Studio Portrait with backlight (setup, preset, everything)

[zappo]

I was asked how I did this shot, so well here it is. For your convenience I will provide you with the lighting setup, the settings I used (that’s a difficult one, but you will see) and even the Lightroom settings I used. On the end there is even a bonus tip for all of you who don’t have studio equipment, so read on.

The setup

In principle this is very simple. Place one softbox behind the subject as a backdrop. This will also create the wrapping of light around the subjects face. The second light illuminates the face; I placed it in front a little bit above the subject facing about 45° downwards on a boom stand.
Some tips for the setup:

• This works best if the model has short hair, a pony tail etc. so you can see the light wrapping around the face
• The nearer you place the model to the softbox, the more wrapping you will get. In this photo the model was so near, her ponytail touched the softbox.
• You can play around with the front light, the setup I used really eliminates most of the shadows in the face but go ahead and try something else

The settings
This is a tough one. I shot this picture with ISO 200, f/16, 1/200s at 150mm. The backlight was a 400W strobe at about half power and the front light a 400W strobe at about 1/4 power. The thing is, you will have to try for yourself, my girlfriend tried the shot with the same model, strobes, setting etc. only a different camera and the pictures were way to dark.
Here are some tips what you are looking for:

• The Background should be pure white (check the histogram on your camera)
• The face should be lit quite evenly, but beware of overexposing the whole shot
• You will get some stray light from the back flash, that’s no problem
• If you get a massive amount of stray light the back flash should be powered down. Seek for the point where the backdrop is just becoming pure white
• Start with the back flash and get it right, with the front flash off you can check the wrapping around the face and how much stray light you get

The post processing
I did 90% of the post processing in Lightroom, a preset is attached to this post. In Photoshop I removed some stray hair and tried to clean up the whole picture a little bit to support the overall look of the image



The bonus tip
So what to do if you don’t have studio equipment? Time for some DIY, you will need:

• A white bedsheet
• A window that get’s direct sunlight
• A reflector

For the backlight simply place the bedsheet over the window, the reflector will act as a front light. In most of the cases this won’t give you as much light as the strobes, so you will have to adjust the settings in your camera accordingly.
That’s all. I hope you enjoyed this short tutorial and post a link if you take a picture with this method!

[franky]

I like it, it's like she's an angel! Good work with lighting!!

[Jim Bryant]

Interesting setup. I might have to try that for some of my high key portrait work.

[DSLR Newbie]

Great tutorial. Thanks