On or off camera lighting and things

This was a 2 part shoot. First, portraits for all the staff - same lighting for all. 2nd - situational pictures.
This was for a website usage of a local chiropractor.

Portrait
Alien Bee 400
Umbrella Box
Radio Popper TX/RX
White reflector.

Had the strobe overhead and had the subjects hold the white reflector for bottom fill and a clamshell beauty light look. Backdrop was a wall in the waiting area of the office.
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Visitation Images
Amazon Basics Flashes ($25 each - yes they work...not sure how for the price) - bare no modifier - but set to 24mm setting and built in diffuser for maximum dispersion.
Radio Popper TX/RX

Note - those little floor plates that come with some flashes - keep them for situations like this! I used those to place flashes on the floor, chairs and counter tops to get the bounce. Wanted a softer light for these so used the white walls of the examination rooms as my softbox.

A - shot this flash backwards to the back wall so it would flood the scene with light very large toward subjects. got some nice spill from the ceiling bounce and just enough from the front wall to get a good fill there without washing out the x-ray.
10-30-2018_D750_reynchiro_DSC_0446.jpg
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B - the next 2 were bounced camera right from the wall and angled up slightly to get some down light.
10-30-2018_D750_reynchiro_DSC_0459.jpg
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Apollo T. said:
@gryphon1911
THANKS…
For including your discussion of the lighting you used; it’s helpful.
Click to expand...
Sure, I think it is something that is not talked about enough. I don’t believe in “secret sauce” and not sharing how things are done.

I want the world to have an over abundance of great photographers so that we can document important times well!
 
Another from the Gym series. This one, I asked the model about his physique and what part he was most proud of and would like to highlight. He said his back.

Did a 2 light setup with this.

Light on face
SB-26 w/ 1/4" grid
Radio Popper TX/RX system
Light stand

Positioned it by the wall and had it focus on his face.

Back Lighting
Bare SB-28 skimmed acros his back to get that edge and contrast to highlight the muscle structure. Also was high enough to backlight his head as well.
Radio Popper TX/RX system
Light stand

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Testing out my first DIY Lightbox

You remember those days when you had more desire than money?
Yeah, I still have those days...but further back than now...I couldn't justify spending hundreds of dollars on a lightbox, so I decided to build my own out of PVC pipe, elbows and a $1 flat white bedsheet I got from Goodwill. It worked well for me for years, got me through a few commercial campaigns for a fashion accessory client (jewelry and handbags) as well as a few personal projects.

Did this shot below.

DIY Lightbox frame
White bedsheet Sheet was covering the back, top, and both sides of the lightbox frame - front was completely open
C-stand with SB-28 @ 24mm flash head zoom
position of flash was toward the top front and angled slightly backwards. You can see the "hot spot" on the blue beer bottle where the neck ends.

The rest of the lighting is bounce from inside the box.

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Another from the DIY lightbox.
Radio Popper TX/RX
Nikon SB-28
1/8 inch grid
c-stand to hold the light above the box

The background on this one is a roll of white freezer paper.

I used the SB-28 with a grid on it, flash slightly behind and above the incense plumes. This gave me the backlight on the smoke, but kept the bulk of the light away from the background as to give the darker look. If you look closely to image right top corner, you can see where the paper ends.

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Took another approach. Purchased two Godox LEDP260C video lights. It was a kit with two lights with stands.
Also got this foldable background today which mounts onto the chair, black/white. Smart thing!

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Took some test shots

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I posted this in the self portrait thread yesterday and thought some might be interested in how it’s lit.

It’s really pretty simple. The main light is an AD200 with a grid to keep it tight and barn doors to further control any spill. It’s place directly to the side about four feet (1.25 meters) away at my head height. There’s a second AD200 with a bare bulb just to the right of the camera. It’s down pretty low. You can see my shadow behind and above me. I just kept lowering the power until I liked what I saw.

Edited to add: This could be done with a couple of cheap speedlights, a cardboard snoot and a “dome diffuser” made from a sheet of paper. Taking control of light doesn’t have to be expensive.

The second photo below is how it looks without the fill.

One of the advantages of working with hard light is there’s a lot less equipment to mess around with! Oh, and it can look pretty good too.

tired.jpg
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Tired_no_fill.jpg
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All three of these are the same lighting, from the same shoot. Community Halloween dance.

2 Alien Bee 400
2 umbrella boxes
Radio Popper TX/RX
Nikon D700 and 24-70mm f/2.8

the lights were at 45 degree angles from one another, probably 20 feet apart (approx.)
Key light is to camera left and was set to 1/2 power, fill light was to camera right and set to 1/4 or 1/8 power.

Shutter speed set to max sync to kill; the ambient light so I could drown out the fluorescent lighting color cast.

1
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2
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3
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I really like the angle and lighting that you chose. Well done!
gryphon1911 said:
Another from the Gym series. This one, I asked the model about his physique and what part he was most proud of and would like to highlight. He said his back.

Did a 2 light setup with this.

Light on face
SB-26 w/ 1/4" grid
Radio Popper TX/RX system
Light stand

Positioned it by the wall and had it focus on his face.

Back Lighting
Bare SB-28 skimmed acros his back to get that edge and contrast to highlight the muscle structure. Also was high enough to backlight his head as well.
Radio Popper TX/RX system
Light stand

View attachment 351660
Click to expand...
 
A for sale product shot.
I used the S-R1/AK-R1 round head adapter stuff with an AD200 and V-860. The gels are made by Rogue and are the roundhead variety(fit nicely). I'd prefer HR200 heads(will likely get them) but the S-R1s get the job done for 1/8 the $.

Godox -SR1s

With a basic speedlight, the SR1 and AK-R1 and rogue round gels you have a semi-affordable easy to gel option.
DSCF3055.jpg
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Last edited:
A little tidbit. Certain Godox TT-L lights will work in TT-L mode with a different manufacturers trigger. For example I had a for Fuji Godox V860ii and triggered it in TT-L/HSS with an Olympus/Panasonic X-Proii trigger. The LCD on the V860 once synced will display Olympus. This is a known feature but is model/firmware/oem specific. Ymmv. The setback is that the trigger won't wake the light from sleep. You'll need to disable sleep or wake the light with a finger press(and footsteps). Could be fixed with firmware by now.
 

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