Thanks to Saralonde for suggesting a title that's a little clearer.
If you're just joining me, first take a look at
Part 1,
Part 2, and
Part 3 to get an idea of what I'm doing with this series.
So, I finished Part 3 with a road trip to see my wife's family, and I used one strobe and the sun in a crosslighting setup for some nice outdoor family portraits.
Now I'm back inside, it's Christmas Eve, and I've still just got one speedlight (not for long):
Note: Click any picture to open up a larger version.
It's my wife and her brother. They've read the same Christmas book together every year that they have been able to spend the holidays together. The light is a SB-600 through a shoot-through umbrella to camera right, very near the camera. I have also draped a shiny silver tarp over some chairs immediately to camera left for some fill. The direction they are facing takes good advantage of this light setup, without casting any hard shadows anywhere except the wall, but you can tell it's a single light from that hard shadow behind and to camera left of each of their heads. There is also a lot of light falloff along the wall from camera right to left, telling you that this is lit with one main light doing most of the work.
So, as I'm sure no one is surprised at this point, I got a second SB-600 for Christmas (gotta love a woman who buys you camera stuff) and a lightstand. I left the same lights described in the above setup, but I added the second light on the lightstand from camera left (it's tall and shooting down from above the reflector) pointed down towards the subjects. I zoomed it in as much as possible with the following result:
I'm now using that second light effectively as a hair light and also for a little more fill. This gives them some edge definition, separates them from the background (as does moving them forward about a foot), and makes the whole thing pop a bit.
Having more lights and more definition lends itself better to many post-production techniques. Here is one example:
The actual techniques I used for this are not that important (it's just a high contrast B&W conversion, LucisArt filter, and selective coloring of the eyes). My point is that none of it would have looked nearly as good without good lighting in the initial shot.
I think this is a key point when we all look at the work of professional photographers and are tempted to think that they achieve their signature "look" only by some complex and secret photoshop techniques. They may, but it's lighting a scene well in the first place with the application of those techniques in mind that really gives them that special something. (I in no way intend to compare myself, it's just an observation).
So, what else can you do with two light? Lots, but since there is a four pic maximum I'll finish with this one:
If it looks simple, that's exactly what I'm after. In reality that room is quite large and the Christmas tree behind the family is tall, as is the ceiling. Every photo we've ever shot in there looks like you're in a cavern because the flash only fills the subjects, not the background. To fix that I hid my second strobe behind the tree on a six foot stand and fired it up at the ceiling forward towards camera left. The bounced light acted as a large fill source coming from above and camera left for the subjects, and it lit the tree. My main light was the other strobe bounced into a silver umbrella camera right.
I know there is a lot of info in this post, but please feel free to ask questions about any of it. Comments and critiques about any of the pictures are also quite welcome. Thanks for reading.
Part 1 -- Umbrella Specular
Part 2 -- Adding a reflector for fill (and a Mother-in-law)
Part 3 -- Crosslighting with the sun (for a group portrait)
Part 4 -- Now I have two strobes!
Part 5 -- Ghetto striplight high key fun
Part 6 -- DIY Softbox for serious light