How to achieve this lighting effect

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Eric Murray

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I'm trying to find out the lighting setup I would need to achieve the below photos.
How many lights, positions and how to stop spills like these photos have.

Looks like no side lights but focused center above lights. But then the body has a more smoother lighting which spills across the body unlike the head where nothing spills past the center of the face.


http://outsidemagazine.typepad.com/....929a05c970b-pi

http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/200..._taylor300.jpg

The above images are by amazing photographer Robert Maxwell
robert maxwell photography


Thanks
 
(warning - this could be complete b0ll0x) It looks like a large gridded softbox behind the photographer, but with a lot of post work too.

In fact, I usually answer 'how's this look achieved with processing?' with the answer 'it's not, it's mostly the lighting'. But here I'd say most of the 'look' comes from the PP.
 
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Agreed, theres a fair bit of PP, but look at the catchlights in the eyes, looks more like three strip lights - To Quote Phil, I could be talking B0110x though:)

Edit *Crossed post with Stevie*
 
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Thanks all. Stevie you mean something like this. http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/330803213401?lpid=82
  • What length/width strip softbox would you suggest.
  • What size grids for the softbox?

Do you think both strips are directly in front of the face. According to photo 1 it looks like no light is spilling to the left and right of the face. What I don't get is the light spilling across the body which I don't get if using the strip lights directly in the center of the face. I do see how this will give the long thin catch lights in the eyes.
hmm looking at pic1 again after writing this you might be right as the arms don't have any lights spilling on it either.

Something like this diagram. Don't laugh, badly done I know. Didn't have much time but it gets the idea across.
http://www.artaholic.com/photo/lighting.jpg
The two stripped softboxes are at face level just slightly off to the side just enough to shoot through.
My question is where does the third light go that you mention?

Photo 2 looks like it also has an overhead light shinning down on top of the head and spilling onto the shoulders.

Treeman what's a B0110x ? Tried to find it through goole but nothing coming up??
 
I did say I could be wrong but I think that catchlight is a large soft box with a photographer blocking the central portion?

Rather than a photographer with striplights left and right and above? Which would be a weird thing to rig, whereas a single large soft box with someone stood in front of it is a bit more logical.

I'd say gridded because of the shadow definition.
 
As far as I can find out online, Robert Maxwell's classic set-up is described as two fluorescent strip-lights to the sides and a large softbox high and centre. That fits with the examples.

But in the video linked below there's a fleeting glimpse showing one very large overhead softbrolly-type diffuser and a couple of handheld reflectors.

http://www.outsideonline.com/featur...ny-Fuller-on-Photographer-Robert-Maxwell.html
 
Alastair that does make sense with the two strip lights and one overhead, at least from studying where the light is falling on my above examples. The video photos have light falling all over the head which makes sense for the large slightly overhead softbox in the leaves shot.
Where did you find online info about his two fluorescent strip-lights to the side technique ? You have any links you might have found you could share.
 
I shot something with similar lighting and I used two soft boxes, one on each side. That gives the lighter and defined bit in the middle of the body. It could be anything really though.
 
CharlotteM do you have an example of your shot that you wouldn't mind sharing. I'm finding it hard to figure out how you got the narrow catch lights in the eyes from two soft-boxes to the side. Were you using narrow stripped soft-boxes or just regular large round soft-boxes?
 
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Eric Murray said:
Alastair that does make sense with the two strip lights and one overhead, at least from studying where the light is falling on my above examples. The video photos have light falling all over the head which makes sense for the large slightly overhead softbox in the leaves shot.
Where did you find online info about his two fluorescent strip-lights to the side technique ? You have any links you might have found you could share.
Click to expand...

The only mentions of the twin fluorescent set-up were vague forum threads, similar to this. Mind you, at east one of the comments I found also said he shoot large format film (he seems to be consistently shooting medium format digital on the videos). I suspected the overhead large light source as I've seen David Hobby post a similar lighting set-up, and it's similar to some of Dan Winter's work. The fluorescents can only be very low powered (perhaps quite low-down as well) and primarily there to create the odd catchlights, because if you cranked then up the result would have a touch of the Joel Grimes look - and Robert's work doesn't have that edge emphasis.

Outside magazine (link as per the video I gave earlier) has several similar videos, perhaps wading through those will gain more odd glimpses - but they're not really interested in the photographic technique.
 
Going by the catch lights, and if I was going to shoot this would go with 2 gridded strip boxes for side lighting, then a overhead beauty dish (small) for the face, as I say though that is how I would do it :)
 
I would probablt start with a 1.2mish strip - something like the lencarta effort.I have shot this style of image with 2 strips and a 40x40 softbox as the over head light (and a beauty dish sometimes too).You can start with all lights angled in at the subject as if converging on a single point.There are a ton of photographers who shoot this way - it appears in the nat geo by some dude I can't remember, Peter Hurley and loads before them. soft boxes or flo's it makes little odds to the final image.I think Joel grimes mainly has his strip boxes behind or in line as kickers to give that edge rather than as shown above.
 
If you start with the gridded strips I think you'd risk cooking the edges, there is very little edge definition in this style - the dominant light source is the large, soft, high overhead light source.

If you look at the first Angelina Jolie portrait on this link, the two secondary lights are very small compared to the overhead light and are just providing the barest fill to the shadows - I would guess they are very low and tilted upwards.

http://freeyork.org/celebrities/robert-maxwell-photography
 
Agree with 3 lights. Catchlights totally gives it away.

And a ridiculous amount of horrid post processing.
 
As with most lighting effects, this is easily achieved using a number of different methods. There are a few effects that can only be achieved by using a specific tool, but this isn't one of them.
And it's hard to tell which tools actually were used anyway, because of the level of PP.

The correct approach, as always, is to THINK about WHAT you want to achieve, and to then use whatever tools are to hand and try not to balls it up so badly that you need a lot of PP to rescue it:)
 
Alastair, what do you mean by "If you start with the gridded strips I think you'd risk cooking the edges". The setup I'm going to use is two 2 Calumet 40° Ribbon Grid Egg Crate for Genesis S36 Strip Soft Box, 9 x 36" The 40° Ribbon Grid Egg Crate should angle it towards the center of the face with more precision.
Then I have a large softobox above the head.

Funny a few people have mentioned the massive amount of PS work on these shots. I'm seeing minimal amount of dodging and burning plus the obvious PS work one does on most if not all images. Am I missing something obvious here.

Thanks to all for their input. Greatly appreciated.
 
I could probably have been clearer, I'd start with the overhead light and then cautiously introduce the other two lights. The overhead is (to my eyes) dominating the set-up and is the core lighting element that defines the end result - if there's too much power on the strips I think you'd drift towards too much edge definition, which is distinctly lacking on the torso of these shots. It's just the way I think through the set-up, start with the dominant light source and then add in the rest.

I tend to agree with you about the post-processing, compared to the usual levels of processing applied to portraits it's not excessive. But light dodging and burning can be appear excessively time consuming if you're used to doing one-touch processing with Portrait PlasticiserPro ;)
 
Thanks Alastair, going to try this out this weekend. Thanks to all for the help.
 
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