What power would i need for high key shots ?

Natalie_B

Natalie_B

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Please can someone advise me what the lowest power studio flashes i should be looking at ?

I am hoping to do some high key portrait shots but just starting on that side of thng so need ay advie :cool:

Many thanks
Nat
 
Nat, there is a lot of stuff to consider here. What background you plan to use, the distances involved and whether you want actual high key or if you mean white background which are, in theory, two different things though not entirely unrelated.

High key means the absence of dark tones from an image so that would potentially involve more light on your subject.

Can you tell us more about the location and what the subjects are likely to be....................then I'll ask Garry Edwards to answer it! lol
 
As said previous, it is not about power and over exposing the picture, it is the lack of dark tones, the subject should not be wearing hi contrast clothing, wear white or light pastel shades, there will be some highlights, if that's the word of maybe a very dark elements, jewelry or makeup?. If you use the histogram on the camera when viewing the shot on the camera you should see a spike on the right with v-little mid or dark tones.
 
Thanks all
Ali - I hope to be photographing kids in their homes and in mine so a small setup really. I have been doing on location shots but the white background stuff seems to be in demand so i want to get onto that side of things

Cant decided what power lights to get and needed some advice
 
Yes, white background shots are still popular, and a lot of people refer to white backgrounds as high key, although in fact high key (as explained above) is very different.

You need to be aware that white backgrounds can produce problems in small areas, with unwanted light bouncing back from the background and ruining the shot. See this video for tips on shooting against a white background and this one for tips on shooting ON a white background.

Back to your question. You don't need a lot of power, in fact too much can cause problems. Assuming that you're using a DSLR (not a compact) in the unlikely the event that you need more power you can always increase the ISO from 100 to 200 to effectively double the power. IMO 300J will be plenty. Please see this article
 
incapete said:
It's not all about the power of your lights or flashes - open up the aperture and you'll get plenty of light into your camera!
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In a studio environment, where you are effectifley in control of everything... you may choose to aim to use the camera at a specific apeture

i.e. its optimum apeture for sharpness, or a specufic apeture to control DOF

Assuming you are not shooting and lighting a huge set in a huge aircraft hanger. pretty much any of the commercially available flash heads will be powerful enough
 
The traditional way of high key studio lighting ,is to use a white background and light this from each side , then in front of the model have a 2 non shiny reflectors (2 large sheets of poltstreyn , never could spell that) one from each side throwing light back to the subject, these should just leave enough space between them for the camera to see through to avoid flare, in preference a 135mm lens or longer and closing the gap between the poly sheets top and bottom will help avoid flare as well.
Take the exposure reading on the face. This will give you a high key photo.
N.B. The face is only lit by relection.
 
Natalie_B said:
Please can someone advise me what the lowest power studio flashes i should be looking at ?

I am hoping to do some high key portrait shots but just starting on that side of thng so need ay advie :cool:

Many thanks
Nat
Click to expand...

You mean like this? http://www.dg-photography.co.uk/photo857250.html

I hope DD doesn't mind me linking directly to his site, but he posted it in this thread and I think it's about as good as it gets. http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=171128

Regular lighting kit, three heads (two on the background) and a bit of mopping up residual greys on the background in post processing.

The theory is really very simple but getting the coverage and balance just right is tricky, especially working in a small space.

If you only want head and shoulders it's much easier, and you can do it with just two lights and without the need to clean up in post, but lighting the background and the floor evenly, without blowing it excessively and/or leaving some light grey patches and shadows is much harder.

My experience is that if you go flat out for blown white all over, in camera, with a shot like Dave's, there is too much spill on the main subject which bleaches it too much, plus you run the risk of lens flare washing out the contrast.

IMHO you get a better result by pulling back on the background a fraction in order to optimise the light on the subject, and clean up in post.
 
Phillip Mac said:
The traditional way of high key studio lighting ,is to use a white background and light this from each side , then in front of the model have a 2 non shiny reflectors (2 large sheets of poltstreyn , never could spell that) one from each side throwing light back to the subject, these should just leave enough space between them for the camera to see through to avoid flare, in preference a 135mm lens or longer and closing the gap between the poly sheets top and bottom will help avoid flare as well.
Take the exposure reading on the face. This will give you a high key photo.
N.B. The face is only lit by relection.
Click to expand...

Interesting 'tradition' you have there Phillip - never heard of it

I'd have my doubts too about using the lighting for the background to light the subject when bounced back from the background onto the reflector and then onto the subject :thinking:

I'd love to watch someone try that with an active 2yr old :D

DD
 
DiddyDave said:
Interesting 'tradition' you have there Phillip - never heard of it

...snip...

DD
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I have seen this 'tradition' many years ago. And it didn't work very well then either... ;)

It's a technique for film photography, where the option to clean up the background a bit in post processing wasn't an option. You had to get it right in camera and this method, purely using reflectors off the background as the main subject light, was an easy guarantee that the background would be brighter than the foreground.

All I ever saw with this method was very dull and drab light on the subject, low contrast, and gallons of flare. An example of where theory and practise don't measure up.
 
It works ok with three lights. Better with four though.
Just need to make sure that your subject in a small area is far enough away from the rear lights and background so they don't get burn out.
As said above best to set the rear lights to two stops above what your subject is going to be taken at.
For example, meter to F22 against the background using the rear lights only.
Then switch on your front lights and meter again where you subject is going to be stood / sat to F11 and that should do it. I take a shot a 1/3 stop under and above just to check i've got it bang on before the session


A few here if you want to take a look
http://www.mhillaryphotography.co.uk/children.html
 
MartinH32 said:
It works ok with three lights. Better with four though.
Just need to make sure that your subject in a small area is far enough away from the rear lights and background so they don't get burn out.
As said above best to set the rear lights to two stops above what your subject is going to be taken at.
For example, meter to F22 against the background using the rear lights only.
Then switch on your front lights and meter again where you subject is going to be stood / sat to F11 and that should do it. I take a shot a 1/3 stop under and above just to check i've got it bang on before the session


A few here if you want to take a look
http://www.mhillaryphotography.co.uk/children.html
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2 frontal lights is a daft idea IMHO as is 2 stops over for the background - and I did take a look at your work thanks...

Each to their own eh :)

DD
 
DiddyDave said:
2 frontal lights is a daft idea IMHO as is 2 stops over for the background - and I did take a look at your work thanks...

Each to their own eh :)

DD
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I guess so... thanks.... and a little arrogant unless I'm taking your comment the wrong way!
 
MartinH32 said:
You could have a look at this:
http://www.studioonashoestring.com/22/studio-lighting-for-small-spaces-part-1/

Not your style I know DD as it's got four lights :D
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I wouldn't go with anything that starts off like this and then doesn't show images of that kind at all either...


"What is high key lighting? Wikipedia and I basically agree on the concept. High key lighting produces relatively shadowless images with a “blown” bright white background."

Tosh :D

Those images are anything but high key

DD
 
I do agree with your definition of high key.
I didn't say mine were, merely portraits against a white background and showing you that some people do prefer to use 4 strobes
 
DiddyDave said:
2 frontal lights is a daft idea IMHO as is 2 stops over for the background - and I did take a look at your work thanks...

Each to their own eh :)

DD
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Rodney but Lionel I would say, Martin ;)

Some of the pics in your link have excessively over-blown backgrounds bleaching the subject outline, and a lot of lens flare in some too - killed the contrast.

But thanks for posting. It's always good to look and learn :thumbs:
 
HoppyUK said:
Rodney but Lionel I would say, Martin ;)

Some of the pics in your link have excessively over-blown backgrounds bleaching the subject outline, and a lot of lens flare in some too - killed the contrast.

But thanks for posting. It's always good to look and learn :thumbs:
Click to expand...

I agree some are due to be replaced. Namely my early attempts! Anyway, got to get it right, I'm full time on this from Jan!
 
I think this is really about flare a high key shot must have no flare in the lens. It should have virtually no detail in the face except eyes nose and mouth and is always better in b/w
I'll try and dig one out of 35 years of files and post it
Regards to all
Phillip
 
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