Help- I am trying to recreate window lighting with my speedlight

[brandy wilkinson]

Here are some examples, then I'll ask my questions:


I took this photo of my friend next to her window. I LOVE this portrait lighting and want to learn how to recreate this with a speedlight and light modifier.

Here is what I've been getting:



So I put my umbrella on it to diffuse the light and all it does is this:

I wanted more light to be noticeable on his left side of his face, but it just spread it everywhere.

How do I do this? Do I need a softbox for more soft directional light? I am using a satin white umbrella. I shot through it and bounce and still don't get directional light, like the window gave me in my first photo of my friend.

[ttosifa]

Originally Posted by brandy wilkinson

I wanted more light to be noticeable on his left side of his face, but it just spread it everywhere.

How do I do this? Do I need a softbox for more soft directional light? I am using a satin white umbrella. I shot through it and bounce and still don't get directional light, like the window gave me in my first photo of my friend.

Hi --

It seems you are asking two questions in your post, and I am not sure which one you are really asking.

As far as getting "directional" light, you can get it with just about any modifier. But yes, an umbrella tends to throw light everywhere, so you'll probably need to get it VERY close and on the left, if that's where you want it. Having it close in lets the inverse square law work in your favor, increasing falloff and giving more of a "directional" look.

But if your question is how do you get exactly this lighting (and not just directionality), then I don't think I would try to use an umbrella at all. This lighting is something I can do (and have done) quite easily with an Alienbee strobe. You can get something similar with a speedlight, but there might be a gotcha I'll mention shortly.

The light is coming from the side and perhaps slightly behind her, so that is where you need to put your main light. On the opposite side you will need a large reflector. The large reflector can be a white wall, whatever (not a mirror though). This reflector will bounce the raw light that blows past the subject back into the subject's face. In general, you do not want to diffuse the original light source as this will flatten everything and reduce the fill power from the reflector.

Lighting from behind can be very effective at simulating daylight or window light. I love the look myself. What you'll get is what you have in the first picture. The side with the speedlight will be the brightest (and maybe even slightly blown out, but that's ok because that is part of the look). The opposite side of the face will be second brightest because the raw light is going past her face and bouncing back -- the opposite side is closest to the reflector. Moving from the opposite side to the side with the speedlight, the shadow deepens until it gets to the specular highlight created by the speedlight. Phew! Hope I got this right!

EDIT: If you are using an incident light meter, you'll want to point it towards your reflector and be sure that none of the raw light hits the dome. Otherwise, you'll underexpose.

EDITx2: When backlighting, be sure to protect your lens from the flash. Otherwise, you'll lose contrast.

The one gotcha is that I know this works with Alienbees and their 7-inch reflectors. It's not a power thing but a size thing. The Alienbee is just a much larger light source than a speedlight and this lets a lot of raw light get past the subject to the reflector. A speedlight is smaller and the subject's head might simply block most of the light. The only things I can suggest are bringing the light more towards the front of the subject, putting it higher above the subject, or moving the speedlight back and increasing the power. Dunno.

[OsmosisStudios]

This may sound obtuse, but I'll give it a go: Use a window.

[f_bat]

You should try using something like a lastolite trigrip just outside the frame, as close as you can to your subject. This should work very well.

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by ttosifa

In general, you do not want to diffuse the original light source... .

Not sure I understand this statement as window light is a huge difused light source which is why it looks so soft on the lady's face (great pic btw). In pic two you have great example of simulating sunlight, small point source light...but not what you were after! The 3rd pic you are right there - close but jusssst a bit outside. You need a bit more difference in the ratio between the two sides as it looks too even. I note a bit of catch light in his eyes so you could probably move that strobe a bit more around to the side/back, increase the strobe output and/or exposure. Keep the umbrella close to his face as you want a big light source. In fact if you have a different diffuser you might want to try that. Just about anything flat, transparent and neutral should work. A reflector on the off side will be your friend in helping to keep the resulting shadows from going too deep. Good luck and have fun.

[Sodaman420]

as nice as alienbees are (just picked up 2x myself, woot!) i think the question he's asking is how to recreate with just his current setup.

like the others said, make sure to put the umbrella or other light source in the same spot as the window would be; the third photo looks like you used the umbrella head-on or just baaaarely to the right of him.

don't forget to color temperature balance the flashes for daylight if you can (this may be trickier) with a gel: otherwise it may look a little different because there are two different color temperatures- compared to the first photo which has only the window and light from outside. [did that make sense?]

[Mr Guy]

I'm sitting here browsing because I'm nervous waiting for a model to show up. I recently did something similar to what I think you may be trying to do. I'm going to put it as a link, and not as a picture, because it's an underwear shot. Nothing stronger than you'd see in the Sears catalog, but still.

Here

That light in the background is my strobe. My case is going to be slightly different than yours, because I used two lights, but it does give a starting point. I had a brightly lit room with daylight from windows on the opposite side of the room. I also use my bigger flash as the even room light with a white umbrella to brighten it just a tad more. I then pointed my strobe directly at the white wall behind her and hung a sheer curtain over it to play the roll of the "window".

I feel like it gives the impression of a window without having had to put her where she could be seen from outside. I also put striplights on either side of the flash unit but exposed for the flashes and not the striplights. That let us visualize what it should look like easier than just showing test shots. You can see the strip from the striplight in the glass bowl in the background.