From American Photo Magazine

Climbing Back Up the Gene Tree -

Easy Beauty Lighting Techniques Without Much Effort

When it comes right down to it, the major tenet of all the world's religions is people are good and it's what inside that counts. Trust in that and you'll end up leading a pretty happy life.

Unfortunately, as Commercial and Fashion Photographers, we often get paid to emphasize the exact opposite and focus on the outside.   And though that sounds simple enough, sometimes it just ain't easy to make people look good (spend 30 seconds in the men's locker room at a gym and you will know humans are inherently beasts).  

I think it's fairly safe to assume at some point in the distant past Cro-Mags, Neanderthals and Homo-Sapiens held a beach-blanket party together.   And as a consequence, we as a species fell face first from the gene tree and ended up ugly.  (I myself am a "personality guy".)

So as Commercial and Fashion photographers we have to work with this as it's our job to shoot people and make them look good. And we're like the postal service   - we have to deliver rain or shine, ugly or not.

Luckily, we have a few tools and tricks we can use to get photos that sparkle and glow. Many of these are pretty easy to understand - composition, filters, make-up - and they go a long way towards building a great portfolio.

But there's another tool in our bag we often overlook - Lighting.   Often we assume if our meter says we are good, we are good. But if we go a bit deeper, we find a whole range of Lighting techniques that can help us to a new level of control and sophistication.

Now admittedly, we're under a lot of pressure when shooting. Anxious and nattering managers, extremely tight schedules, it can be nerve-wracking. But there are some easy Lighting tips we can use that'll give our talent that pop and sparkle and keep the clients back in their couches, happily IM-ing their friends at the office.

So let's go through a few scenarios we might run into on a small portrait shoot and discuss how Lighting - with a just a minimum amount of effort - can turn a good shot into a great one and how we can transform the darkest day into a sunny afternoon. I'll also recommend some specific Lights and kits which are cost-effective and well worth an investment for your business.

TIP:
Consider breaking your flash off, throwing it to the bottom of the pool and covering it with cement.

TECHNIQUE:
Yes, perhaps a bit drastic. Especially considering there are times when a flash is the only tool that will work. Maybe the location is practical, you don't have any time to change anything and it is darker than the black hole of Calcutta. Sometimes you have no choice but to flash.

It's just the flash is so easy, it often becomes the lazy way to Light. And as Ben Franklin said, "laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes it".   Bad to hear when you do the billing...

One of the problems with the flash is it is a small, hard light designed to be mounted no more than six inches from the lens. This results in a flat, harsh Light which is the antithesis of dramatic Lighting.

And Flat Light - which is simply when there is no angle on the Light relative to the camera or when the camera and Light are in the same place (No angle = "Flat") - washes out a lot of the texture and depth in the photo.

On the other hand, Light coming in at an angle relative to the lens provides depth, allowing us to see some contrast between the Light and shadow areas. It is this contrast we often find aesthetically beautiful.

With a flash right over lens you lose that contrast, in essence sacrificing the beauty of texture for the brawn of exposure.

That being said, flash manufacturers addressed this with a whole range of extremely sophisticated and intelligent flashes which fill in Light when you need it, remaining subtle enough to stay relatively hidden to the eye.

Probably the two at the top of the market are the Nikon SB-80DX AF SpeedLight Flash and the Metz 54MZ-3 Shoe Mounted Flash . Both are durable flashes and retail in the $500-$550 dollar range. The Nikon flash only works for Nikon cameras though so if you use something besides Nikon or if you shoot medium-format, then the Metz flashes are your better option.

Both flashes offer a full range of manual and auto features but I would recommend at the very minimum bouncing or diffusing the flash to soften out the harshness of the Light.  

Also, if you are going to use a flash, consider getting it away from the lens with a flash bracket . These brackets move the flash to the side of the camera from a few inches to a foot or more. Even this amount of distance will start to add some depth and texture to your Lighting.

TIP:
Enable your control issues and bring a Lighting kit.

TECHNIQUE:
Buying and using your own lighting kit is a huge step forward in taking control of the look you establish as your own.

Getting into equipment is a HUGE discussion and there are a number of directions to go.   For myself, I shoot with film hot-lights.   I prefer the control they allow.   But of course, these lights are big and expensive and require the size of the crew to grow exponentially.   And honestly, at times all that production is a bit of overkill.  

Probably the easiest way to get a pro-look without a huge budget is to buy a small mobile Lighting Strobe Kit . Packed with two strobes, stands and umbrellas in a compact zip-up case, these kits will quickly become essential tools in your bag of tricks.

Strobes are quickly built and lightweight enough to shove around for last minute tweaks. And often they have enough power to match even the brightest sunlight you encounter.

This means you are able to control the Light rather than just use what you are given and that is huge. Suddenly it won't matter if it is rain or shine, inside or out, morning or night - you have the control to achieve great results every time.

Now, there are a number of Lighting companies out there vying for your well-earned and hard-won business. But there are three manufacturers who make portable strobe Lighting kits of good enough quality for me to recommend - Pro-Foto, Dyna-Lite and Hensel .

If money is the primary concern, I'd start with Hensel as their kit is the least expensive, coming in at roughly $1100. The Integra W/S 1000 MonoLight Kit includes two 500 watt strobe heads, stands and reflectors, a synch cord to slave them together and a carrying case for all of it - a complete mini-studio.

At such a low price though, a bit of durability is sacrificed - these strobes won't survive rougher treatment as well as others. Also, the color temperature of the Lights - how blue, green, orange or pink the Light is read on film - at times may not be as consistent as in more expensive strobes.  

A little further up the price chain is the Dyna-Lite kit - the M112e-PS One Pack (1000ER) - Two Head (2040) Strobe Lighting Kit . This kit, which runs in the $1800 range, has two strobes, stands, reflectors and a case it all zips into. The difference here is Dyna-Lite has more powerful strobes than the Hensel. This allows greater flexibility as at times you may need that extra light when shooting outside.

The Dyna-Lites are 2,000 watt strobes which is more than enough power to shoot in any type of Light, day or night. The Dyna-Lites are also physically sturdier keeping you from tensing up every time the talent's posse decides to show off their krumping skills. Plus, Dyna-Lite has recently focused on getting more consistent color temperature - very important with clients who can be extremely demanding in this area.

Finally, when you want the best - regardless of price - there is Pro-Foto. The Pro-Foto Acute2 2400 ProValue Pack , might be the best Kit on the market for a two light pack. The Pro-Foto kit I recommend is in the $3000 range, but with that kind of money you get the goods. The 2400 ProValue Kit has 2 strobes of 2400 watts each, stands, reflectors and cables as well as a flexible Tenba case to make it easy to throw in your shiny new black Land Rover when you drive away.

Some of the best strobes around, the Pro-Fotos have a rep amongst shooters as being the highest quality made, extremely durable and very consistent with the color temperature they put out, firing at the exact same correct color every time.

TIP:
In the middle of the day, follow your Doctor's advice and stay out of the sun - shoot in the shade.

TECHNIQUE:
The Light in the middle of the day - typically between 11am and 2pm - is the harshest, most unflattering Light of the day. The sun is directly overhead and this angle can turn eye sockets into dark shadows making your talent start to look like a skull.  

Also, as the sun is directly overhead, it passes through less atmosphere than when the sun is on the horizon. This means the Light is not as diffused (less bounced around by air, smog and dust in the way) which gives harder shadow lines as well as greater exposure contrast between the sun and shade areas.  

As if that ain't enough, due to the characteristics of the atmosphere and it's effect on Light properties, Light is much bluer in the middle of the day, while more orange and red in the mornings and evenings (Again, it has to do partially with how much atmosphere the light has to pass through).

This subtle color difference can have a profound affect on the emotional impact your photos have. Orange Light is read as emotionally warm while Blue Light is perceived as cold. And as you can guess, "warm" is what humans like. It's even coded in our language as friendly people are often described as "warm" and ex-girlfriends who never returned the patio furniture you stored at her house are "cold".

So in the middle of the day, get away from the direct sun. Probably the easiest way to do this is to shoot in the shade. Find a nice shady spot outside with trees or near a wall. The Light in the shade will be Soft-Light, bounced in from the sky overhead, helping smooth out any shadows and wrinkles in the face of your talent.

Of course the light in the shade, though soft, will still be somewhat shapeless coming from no real direction.   So that's a perfect time pull out your new Lighting Kit.

Take one strobe bounced into a large umbrella and place it two or three feet to the right or left of camera - either side is good, but you can use the talent's hair part as a guide. This will assure the Light fills the larger part of their face rather than being blocked by their hair.

Now you have positioned them where the Light will come in on a slight angle relative to camera. This will give you nice highlights and subtle and soft shadows.  Plus, you have replaced the blue "cold" midday Light with the White Light the strobes are designed to fire at.

TIP:
When it starts to rain, put your back umbrella away - give your talent a hard backlight.

TECHNIQUE:
When it is raining outside, just cloudy or even if you are shooting inside, add a hard backlight for a bit of pop.

Grab one of the strobes from your Lighting kit and take the umbrella off. Take that Light and place it behind your talent. Boost it as bright as you can go and maybe even warm it up with a slight bit of ¼ CTO.

In this case, it's important to keep the light hard as this will give the bright rim-light that outlines the talent against the background. (Diffused or bounced light is "soft", whereas lack of that softness is simply called "hard".)

All of a sudden you have created your own highlight, as if a ray of the sun touched the talent. Take your other strobe, leave the umbrella on and place it a few feet to the right or left of camera on the opposite side of your backlight - just as we did in the earlier example. Then shoot away.

TIP:
For really stunning beauty shots, blow off all the rules and go as flat as possible

TECHNIQUE:
This technique is so beautiful but so simple, and will get you so much praise for your shots, I almost hesitate to pull back the curtain and let you see the fat guy in green pulling the levers.

In the classic example of a rule-breaking rule, for truly great beauty shots take your strobe and your largest umbrella and put it right over the camera where your flash would usually go. The difference from the small, harsh camera-mounted flash is this Light will be large and soft.

This larger source will give a beautiful soft, diffused Light that'll wrap around the talent's face, filling in most blemishes and wrinkles. And this is the key to up-close portrait beauty Lighting, particularly on women.

If you'd like to really fill in the face, bounce your second strobe into another umbrella directly under the lens. Set it one stop darker than the top Light and it will fill in all of the dark areas left under the nose and chin.  

So there you have it.   Some fast and simple tricks to using just two lights to radically change the look your images will have.

Armed with these we can begin to address the way we are on the outside. And as far as the inside, have you ever heard of the Buddha...?