Best neutral lighting setup

Equipment list:

* 3 stobes of some sort
* any lighting accessories (soft boxes, umbrellas, etc)
* 1 large backdrop

Subject:

people, one to eight of them

Setup:

Neutral, you are going to be shooting a wide variety of folks and
they all need to look pretty much the same.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

How EXACTLY would you use the three mono lights? What accessories
would you use with those three mono lights?

On Tue, 02 Nov 2004 23:36:23 GMT, Sam Carleton
wrote:

Equipment list:

* 3 stobes of some sort
* any lighting accessories (soft boxes, umbrellas, etc)
* 1 large backdrop

Subject:

people, one to eight of them

Setup:

Neutral, you are going to be shooting a wide variety of folks and
they all need to look pretty much the same.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

How EXACTLY would you use the three mono lights? What accessories
would you use with those three mono lights?

I would use a bedsheet or white nylon fabric hung between two
lightstands as a main light, another light high and behind my subjects
on low power as an accent light and the third light illuminating my
background. You would probably not need any other light modifiers on
your lights unless the accent light was not covering your 8 person
group evenly.

On 2004-11-03, McLeod wrote:

I would use a bedsheet or white nylon fabric hung between two
lightstands as a main light,

Where would you place this main light, straight on to the people
or off to the side? If off to the side, by how many degrees?

another light high and behind my subjects
on low power as an accent light and the third light illuminating my
background. You would probably not need any other light modifiers on
your lights unless the accent light was not covering your 8 person
group evenly.

Have you ever used this setup? Do you have an example of what it
looks like?

Sam

Sam Carleton wrote:
Equipment list:
=20
* 3 stobes of some sort
* any lighting accessories (soft boxes, umbrellas, etc)
* 1 large backdrop
=20
Subject:
=20
people, one to eight of them
=20
Setup:

Main (possibly umbrella), fill umbrella, background light (with snoot as =
needed)

--=20
dadiOH
____________________________

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LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

On Wed, 03 Nov 2004 12:19:19 GMT, Sam Carleton
wrote:

Where would you place this main light, straight on to the people
or off to the side? If off to the side, by how many degrees?

Well, a bedsheet or a white nylon piece of fabric is just a really
cheap large softbox. I think I paid about $12 for a 3 yard piece of
nylon from a fabric store. You use exactly like a softbox. If you
are shooting one person alone you can get away with it about 90
degrees to your camera-subject axis. If it's big enough and it
extends in front of your subject it will act as both main and fill
light for your subject. If you are shooting a group you will have to
move it closer to your camera-subject axis so the light falls off more
evenly on your group. Feathering your light on the sheet will also
help even it out by aiming the hotspot of your light at the corner of
the sheet furthest from your subjects. For fine tuning it's nice to
have the two lightstands you need to hold it up on wheels so you can
move it around. I use a Manfrotto telescoping background bar between
the lightstands as support for the whole set up and to clamp the sheet
to.
Bob Krist recommends this sheet set-up in his Lighting on Location
book and shows a good example of an executive group done in this style
and there was also an article in last month's Shutterbug with some
very good examples of using a large softbox.. I may have some
examples next week but I don't have any on hand right now.

On Wed, 03 Nov 2004 12:19:19 GMT, Sam Carleton
wrote:

Where would you place this main light, straight on to the people
or off to the side? If off to the side, by how many degrees?

Well, a bedsheet or a white nylon piece of fabric is just a really
cheap large softbox. I think I paid about $12 for a 3 yard piece of
nylon from a fabric store. You use exactly like a softbox. If you
are shooting one person alone you can get away with it about 90
degrees to your camera-subject axis. If it's big enough and it
extends in front of your subject it will act as both main and fill
light for your subject. If you are shooting a group you will have to
move it closer to your camera-subject axis so the light falls off more
evenly on your group. Feathering your light on the sheet will also
help even it out by aiming the hotspot of your light at the corner of
the sheet furthest from your subjects. For fine tuning it's nice to
have the two lightstands you need to hold it up on wheels so you can
move it around. I use a Manfrotto telescoping background bar between
the lightstands as support for the whole set up and to clamp the sheet
to.
Bob Krist recommends this sheet set-up in his Lighting on Location
book and shows a good example of an executive group done in this style
and there was also an article in last month's Shutterbug with some
very good examples of using a large softbox.. I may have some
examples next week but I don't have any on hand right now.

If you can be bothered and facilities allow, this get up is an excellent way
to go about it.

--
Otzi


"McLeod" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 03 Nov 2004 12:19:19 GMT, Sam Carleton
wrote:

Where would you place this main light, straight on to the people
or off to the side? If off to the side, by how many degrees?

Well, a bedsheet or a white nylon piece of fabric is just a really
cheap large softbox. I think I paid about $12 for a 3 yard piece of
nylon from a fabric store. You use exactly like a softbox. If you
are shooting one person alone you can get away with it about 90
degrees to your camera-subject axis. If it's big enough and it
extends in front of your subject it will act as both main and fill
light for your subject. If you are shooting a group you will have to
move it closer to your camera-subject axis so the light falls off more
evenly on your group. Feathering your light on the sheet will also
help even it out by aiming the hotspot of your light at the corner of
the sheet furthest from your subjects. For fine tuning it's nice to
have the two lightstands you need to hold it up on wheels so you can
move it around. I use a Manfrotto telescoping background bar between
the lightstands as support for the whole set up and to clamp the sheet
to.
Bob Krist recommends this sheet set-up in his Lighting on Location
book and shows a good example of an executive group done in this style
and there was also an article in last month's Shutterbug with some
very good examples of using a large softbox.. I may have some
examples next week but I don't have any on hand right now.

* 3 stobes of some sort
* any lighting accessories (soft boxes, umbrellas, etc)
* 1 large backdrop

Subject:

people, one to eight of them

Setup:

Neutral, you are going to be shooting a wide variety of folks and
they all need to look pretty much the same.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

How EXACTLY would you use the three mono lights? What accessories
would you use with those three mono lights?

I suppose you mean you need to lay these images out so they co exist side by
side and the images all have a consistency, the color balance and density
doesn't jump around. Or do you mean that each face, whether its a dark skin
or light skin looks the same? kinda doubt that second one.

you can do whatever you want with the lights, consistency comes from steady
exposure, are you using any auto functions of your camera? One woman that
ran a service doing digital processing was being run ragged by one of her
clients who shot lots of real estate agent portraits and stuff like that,
the color balance jumped around a lot. first thing was how was the color
balance set? if you use auto balance, it will adjust widely if you have a
subject wearing a strong colored suit or shirt, like so many real estate
women do. And auto exposure can obviously cause similar inconsistencies
with density as the sensor 'sees' more white shirt or dark suit between each
exposure and pose change.

so now we deal with lighting.

the softer the lights the less specular highlights the easier the skin tones
will be. especially if you have black subjects, dark skin reveals bad
lighting very well, and revelles in good lighting.

with a large diffusive light source you can expose for the central value,
IE: a gray card and get excellent detail both the highlights and shadows.
This means that whether you have a black or a pale white subject you will
get proper skin tone, in fact you will get detail in a white wedding dress
and a black tuxedo.

I'd hang a scrim of translucent fabric, rip stop or sports nylon, bounce a
couple heads off a side wall and through the scrim, use a couple sheets of
styrofoam insulation panel if you need a white wall. use another for a
fill.

use the third head for a hair light.

the wider the light the more even and consistent the lighting will be across
the subject field, the person on the left side will get a more similar
quality of light and a more similar exposure as the person on the right.
This is 'depth of light'

a set of scrims, curtains and reflectors will cost less than a few
softboxes, umbrellas and will likely serve you better.

the reply is echoed to the z-prophoto mailing list at yahoogroups.com

* 3 stobes of some sort
* any lighting accessories (soft boxes, umbrellas, etc)
* 1 large backdrop

Subject:

people, one to eight of them

Setup:

Neutral, you are going to be shooting a wide variety of folks and
they all need to look pretty much the same.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

How EXACTLY would you use the three mono lights? What accessories
would you use with those three mono lights?

I suppose you mean you need to lay these images out so they co exist side by
side and the images all have a consistency, the color balance and density
doesn't jump around. Or do you mean that each face, whether its a dark skin
or light skin looks the same? kinda doubt that second one.

you can do whatever you want with the lights, consistency comes from steady
exposure, are you using any auto functions of your camera? One woman that
ran a service doing digital processing was being run ragged by one of her
clients who shot lots of real estate agent portraits and stuff like that,
the color balance jumped around a lot. first thing was how was the color
balance set? if you use auto balance, it will adjust widely if you have a
subject wearing a strong colored suit or shirt, like so many real estate
women do. And auto exposure can obviously cause similar inconsistencies
with density as the sensor 'sees' more white shirt or dark suit between each
exposure and pose change.

so now we deal with lighting.

the softer the lights the less specular highlights the easier the skin tones
will be. especially if you have black subjects, dark skin reveals bad
lighting very well, and revelles in good lighting.

with a large diffusive light source you can expose for the central value,
IE: a gray card and get excellent detail both the highlights and shadows.
This means that whether you have a black or a pale white subject you will
get proper skin tone, in fact you will get detail in a white wedding dress
and a black tuxedo.

I'd hang a scrim of translucent fabric, rip stop or sports nylon, bounce a
couple heads off a side wall and through the scrim, use a couple sheets of
styrofoam insulation panel if you need a white wall. use another for a
fill.

use the third head for a hair light.

the wider the light the more even and consistent the lighting will be across
the subject field, the person on the left side will get a more similar
quality of light and a more similar exposure as the person on the right.
This is 'depth of light'

a set of scrims, curtains and reflectors will cost less than a few
softboxes, umbrellas and will likely serve you better.

the reply is echoed to the z-prophoto mailing list at yahoogroups.com

Two large umbrellas (reflected) placed slightly out from and behind the
camera and slightly above head height. Have them 'crossing' each other to
feather the light out across a large group. I'll assume you will not be
lining up eight people in a line, but arranging them according to height,
clothing, importance, etc. (watch out for shadows on faces) It'll be fairly
flat and boring, but if it's a corporate type shot, it'll serve it's
purpose. The third light will be on a floor stand behind the group with a
normal reflector or smaller brolly, assuming it won't be full figure. I
would shoot the single portraits separately with a little more modeling,
adjusting one of the brolly's.

Another option would be to get a very large softbox slightly to the side of
the camera with a brolly opposite for fill. This would give a little more
modeling but you may get some fall off unless you group your subjects in. If
you are lucky, this may also serve for single portraits without adjustment.

If it's corporate, your biggest problem will be getting them to turn up at
the same time. Good luck!