A Lighting Setup

[sfoster]

I tend to do things backwards I've been told, however, I thought I'd post my lighting setup for a shot of Mark Aro's "Netherborn". So without further adieu. Here is the shot. . .

This shot was accomplished with 4 1k's and a little 200W kicker that I didn't list in the setup because it was only used in the wider shot you can see below to brighten up the guitar a little bit. Here is the basic setup:

You can see the setup a little in this wide shot:

We bounced the 1k pointed away from the actor off the wall for some ambient light, and then moved the softbox back until we reached the desired shadow level. Then we switched on the 2-1k's outside the window and added ND gels until it was in our range. I prefer to operate by starting with the shadows and then adding my primary light after I make sure I don't lose my details!

Happy Lighting!!!

 

[ProfessorU]

Here goes. As with all lighting critiques, take it with a grain of salt and know that I have no idea what your intent is with the finished product. This is about the wide:

The light does a nice job of keeping that wall from going totally flat. I would have tried to bring in a little color somewhere, like maybe 1/2 CTB on the softbox, unless it betrayed the look or intent of the piece. It feels like the fill light isn't doing what the diagram says it is, or I'm not reading it right (there is a faint hard-edged fill shadow on the wall) diffusion could fix that.

Personally, when I try to mimic sunlight, I do as much as possible to make the light a parallel instead of a point source. Sometimes, for stylized reasons, a point source can work to draw the eye to the subject, but for a natural look, you could back the lights off the window and/or stack them vertically to try to simulate the "infinitely distant" source look. With some space, maybe you wouldn't need the ND, or if the subject is stationary, you could even use ND in a frame or against the window to bring the light face and the dark shirt a few stops closer together.

When I have dark smooth surfaces that I don't want to lose and limited watts, I try to use glare to bring them to life. Tight spaces can make it tough, but you'd also get some sparkling on the fretboard to help define the instrument.

If the guitar is an important part of the story, I'd give it it's own light (probably something lensed).

As for points that are light related but not actually lighting:

I know black is badass, but using dark gray costumes can do just as much for character and still give you some room with natural-style lighting. Black does great stuff with dark-skinned subjects, though. Or maybe you could at least get a different-colored cushion. I feel like the subject is totally lost in that chair. If you had the space, you could try to separate them with a high backlight, but it looks like you don't here.

Pulling the chair away from the wall (even just a few inches) would give separation of subject and background, and the chair would be against the light instead of the double shadow.

The close-up holds together really well. I would have maybe brought the fill in a little bit but that may be the look you were going for. I like the specular stuff going on with the pen and watch, and letting the background go to black to contrast against the page.

 

[RyanT]

Not a big venitian blind fan, but this doesn't look too bad The window is a little distracting and maybe a flag or maybe single net to cut some light off that back wall could have worked for you. Depending on if you could work it in there without cutting any of his light. I'm not sure though, million ways to do everything.

Either way though, light on him looks sweet. What did you shoot this on?

 

[Kendo556]

great job i like the way it looks alot, one thing i was goin to ask is why did you ND the window? instead of just cutting the light with a scrim? that is if you used mole richardson lights or any other MPV light Brand. another question i had was what you shot on film/video? if film what stock? keep up the good work!!

Kenny K.