Studio Lights Layout

As I mentioned in my last post, I will be showing the studio lights layout of the photos that I have posted. I was very impressed on how studio lights affects the outcome of a photo. So here it is:

This photo was taken to create a clean white background, if you look at the photo, you will notice that the subject is within the correct exposure and still having a completely white background. Did we use a very bright and very white background? Did we use Photoshop to create a white background? No for both questions. The background lights are used to create the clean and white background – which technically overexposed the background. Below is the actual layout we used:

Studio Lights Layout - Clean White Background

 

 

We used two background lights that are perfectly aligned to each other. Each of the lights covers 50% of the actual background area to make an equal exposure. If only one background light was used, then it may create a vignetting type effect within the background. The main (with shoot thru umbrella) and fill lights are measured to have an 8:1 ratio. Shot details: f/13 at 1/125s, ISO 100 using a Nikkor 50mm 1.8.

For the second layout, we will look at the lights setup for this photo:

And this was the layout:

Studio Lights Layout (4:1 with Honeycomb + Gel)

 
This layout is a 4:1 main to fill light ratio. The main light using a beauty dish and the fill light is diffused with a softbox. The background is actually a gray background however it creates a stunning gold like glow by using background light with orange gel. Honeycomb (background light) was also used to create a ellipse shape-like cast of light from the background.

To learn more about these, try to free up some of your time and enroll to any studio lights class. I suggest you go to Ken Go’s class.

BTW, if you want that very presentable layout tool, you can get it from Kevin Kertz website. It is a Photoshop file with several layers which includes almost all the studio lights and gears that you may used with your own layout. Thanks Kevin.

Ta-ta for now!

~ by Aries on August 31, 2008.