Have 3 strobes for portrait shoot: main, fill & ____?

[Gorilla]

Hi there! I have a corporate portrait shoot tomorrow, on location. I have three strobes along with a couple of soft boxes and umbrellas and grids. I plan to use one as my key light, one as fill, but I'm not sure how to use the third: as a rim/hair light or to light the backdrop?

I could perhaps use a reflector in place of the fill light, which would then free up a light for the backdrop and a rim light, but I like to bring my key light in very close to the subject, and my key will be an octobox with a diffuser on it. So it likely won't be producing enough light for the reflector to catch it, bounce it and provide sufficient fill light. Thus the reflector will not be reliable, most likely. And besides I'm not a big fan of using a reflector as fill in general, since I like to be able to control for things like varying skin tones from one subject to the next, and a reflector doesn't provide that.

So, would you choose to use the third strobe as hair/rim light or to light the backdrop? (Or something else entirely?)

Thank you!

[Manfred M]

What type of portrait? Formal, environmental, head shot, head & chest shot?

For a location shot, follow the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) rule and use as little equipment as you can get away with. A simple 45/45 key light and a static reflector as a fill light. White reflector if you are shooting a female or want soft light, although if you are looking at at a more edgy shot with a male, a silver reflector. If you are not getting enough light off a reflector, there is something wrong with your key light setup, my guess is that it is too low and you are not getting enough spill onto the reflector, so move your light up.

If you are close to your subject with your octabox, as your propose, you must have a very low powered light if you are worried about pushing out enough light to use a reflector. I tend to set up my softbox just out of the frame as this gives me a nice soft light and I have never had an (indoor) situation where I did not get enough light onto a static reflector to give me a nice ~ 2:1 lighting ratio. You really don't want to do anything more dramatic looking for a corporate portrait.

Your other two lights - take at least one as a backup.

As you say, you don't like reflectors, use a softbox as your fill light and take the third light as a spare. Chose your background so you have good separation of the subject from the background and that way you can avoid worrying about hair light or rim light. Have your fill light at the same distance as your key and shoot at 1 stop lower power. Make life easy for yourself and go simple on the lighting.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Mason,

I'd suggest you also want to think about the variety of people that may plonk themselves in front of your lens; there might be all sorts; pale skinned, blond haired, darker skinned, with black hair, or no hair - and this should 'inform' the background choice.

Not that I want to 'freak you out' when you need confidence for tomorrow, but there's a lot to think about apart from the technicalities of the lighting, so my vote is also to keep it simple.

Have you recce'd the location?
I hope it isn't one with low ceilings and bold coloured walls that will reflect a colour cast on to your subjects, or one glass wall that fills the place with uncontrollable sunlight (e.g. if no blinds).

Whatever you face, stay calm, think through each problem and solve it logically, then move on to the next one - oh, and try to enjoy yourself.

Good luck, Dave

[Gorilla]

Thanks to each of you for your advice!
• These will be - at client's request - traditional head and chest shots in front of a grey (and white - "marble" look) muslin backdrop. Client is a medium to large sized medical practice and subjects are the partners.
• The room has one small window that can be easily covered
• 9 foot ceilings
• I didn't note the color of the walls 😳
• Also, the person who borrowed my lights didn't return the reflector and I didn't notice till now (my fault). Going to try to buy one, but would a large white poster board work? (It will look less than professional)

Thanks.

[Manfred M]

1. If you are working with muslin, make sure you get ALL the wrinkles out. I hate working with muslin because the material wrinkles so easily and removing them in post is a pain in the ....

2. I often use a piece of medium sized white foam core as a reflector. It's easy to find at a place like Staples / Office Depot. You can always get your subject to hold it at the right angle if you don't have a holder or an assistant.

3. Depending on the wall the window is on and the direction of the light, you might just end up overpowering it. Covering it up would certainly make your job easier.

4. Nine foot ceilings and a sitting client give you plenty of height for your light.

[Dave Humphries]

... and removing them in post is a pain in the ....

Wrist?

[Manfred M]

Wrist?

Yes - from using one of those clothes steamers. That seems to be the only way of getting rid of the wrinkles without resorting to ironing the darn things.

As for the PP work, I was referring to something lower down and on the back side of the body..

[rpcrowe]

Mason,

Whether or not you need a rim light would IMO depend on the color of the background you plan to use which would depend on the uses for your image.

If you use a brighter background like a light gray, the reflection from your background light onto the back of your subject would give you the separation you need.

If you opt for a low key image with a darker background, then a rim or hair light might do the job without a background light.

If you have several images which will be displayed at once, in one place, I would ensure that the backgrounds and the lighting is pretty well the same so that the images match better.

[Gorilla]

If you have several images which will be displayed at once, in one place, I would ensure that the backgrounds and the lighting is pretty well the same so that the images match better.

This thought is what sealed my decision to (follow the good advice above and) keep it simple. Uniformity amongst the images was important to the client, and the subjects ranged in height from 5'5" to 6'3", so - without an assistant and the need to move from subject to subject rather quickly - I opted to not use a rim light.

As for muslin, there is a simple and effective solution: Bring a spray bottle filled with water, once the cloth is hung simply spray it and the wrinkles will disappear before your eyes. It may take a few pumps to get rid of particularly nasty wrinkles, but even the most badly crumpled cloth will be wrinkle free within just a few minutes using this method

[rpcrowe]

This thought is what sealed my decision to (follow the good advice above and) keep it simple. Uniformity amongst the images was important to the client, and the subjects ranged in height from 5'5" to 6'3", so - without an assistant and the need to move from subject to subject rather quickly - I opted to not use a rim light.

As for muslin, there is a simple and effective solution: Bring a spray bottle filled with water, once the cloth is hung simply spray it and the wrinkles will disappear before your eyes. It may take a few pumps to get rid of particularly nasty wrinkles, but even the most badly crumpled cloth will be wrinkle free within just a few minutes using this method

Throwing the muslin into a clothes dryer along with a damp towel and a couple of sheets of clothing softener will also work. Our clothes dryer has a "touch up" cycle that is great for this chore.

Even better is a clothing steamer which can be found on eBay or Amazon at a relatively low price...

I am not recommending this particular steamer, just offering it as an example of what I am talking about, I bought smaller steamer years ago for less than ten U.S. Dollars and it is still going strong. Pretty good also for when I travel to get the wrinkles out of packed clothing.

https://smile.amazon.com/Commercial-...+steamer&psc=1