On or off camera lighting and things

All well and good, Andrew.

However, there's probably a good reason why "Light Science and Magic" has been a text book for photography classes for over 20 years.
There are a lot of great sources for learning to use and understand light. Some comprehensive, some piecemeal. The "good reason" this book has been used as a textbook is probably that it's published by a textbook publisher.
 
What can be done with some creativity one light and a white reflector.

AB400 flash with an umbrella box to camera left. Reflector to camera right.
In my living room - wife came up with the character designs. White fabric backdrop.

The Painter and Her Tools
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Pray
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Portrait in the Kitchen

This client needed a headshot and it was dark outside and raining.
I brought over a pop up backdrop and leaned it against the wall in their kitchen.

I put an SB-28 and umbrella to camera right and a white reflector to camera left. The umbrella was very close to get that more even spread of light...plus...there wasn't a whole lot of room in that kitchen for a studio setup! We made it work though!

A few tricks for eye glasses.

  1. Remember - angle of incidence = angle of reflection
  2. If someone's glasses are reflecting your strobe and you don't want to change the angle of their head or your light source
    1. move the ear pieces of the glasses higher on their head. Why - see #1 above
    2. see if they can remove their glasses, might not be an option if glasses are a part of their persona/look


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Love these too. Gritty and well posed. I'll bet that first looks great in monochrome too.
A gym session.

Work I did for an apparel company.

Image 1 and 2
2 lights (SB-28 and SB-26) - Radio Poppers.
Key light to camera left through umbrella box, back accent light (raw flash at 24mm) bounced off a mirror behind the squat rack.

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3rd image was one SB-28 flash through umbrella box. The light stand was very close to the subject and pointing very much down on them. Feathered the light high to get the fall off toward the front of the subject.

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And these. Great tip on the angle. And I love that you're using an SB-28.
What can be done with some creativity one light and a white reflector.

AB400 flash with an umbrella box to camera left. Reflector to camera right.
In my living room - wife came up with the character designs. White fabric backdrop.

The Painter and Her Tools
View attachment 348895

Pray
View attachment 348896

Portrait in the Kitchen

This client needed a headshot and it was dark outside and raining.
I brought over a pop up backdrop and leaned it against the wall in their kitchen.

I put an SB-28 and umbrella to camera right and a white reflector to camera left. The umbrella was very close to get that more even spread of light...plus...there wasn't a whole lot of room in that kitchen for a studio setup! We made it work though!

A few tricks for eye glasses.

  1. Remember - angle of incidence = angle of reflection
  2. If someone's glasses are reflecting your strobe and you don't want to change the angle of their head or your light source
    1. move the ear pieces of the glasses higher on their head. Why - see #1 above
    2. see if they can remove their glasses, might not be an option if glasses are a part of their persona/look


View attachment 349048
 
How to get a "hot" apple.

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1) drill into back of apple with anything, but an apple corer works very well.

2) use any light ltight material to make a cone large enough for the flash at on end and the hole in the apple at the other.

3) insert flash into cone and cone into apple.

4) use light tight backdrop between apple and flash, if required.

5) take photo using the flash as a remote by whatever means are available. It will almost certainly require experimenting with flash power and exposure.

Voila. One hot apple.
 
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John’s hot apple made me think of this. I shot it in July during the One challenge. I used an AD200 with the bare bulb head on the floor pointed straight up. There’s a short length of pvc pipe fit over the bulb and the other end is cradled in my hands. It also lights my face. There’s another light peeking over the top of the black backdrop lighting the top of my head and shoulders.

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Here’s another one that I’ve shared in one of the portrait threads. It was shot a few years ago when I participating in a workshop. I used two Godox v850’s. They’re up to a version 3 now and are a tremendous value. The main light is in a silver umbrella on camera right. The second, also in a silver umbrella, is to camera left outside the back door shining through the window. I have a couple bts shots showing the set up.

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My wife, in a hallway in our house. One light, on the camera hotshoe, bounced up and off the ceiling.

Every now and again, my wife will challenge me. She'll walk into a room I'm in and say, "I want you to take a portrait of me and you have 10 minutes to pick the camera, lens and lighting you want".

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For this one I grabbed the Oly kit as listed in the EXIF below the image. I put a Nikon SB-26 on top in manual mode and matched the power output to the aperture and ISO. The directionality of the light was so concentrated that it limited the spill and kept the light off the door behind her and the walls beside as well.
 
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