing I should mention is that I'm not doing any adjustment of exposure, dodging/burning in these shots. My goal is to get that right in camera and the light meter is really making that quite simple. Post I've done all these shots is sharpening, a bit of the heal brush for a couple zits and also cleaning up of wild hairs. I've done a curve adjustment on a couple of the shots with the beauty dish to set black point because it spills a little and causes flare.
Beautiful, model, lighting, explanations, and photography.
What more can I say?
Sam
Thanks Sam. Hope to see you again this year when I travel up to your hood. I'll let you know.
BTW, we took today's portrait this morning. Can't wait to get home to see the shots on my puter. I didn't have much time to get a good look on the LCD but I think I got a couple good ones.
Alex, if you have time try another experiment. Point the box at a 90 degree to her, take a shot at the back of the box, have her take a step forward and do another shot, then another stop with shot all the way to the forward edge of the box (close to you). Keep your exposure the same and check out the differences. Great thread.
Alex, if you have time try another experiment. Point the box at a 90 degree to her, take a shot at the back of the box, have her take a step forward and do another shot, then another stop with shot all the way to the forward edge of the box (close to you). Keep your exposure the same and check out the differences. Great thread.
Makes sense Chuck. I will try that tomorrow or on the weekend. I have some ideas of how the changes in position relative to the box will affect how the light wraps but am really curious to see them "on paper". You know, this is really shaping up to be a very effective project for really understanding light. I've already developed a better understanding of how different the light properties are from a softbox and a beauty dish. One thing that I have yet to try but definitely plan to is to see the difference in output and quality of a shoot through vs. bounce umbrella.
Last time I did Butterfly with a beauty dish. This time I used my large softbox as the key light and added my two strip boxes as kickers. Really love the way this setup turned out.
3-Light Setup
Key Light - 30x60" Softbox set @ f/5.6
Kickers - 2 x Large Strip Boxes set @ f/5.6
I think these are my favorite shots of the project so far. Really love how soft the light is but yet it still has nice contrast.
Im curious. Are there uncovered windows in the room, or perhaps pictures on the wall. Her eyes have catch lights in the corners that don't seem to be accounted for by the lighting diagram. Perhaps your getting reflections from the rim lights bouncing off picture glass. Not that its an issue in the pictures mind you, just curious as it struck me as being ever so slightly odd.
Im curious. Are there uncovered windows in the room, or perhaps pictures on the wall. Her eyes have catch lights in the corners that don't seem to be accounted for by the lighting diagram. Perhaps your getting reflections from the rim lights bouncing off picture glass. Not that its an issue in the pictures mind you, just curious as it struck me as being ever so slightly odd.
Yes there are. Two camera right, about 8-10 feet from her, there is an 8x5' window but it's in pretty deep shade at the time we're shooting since it's still early or late and there is a large covered porch on the other side. There is also a large clock with a glass face on a wall, to camera left, facing her.
I don't see any catchlights that don't make sense but I didn't look too closely.
OK... so I winged it a bit this morning. She came downstairs this morning wearing one of her kick-ass leather jackets so I switched things up to go for a fashionista-badass look. Not sure I nailed that but I like it. Really interested in what you guys think about this setup.
3-Light Setp
Key Light - 30x60" Softbox set @ f/5.6 to camera right
2 Kickers - Large gridded strip boxes. Camera Left set @ f/4; camera right @ f/5.6
We started with a cool red stool we have:
D700: 1/250 @ f/5.6 ISO 100 | 70-200mm f/2.8: 116mm
But then I ditched it because I thought it was competing for attention too much:
D700: 1/250 @ f/5.6 ISO 100 | 70-200mm f/2.8: 102mm
Alex, you may not have known but most people have and open and closed side to their body. You can find which is the open/closed side by 1st drawing a line through...nevermind hehe.
Alex, you may not have known but most people have and open and closed side to their body. You can find which is the open/closed side by 1st drawing a line through...nevermind hehe.
killer stuff!
LMAO right now. You know why? And I'm being totally serious when I say this, my wife has absolutely no clue how beautiful she is. Don't get me wrong, she knows she's not ugly. But she just doesn't get it. When she saw these two photos, her comment was "Oh, I don't like the way my eyes look. You got my loppy eye." scratchscratch SMH right now. But that's one of her endearing qualities. She doesn't take herself too seriously and I love that.
Love the lighting....if you want to get picky she has an oval face and your lighting is showing it at its fullest due to the viewers left side kicker hitting the face and opening the shadows. I would move that back for more of a rim light on the body and bring some more shadow to the side of the face to slim it. For the future dark hair needs more of a kicker than a blond. The same amt of light for dark hair would blow out a blond.
That left kicker is lighting her jacket and competing with her face. Tone that down.
I love the pose......but her ahems are leading out of the photo. I would bring her left arm around and rest her elbow on her leg to broaden the base and close the pose.
I know this is a lighting demo and for that it is super.
Your comments are spot on. One of the nits I had and would change is that there isn't enough contrast on the face shadows, because of the kicker, like you said, opening up the shadows a bit too much. As for the hair light, I still struggle a bit with how much to add. From what I've read, the rule is that the hair light should be set at the same ratio as the fill to key. Here, I have it set to a 1:1 ratio to the key light, which is too much. I will tone that down some to maybe a 1.5:1 or 2:1.
As for the pose, I do have some shots with her left arm positioned how you mention. These two shots really stood out to me because her expression so I processed these. I will post one more of the other shots with the mod to the pose.
With the accents don't worry too much about using the meter. Use it to get close but then chimp to get the effect your looking for. The ratio is tough to use due to dark hair and the face v/s blond hair and the face.
Your getting to the point that there is less to cc on for the lighting now start working on the posing. Get one or two light schemes that you like and stick with those, most photographers do.
With the accents don't worry too much about using the meter. Use it to get close but then chimp to get the effect your looking for. The ratio is tough to use due to dark hair and the face v/s blond hair and the face.
Your getting to the point that there is less to cc on for the lighting now start working on the posing. Get one or two light schemes that you like and stick with those, most photographers do.
Yeah, I was reading about Monte Zucker, which you mentioned in an earlier post. He basically had one light setup that he used in all his studio work. That makes total sense and it really does simplify things. What I am realizing is that it's more about consistency and replicating what you do than knowing a bunch of different light setups. I guess it's good to know them for very specific cases but for your bread n butter shots, it's better to stick to one setup that you can nail every time.
I like the setup I used in the last two days. It's easy and effective in getting the look I like. And it can be changed with just slight tweaks to the position of the lights. I will definitely work on my posing more moving forward. I downloaded an e-book last night called "500 poses for photographing women". Its just that, 500 poses. Starting from head and shoulders and working to full length shots. Looks good and will work as a good guide till it's more second nature for me.
How did I miss a day... DOH, oh well. You day #5 shots are pure money. Absolutely amazing. Don't get me wrong, day #6 is superb as well, just like the earlier two better. I don't know how to do it all, I am having a hard time finding the time just to look at them all and process all the wonderful information in this thread!
Only comment I will make, the first shot from Day #5 really shows the makeup. Not really an issue, but it is the first one that I focus on it. Kind of like HD TV. The better the quality of image the more you can really see. Great work and keep it up... and yes, from your comments and photos I would say you have a keeper in that there woman.
So we were both quite busy all day today... her running errands and me doing yard work. We almost forgot to take today's photo. She was getting ready to call it a night but we were able to grab a quick headshot. The setup is very similar to yesterday's setup but I made some tweaks based on Hack's advice. Most notably is the move of the kickers and dropping the power on them a tad.
3-Light Setup
Key Light - 30x60" Softbox set @ f/5.6 to camera right
2 Kickers - Large gridded strip boxes. Camera Left set @ f/4; camera right @ f/4
Fill Light - Large round white reflector
D700: 1/250 @ f/5.6 ISO 100 | 70-200mm f/2.8: 200mm
I'm in love......with the lighting. for the heck of it try the exact same setup and pose just put the main on the left side but keep the exact pose. You'll get a short light and see if you like the results better.
Comments
There are two things that make up Rembrandt Lighting… A light on one half the face, and a triangle of light on the shadowed side of the face called a chiaroscuro.
So far, this has been the toughest setup of the project because getting the chiaroscuro right takes a bit of fussing around. Even with all my fussing, I'm not quite sure I got it. I also get the feeling that a person with a more prominent nose will be a bit easier.
I started with the key light in the normal 45 degree height position but it didn't work. It wasn't until I got the light just above head height that the triangle became distinct. I think using a smaller softbox or the large box in horizontal postion may have worked better. I tried it in horizontal position but it threw too much wrap around light on the opposite cheek and we were a bit rushed this morning so I ditched the idea and went back to vertical position.
2-Light Setup
Key light - 30x60" softbox set to f/5.6
Fill light - none
Hair light - 30 degree gridded strobe set to f/5.6
BG Light - none
1/250 @ f/5.6 ISO 100, 170mm focal length
Here is a second shot with only the addition of a 3rd light for fill. I used a 42" shoot-through umbrella set to f/3.5.
Here is a pull-back of the setup.
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Have you performed a few Random Acts of Parenting today?
Don't I know the feeling of gear envy.
As for the last two, I'm not sure how I feel about the first one. I like it but I think I can do better. Also, I don't know if it works to well for the shape of my wife's face. Rembrandt is typically used to shoot men. It's a more masculine light form.
I actually like the pose in the 2nd shot better. I like the shoulders and her head position. I also like her expression. Very natural for her.
One thing I should mention is that I'm not doing any adjustment of exposure, dodging/burning in these shots. My goal is to get that right in camera and the light meter is really making that quite simple. Post I've done all these shots is sharpening, a bit of the heal brush for a couple zits and also cleaning up of wild hairs. I've done a curve adjustment on a couple of the shots with the beauty dish to set black point because it spills a little and causes flare.
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What more can I say?
Sam
Thanks Sam. Hope to see you again this year when I travel up to your hood. I'll let you know.
BTW, we took today's portrait this morning. Can't wait to get home to see the shots on my puter. I didn't have much time to get a good look on the LCD but I think I got a couple good ones.
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Makes sense Chuck. I will try that tomorrow or on the weekend. I have some ideas of how the changes in position relative to the box will affect how the light wraps but am really curious to see them "on paper". You know, this is really shaping up to be a very effective project for really understanding light. I've already developed a better understanding of how different the light properties are from a softbox and a beauty dish. One thing that I have yet to try but definitely plan to is to see the difference in output and quality of a shoot through vs. bounce umbrella.
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14-24 24-70 70-200mm (vr2)
85 and 50 1.4
45 PC and sb910 x2
http://www.danielkimphotography.com
Last time I did Butterfly with a beauty dish. This time I used my large softbox as the key light and added my two strip boxes as kickers. Really love the way this setup turned out.
3-Light Setup
Key Light - 30x60" Softbox set @ f/5.6
Kickers - 2 x Large Strip Boxes set @ f/5.6
I think these are my favorite shots of the project so far. Really love how soft the light is but yet it still has nice contrast.
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I love her nose Chuck. I tell her it reminds me of a little "Kirby Vacuum".
And yes, the colors really come together in this image. Again, something to pay more attention to in the future.
Thanks Zero.
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Great job Alex.
Marcelo
Yes there are. Two camera right, about 8-10 feet from her, there is an 8x5' window but it's in pretty deep shade at the time we're shooting since it's still early or late and there is a large covered porch on the other side. There is also a large clock with a glass face on a wall, to camera left, facing her.
I don't see any catchlights that don't make sense but I didn't look too closely.
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OK... so I winged it a bit this morning. She came downstairs this morning wearing one of her kick-ass leather jackets so I switched things up to go for a fashionista-badass look. Not sure I nailed that but I like it. Really interested in what you guys think about this setup.
3-Light Setp
Key Light - 30x60" Softbox set @ f/5.6 to camera right
2 Kickers - Large gridded strip boxes. Camera Left set @ f/4; camera right @ f/5.6
We started with a cool red stool we have:
D700: 1/250 @ f/5.6 ISO 100 | 70-200mm f/2.8: 116mm
But then I ditched it because I thought it was competing for attention too much:
D700: 1/250 @ f/5.6 ISO 100 | 70-200mm f/2.8: 102mm
Moderator of the People and Go Figure forums
My Smug Site
killer stuff!
14-24 24-70 70-200mm (vr2)
85 and 50 1.4
45 PC and sb910 x2
http://www.danielkimphotography.com
LMAO right now. You know why? And I'm being totally serious when I say this, my wife has absolutely no clue how beautiful she is. Don't get me wrong, she knows she's not ugly. But she just doesn't get it. When she saw these two photos, her comment was "Oh, I don't like the way my eyes look. You got my loppy eye."
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That left kicker is lighting her jacket and competing with her face. Tone that down.
I love the pose......but her ahems are leading out of the photo. I would bring her left arm around and rest her elbow on her leg to broaden the base and close the pose.
I know this is a lighting demo and for that it is super.
www.cameraone.biz
Your comments are spot on. One of the nits I had and would change is that there isn't enough contrast on the face shadows, because of the kicker, like you said, opening up the shadows a bit too much. As for the hair light, I still struggle a bit with how much to add. From what I've read, the rule is that the hair light should be set at the same ratio as the fill to key. Here, I have it set to a 1:1 ratio to the key light, which is too much. I will tone that down some to maybe a 1.5:1 or 2:1.
As for the pose, I do have some shots with her left arm positioned how you mention. These two shots really stood out to me because her expression so I processed these. I will post one more of the other shots with the mod to the pose.
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My Smug Site
Your getting to the point that there is less to cc on for the lighting now start working on the posing. Get one or two light schemes that you like and stick with those, most photographers do.
www.cameraone.biz
Yeah, I was reading about Monte Zucker, which you mentioned in an earlier post. He basically had one light setup that he used in all his studio work. That makes total sense and it really does simplify things. What I am realizing is that it's more about consistency and replicating what you do than knowing a bunch of different light setups. I guess it's good to know them for very specific cases but for your bread n butter shots, it's better to stick to one setup that you can nail every time.
I like the setup I used in the last two days. It's easy and effective in getting the look I like. And it can be changed with just slight tweaks to the position of the lights. I will definitely work on my posing more moving forward. I downloaded an e-book last night called "500 poses for photographing women". Its just that, 500 poses. Starting from head and shoulders and working to full length shots. Looks good and will work as a good guide till it's more second nature for me.
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Baloney! she does, she's just being modest.. Lucky you.
Only comment I will make, the first shot from Day #5 really shows the makeup. Not really an issue, but it is the first one that I focus on it. Kind of like HD TV. The better the quality of image the more you can really see. Great work and keep it up... and yes, from your comments and photos I would say you have a keeper in that there woman.
Go Shoot Something Already! - Flickr Photostream
Have you performed a few Random Acts of Parenting today?
So we were both quite busy all day today... her running errands and me doing yard work. We almost forgot to take today's photo. She was getting ready to call it a night but we were able to grab a quick headshot. The setup is very similar to yesterday's setup but I made some tweaks based on Hack's advice. Most notably is the move of the kickers and dropping the power on them a tad.
3-Light Setup
Key Light - 30x60" Softbox set @ f/5.6 to camera right
2 Kickers - Large gridded strip boxes. Camera Left set @ f/4; camera right @ f/4
Fill Light - Large round white reflector
D700: 1/250 @ f/5.6 ISO 100 | 70-200mm f/2.8: 200mm
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this thread is super.
www.cameraone.biz