Studio Lighting - Day Two

I recently finished leading a three day photographic studio lighting workshop.  It was kindly hosted by WICE, a leading Paris-based anglophone ex-pat community organization and held in their offices near metro stop la motte piquet grenelle.

On Day Two of the workshop, we worked with two kinds of studio lighting.  The first was the kind of light used by Rembrandt for his late in life self portrait.

There is a great (fictitious as Rembrandt might have come back from the dead for this :-) discussion about this light setup by David Hobby over on his Strobist page.  It's well worth a read.

As with the William Mortensen lighting setup from Day One, this kind of light uses the shape and texture of the subject to give an image it's sense of depth.  Like the "Iconic" light of William Mortensen, you won't often see this kind of light used in modern photography.  Yet it retains many merits that can be worth exploring.

The second lighting setup we used on Day Two.

This is the light that was used predominantly in portraiture from the Renaissance period on.  Artists from Titian to Renoir have used this light to great effect.  It uses (many times soft) shadows as well as light to give a subject it's sense of depth and beauty.  Modified forms of this setup are widely used in photographic situations today.

Here is an example of my use of this kind of light.



Here is the email I sent out at the end of Day Two's workshop.

Bonjour,

I'm enjoying seeing your work and how you are assimilating the instruction.  Pretty dramatic stuff, l from what I've seen on your camera's LCDs.

Terribly sorry I couldn't make it to tonight's vernissage.  As such, could you bring any prints you would to share to next week's class?  Maybe we should make that Homework Assignment Part I.  Yes.  Please bring any prints you might have and we'll take a look together.

Using the lighting setup we used last today, you can create the lighting style found in the attached art (I included works of Manet, Renoir, and others as examples).  Simply move the lights further to the side and make sure you play with the distance the reflector is to the subject to achieve the right balance between the light side and shadow side.

Keep in mind that simple one light + reflector setup was used early on by the photographer in this link.  Bill Gekas is ALL over the world right now and in ALL manner of publications.  Take a close look and see if you agree with me as to why he's so popular.  I feel his photography ROCKS!  And with the knowledge you now have, your's does too.  Fun, isn't it??? [there are three different links in the previous paragraph]

Now onto Homework Assignment Part II.  Please process an image or two (or more) from today's shoot ahead of next week's class, forward them to me, and I will share them with Aubrey, our today's model.

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask me.  I'm happy to help. 

I'll send out next week's art to reverse engineer later this week.

Regards - Christopher Mark Perez

Studio Lighting - Day One

I recently finished leading a three day photographic studio lighting workshop.  It was kindly hosted by WICE, a leading Paris-based anglophone ex-pat community organization and held in their offices near metro stop la motte piquet grenelle.

It was good to see the students take to the course like ducks to water.  They came away with what I felt to be impressive work.

What I'd like to do with this post is archive the lighting setup and email communications from Day One.

A few comments about this lighting setup are likely required.  You see this approach taken by users of ring flash.  The shape and form of the subject reflects light in a way gives the image a sense of depth.

As William Mortensen wrote in his 1931 book on "Pictorial Lighting", this kind of light was used in christian religious "icon" (hence the name) art for hundreds of years before the on-set of the renaissance period.  It is the lighting style you see in much of the poster art from Paris during the late 1800's into the early 1900's.  Take a look at Alphonse Mucha's art and you can perhaps see what I mean.

Here is an image I made years ago that illustrate the value of using this kind of light.  Note that light bounced back to the camera on the surfaces directly facing the lens, and that light bounces away from the camera along surfaces facing away from the lens.  There is little to no shadow and the edges of the subject have a dark outline when done correctly.



The following is a copy of the email I sent at the end of Day One's work.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the first day of our photographic lighting workshop.  I'm seeing some really nice work by each of you.  Well done!

Ahead of sending out next week's images to consider, I thought it might be helpful to share links to the lighting equipment and backdrop setups.

I use Elinchrom BX 500 Ri equipment.  A two light system with stands, softboxes, and RF trigger is around 1200Euro.  I purchased my setup from ProPhoto right here in Paris.

Paul Buff Einstein 640 gear is rather expensive in Europe, but it's quite good and a little cheaper if you can get it in the States and bring it back with you.  It's already 110vc - 240vc capable.

However, please note that the last setup we worked with today, and everything we'll do from now on, can easily be accomplished for less money and the equipment same reliability.  You can use Canon, Nikon, or Sigma flash units on aftermarket tripods, remote hot shoes, umbrellas, and triggered using manual aftermarket RF controllers.

I spoke a fair amount about how lighting can "chop" up a subject when used in a way I feel is less than flattering.  Here is a one example (the dark areas around the nose don't make sense to me).  Here is a second example (just look at the way the white lace is "blown out" and draws the eye to it, regrettably away from the sweet face).  The fashion photography industry, of course, is filled with such examples.

As for the books that set me on the course I'm now taking in my own work, William Mortensen's early books on photography have been indispensable.  Pictorial Lighting is by far my favorite book on the subject of light control.  It's, for me, a foundation work.  A book of problems of posing is very useful in understanding common posing problems and how to solve them.  We'll get more into this next week when we start work on Rembrandt's use of light.

If you have any questions (if I missed something or if something came up for you afterward), please let me know.  Until next week, have fun with photography!  Oh.  Wait.  I'll forward the images soon.  You, of course, can still have fun with photography, right?  :-)

Regards - Christopher Mark Perez

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Studio Lighting Workshop - camera setup instructions.

I recently finished leading a three day photographic studio lighting workshop.  It was kindly hosted by WICE, a leading Paris-based anglophone ex-pat community organization and held in their offices near metro stop la motte piquet grenelle.

To archive the course materials for future reference, and all that, I am posting some of relevant items here.

The following are the camera setup and use instructions used in a photographic studio lighting environment.  These apply when using flash equipment that is not tied to a camera's Through The Lens (TTL) exposure system.

 

Configuring the camera for use in a studio with flash units -

1. Select 100 as your ISO
   
   Note: If your camera can't go that low, set the ISO to 200, or it's lowest ISO value.
   
   
2. Select “Flash” as your White Balance
   
   Note: AWB (automatic white balance) will not work well in the studio environment. If “Flash” is not available, set the camera's Kelvin temperature to 5000K to 5500K.
   
   
3. Select “Single Shot”, or whatever setting your camera uses to take one photograph at a time (disable multiple shutter releases which you might use for sports or bird photography).
   
   
4. Slip the RF trigger into your camera's hot-shoe and turn on the RF Trigger
   
   Note: If your camera does not have a hot shoe, but has a PC connector, slip the flash trigger cord into both the nearest flash unit and then into your camera's PC connector. Further, some DSLRs come with wireless triggers built in, and can trigger that camera company's flash units, so it's worth understanding the level of integration that is possible between your camera and the flash system.
   
   
5. Familiarize yourself with how to select your camera's AF point.
   
   Note: When making a photograph you will
   1. Select the AF point closest to the subject's eye
   2. Move the AF point over the eye
   3. Press the camera's shutter release half way down to hold the eye's focus
   4. Reframe the shot with the camera's shutter release still half pressed (so you don't loose focus on the eye)
   5. Then completely press the shutter release
        
       
      Calculating the Exposure ~ Quick and Easy
      
      
      If you are using a fully “wired” Through The Lens (TTL) system of flash(es), the following need not apply (though it remains a useful aid to understanding). However, many studio flash systems do not fully integrated into your cameras TTL exposure system. When this is the case, the following will help.
      
      
   6. Select “Manual” mode on your camera after following the instructions for “Configuring the camera for use with studio flash units”.
      
   7. Set the camera's shutter speed to 1/160^th of a second
      
      Note: Some cameras/flash/trigger systems can accommodate shutter speeds up to 1/250^th of a second
      
   8. Set the camera's aperture to either f/8 (see goal number three below) or f/11 (the preferred aperture)
      
      Note: In practice, goal number one is to ensure that the head of the subject is fully in focus (ie: that you have sufficient depth of field to ensure a critically sharp image). Goal number two is to ensure the intensity of light from the flash unit(s) override the background illumination. Goal number three is to select the aperture that eliminates chromatic aberrations that is many times found in inexpensive lenses (when used wide open apertures or stopped down to f/11 thru f/22).
      
   9. Make an exposure and look at the histogram of the image.
      
   10. Look at the right edge (“top end”) of the histogram curve which shows where the brightest part of the scene is on the exposure scale. The top end of the scale should just to the left of (just inside) the right edge of the histogram graph.
       
       If the top end of the scale touches the right edge of the histogram graph, turn the flash unit(s) intensity down (decrease the light output) and return to step number 4.
       
       If the top end of the scale is well to the left of the right edge of the histogram graph, turn the flash unit(s) intensity up (increase the light output) and return to step number 4.

Big Light!

Photography is about light, and not cameras and lenses alone.  Right?  It's amazing stuff, light.

I'm happy to report that the WICE Dramatic Studio Lighting course that I'm teaching has started well.  I've tried to keep things as simple as possible.  One light.  One subject.  Leading to a hopefully deeper understanding of how people can control light to their advantage.

Ahead of the workshop, my wife and I dove into the studio to work with a model.  This, so I could remember some of the small important details to share with the students.  It was fun working with Lady Bunnydoll.  She is very creative and isn't afraid that her culture might think it "weird" that she would enjoy dressing "like that."

Before moving to Europe I used a Paul Buff Einstein 640/PLM studio light kit.  I sold it and felt that I could find this same gear here after we arrived.  I was right, but was completely unprepared for the huge increase in cost I'd have to some way absorb.  All I could think was "wow!  Now that's some serious price uplift!!"

Doing a bit of research, I found a more than adequate/suitable alternative in Elinchrom's BX 500 Ri system.  With a gear list I felt I could live with it was easy to see that my original desired Paul Buff system here in Europe would cost me twice(!) as much as the Swiss-made Elinchrom.  I'm not living on a fixed income and it was a "no brainer" at that point to go with the Elinchroms.

Always looking for inspiring images to reverse engineer, I recently stumbled across a photo made by the famous strobist, Joel Grimes.  I've been watching his work over the years and remember when I'd moved to Paul Buff's PLM light modifiers just ahead of him (I think M.Grimes uses Photek parabolas, which are copies of the original PLM).  The moment I saw the quality of light those things put out, I was convinced M.Buff had a winner.  Joel added something similar to his line-up of light modifiers and his work changed in a few not so subtle and increasingly incredibly beautiful ways.

My work?  Well, it completely stalled with the move to Europe.  I never had the chance to fully explore the qualities of light the PLMs put out.  Oh well.  Joel is a working (damn him!) photographer and I'm just an interested non-professional photographic artist who is trying to keep busy while living as an ex-pat in some far-off corner of the world.

After almost of year of working with the Elinchroms I wanted to add a PLM to my own kit.  But they, as I previously noted, were ridiculously expensive.  So are the Photeks.  What to do?

If you follow my Retiring Out of America blog, you know I have a serious bee in my bonnet about China and it's on-going program of stealing intellectual property from of the West.  Yes, in the area of photography and studio lighting, the Chinese have turned to making/selling PLM knock-offs.

A search on ebay.fr turned up several parabolic umbrella sellers, but no one seemed to sell their brollys with the white diffusion screen that helps create the "magic".  I contacted the sellers to see if I'd missed their scrims somewhere buries in their ebay stores.  Only one person responded with "it's on our roadmap."  Everyone else either didn't want the potential business or they couldn't understand English nor (my horrid) French.

It gave me time to ponder the question of ethics, intellectual property, and business.  How I spend money is an expression of who I am.  We don't own a car.  We walk to the market.  We take the train when we travel outside the city.  We arrived with 5 suitcases filled with things that two people might need in a foreign land.

Meanwhile, over on the German ebay site, someone is selling Walmex 180cm parabolic umbrellas with (note that I said with) a white diffusion screen to stretch over the front of that silvered light modifier.  The price was right.  The store was in Germany... and... yes... I'm nearly certain these are made in the PRC since a lot of Walmex's gear looks just like much of the studio lighting gear coming out of the People's Republic of China these days.

I closed my eyes and hit the Buy It Now button.

The Walmex arrived today.  Oh, gods!, it's a vast and beautiful beastie.  I can't wait to put it to good use.  I have a lot of ground to make up on M. Grimes.  A lot of ground, indeed.

As for concerns of ethics, I just heard the Trappists knocking at my apartment door.  They have an 11 percent Quadruple (beer) they think will help me defer thinking too hard about the PRC, PLA, and immoral business practices.