Part 5 -- Strip Light Studio Tutorial (How I shot my wife)

[RussHeath]

I know it's been a while since I posted one of these, but I hope there are a few people still following my trials in lighting.

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!

If you're interested in off camera lighting, and you haven't read the above, take a minute and have a look. Who knows, maybe you'll want to comment??

So after reading Parts 1 - 4, you should have a good idea what the heck I'm doing with these. Basically, I'm dragging you all along on my journey to learn off camera lighting. Hope you enjoy the ride.

This episode brought to you by the Ghetto Strip Light Studio. For setup shots and some great pics of my dog, go have a look. You'll be amazed what you can get for $35 at the Home Depot. You can see the great catchlights you can get with this arrangement from the striplights:



OK, so I drained the bank account and put an extra $15 in for a highly technical lighting stand (a.k.a. laundry hanger) from Target: (Click the picture for one labeled with notes on flickr).



As you can see, I've turned the lights from a vertical orientation to horizontal, which gives some cool catchlights in the eyes and/or sunglasses:



I have a few with the lights oriented in a vertical arrangement. If there is interest, I'll post a few.

All C&C for the shots is welcome, as are questions about the setup. My hope for these threads is to encourage a discussion about portrait lighting, particularly the cheap DIY variety. Thanks for looking!

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

[CanuckNicole]

Looks like husband and I are off to the hardware store I LOVE your threads!

[WooD]

I see your using one of your speedlights as a snoot, are you using the other one on camera?

I really like the second shot, but not as much as the image you posted form the same shoot in the other thread. You have a stunning subject there. Love the attitude in the second shot.

Is the stand you have your lights on the laundry thing your talking about? I could see someone modifying that with a longer cross pipe to make a diy backdrop stand.

[peeperita]

nice work, russ.....i saw these on your flickr this morning.....i especially like how light you got your background.....with just the smallest hint of shadowing so your wife doesn't look like a cut out.....

thanks for sharing

peeper

[RussHeath]

Originally Posted by CanuckNicole

Looks like husband and I are off to the hardware store I LOVE your threads!

So glad you like the threads, Nicole. I've got you marked as a contact on flickr so I see your photos pop up from time to time. You and your husband do some very nice portrait and wedding work!

If you try the lighting setup be sure to post some here for us to see . . .

Originally Posted by WooD

I see your using one of your speedlights as a snoot, are you using the other one on camera?

I really like the second shot, but not as much as the image you posted form the same shoot in the other thread. You have a stunning subject there. Love the attitude in the second shot.

Is the stand you have your lights on the laundry thing your talking about? I could see someone modifying that with a longer cross pipe to make a diy backdrop stand.

WooD -- If you click on the setup shot I've got everything all labeled on flickr (although it's a little busy). The second SB-600 is hiding under/behind the step stool, and I'm using it to overexpose the background for a high key look.

And it's a little hard to see in the shot, but that frame looking thing is the laundry stand. It's got these nifty spring loaded buttons at the top so I can move the whole top bar up and down from about six feet at max to less than two feet high at minimum. Helps get the ratios right when the subject is at different heights (I think for "Classic" beauty light the top striplight should be a little closer to the model than the bottom one so you get a little light falloff on the neck and torso). You probably could modify it for a DIY backdrop stand, it's supposed to hold up to 100lbs.

And yeah, the attitude in the second shot really makes it. That one has become my wife's new all-time favorite!

Originally Posted by peeperita

nice work, russ.....i saw these on your flickr this morning.....i especially like how light you got your background.....with just the smallest hint of shadowing so your wife doesn't look like a cut out.....

thanks for sharing

peeper

Thanks Peeper! I had to keep adjusting the background light to get the effect you describe. Any less light, and you could tell that I had not ironed my backdrop (an old sheet). Any more, and she started to look very blown out. It can still work that way, but I prefer a touch more subtlety to it. Here's one with the nuclear looking background:



Still a cute shot with a little different style, but it does look pretty blasted . . .

[geotography]

Russ,

Thanks for sharing these fabulous shots and the setup. I think it goes beyond words to describe how adorable your wife is. And, you capture her adorableness (gosh, that doesn't even sound like a word - let's go with beauty)...yes beauty with creative perfection. She seems like a really great sport to model for you like this...she does it like a pro. Oh yes, and the double-entendre (how I shot my wife) is humorous as well.

Best,

Geo

PS: Re: my email: I see that those post numbers actually tabulate as we post...but trust me, at 10:55 PM (west coast time), yours and mine were at 713...fun

[RussHeath]

Thanks so much, Geo. It's a lot of fun to do these shots, and I'm glad to have a place to share them here on DPS. My wife read your comment over my shoulder and you got a nice smile and blush out of her! (That's her way of saying thank you).

[Andrew122]

Can you please provide exif details on the above pictures.

[RussHeath]

Originally Posted by Andrew122

Can you please provide exif details on the above pictures.

Sure thing. They're all available on flickr (just click the picture, then click the "more properties" link at bottom right. It's small but it's there.

All were shot with my 50mm f/1.8 so the focal length in each one is 50mm. ISO was 100 for all as well.

First shot: 1/100, f/1.8
Second shot (in the repost): 1/50, f/2
Third shot: 1/50, f/2.2

The differences have more to do with how I set the flash and how close she was to the strip lights than anything else. In the first one, I liked the very narrow DOF with f/1.8, but it became problematic in some of the later shots, so I increased it a little. That forced me to slow the shutter down by a stop to get more light in from the striplights. Of course, the shutter speed has no effect on the strobes so when I closed down the aperture I had to turn up the strobes a little. Hope this all makes sense, let me know if it doesn't!

[Andrew122]

Thanks RussHeath. It apears to be that her face was a bit overexposed. I wonder if the eyes' color was originally so bright blue, untouched in photoshop.