Studio Photography Workshop - Part 4

We dismantled the previous set before moving on to Session 4, a group exercise to photograph the form of an object. Richard had obtained some polystyrene wig stands as the subject.

Wig stands waiting patiently

The key point of the set up in this exercise was to light the background independently of the lighting on the subject.

We used the same white backdrop as in the previous scene. As before, this was lit by two pairs of flash lamps pointing across the screen to just illuminate the opposite edge. They were moved further back from the screen to spread the light wider.

The polystyrene head was fixed to a stand and positioned a good distance in front of the backdrop. The camera and tripod with a longer focal length lens were placed to frame the head reasonably closely.

With live-view switched on, Richard showed where on the backdrop the frame edges reached. This was a far larger area of the backdrop than with the earlier contre-jour photograph. This area of the backdrop was examined to ensure that this was evenly illuminated.

The next stage was to set up the main lighting. A mains flash with a soft box was fitted on a stand a few feet higher than the subject. With the background switched off, photographs were taken with this main light in different positions, side right, back right, behind camera, back left, side left etc. These photographs were reviewed to select the best position for the main light. In this case, the lamp was placed on the right side.

With the background lights activated, photographs were taken and the power of the main light and background lights were adjusted to balance the brightness of the subject and background. The image of the subject was examined in detail in live view. Around the sides and top of the head, we could see that some stray light from the background was reaching the subject. Large black screens were placed on each side behind the subject to block out any light from the background other than that immediately behind the subject. A black velvet cloth was also draped across the screens above the subject for the same reason. Other screens were placed to prevent any light from the background lighting reaching the camera.

View of set up: main light only stage

Smaller black screens were also placed to each side of the lens with a black velvet cloth between them to minimize flare.

The next stage was to consider fill lighting. Richard suggested placing a fill light behind and above the camera. As before the other lights were switched off so that the effect of this additional light was determined. As Richard demonstrated, this spread the tones modeling the form of the head in a much more subtle way.

Richard suggested that it might be worth using a reflector to lighten up the shadows under the nose and chin of the subject. A white reflector placed below the subject did soften these shadows.

Where the subject is a person, a hair highlight lamp is normally added. The lamp on a gantry was placed above and just behind the subject pointing to the top of the head. As before, the other lamps were extinguished whilst the power and effect of this lamp was adjusted.

Richard explained that this set up could now be used for a live model, and the head of one of the group was photographed in the same position as the model head. He explained that in a professional portrait or fashion shoot, the photographer would build the set and adjust the light levels well before the time for the shoot. A few initial photographs would be taken as soon as the model arrived. Whilst the model was changing and preparing (makeup, hair etc), the photographer would use the initial photographs to fine tune the settings. As a result, the photographer could start straight away with minimum final adjustments. During the shoot, an assistant would often be used to move the hair highlights and reflectors to follow the movements of the model from pose to pose.