The first thing many photographers will do, when setting the key light, is place it fairly close to the camera.  Nothing wrong with that, of course; it works just fine, looks great, and is a comfortable, non-invasive, distance from the subject.

One of the most overlooked yet critical components of building your set in the studio is the background. It is also one that can be surprisingly costly. Seamless paper backdrops are great for many purposes, but the price of replacing them consistently can be steep. Muslin backdrops obviously have a much longer lifespan than paper, but they too can be costly.

Can you pull up the detail in that? Can you put a little more light here? Sometimes these questions from art directors as well as our own pre-visualized ideas can make a lighting scenario more complicated than the simple 1, 2 and 3 light set ups I outlined last month.. When an art director makes a request, it is our job to interpret what it is they are trying to accomplish, and to know what light modifier, angle, exposure etc. it will take to make it happen.

This summer has been the start of a new book project for me [seems tobe a trend here at PPR!] My new project will be a return to the basicsof lighting and I’m trying to limit the mathematics! I am also reallytrying to stick with fairly simple lighting set-ups (which is harderthan you might think for a lighting geek like me!) One very pleasantside benefit that has come from this project has been my rediscovery ofreflectors.

There are many ways with which to use your dedicated TTL flash unit (I use the Canon 580 EXII) but my first choice is to use that flash bounced and especially bounced on a wall behind me to create a large source of illumination that is soft and flattering.

Think about it, every light shaping tool there is, has been conceived to mimic some phenomenon of natural light.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m hooked on my Pro Photo AcuteB600R portable pack.  But the fact is, for me nothing beats the seductive quality of soft window light.

Like most architectural photographers, I’m frequently faced with making a boring room look attractive and interesting.  The situation is at its worst in small spaces.  Recently I received an assignment from a homebuilder to photograph several of their townhome models.  The townhomes were 1200 square feet or smaller with rather tiny rooms.

Okay - I have gotten your messages loud and clear so I will get down to the nuts and bolts on how and why some of my images were created. Hopefully in doing so this may give you an insight on how the lighting is handled as well as how the whole process unfolds.

I keep trying to find new ways to wrap light around my models.  When it’s properly thought out and tested, light that wraps around a subject creates a different look, a dimensionality that one is unable to get by other methods. For this portfolio shoot, I began with my three light key.  I wrote about this in a ShootSmarter.com article some months ago, but, for those of you who may not have seen it, the three light key is three separate lights and umbrellas, set in a semi-circle above and to the sides of the model, overlapping slightly.  Putting the center light on a boom allows me to shoot through the umbrellas without having to deal with another stand.

There are techniques that we used to be able to get on film that are difficult to achieve in the digital environment, and exposing for the shadows with high speed (read: grainy) film is one of them. Retro styles are important to understand because they are always viable for sales.  Techniques, as I’ve always maintained, are as important to your business as is a command of digital photography and the restraints it demands.  The more you understand, the deeper your bag of tricks, and there is no limit to what the depth of the bag should be.

More with less. That’s our goal. The less we’re encumbered by unnecessary stuff, the easier it is to arrive at our destinations ready to work. I like to think in terms of analogies, and here’s the one that springs to mind: “all the capability of lighting we used to pack in a Chevy Suburban neatly packed into the trunk of a Toyota Prius.

The majority of forum posts and articles on ProPhotoResource.com tend to be [appropriately] on the serious side. It is, after all, a place where people turn for professional level techniques and answers to concerning questions. However, the theme of this month’s article was inspired by a comment made by Joe Walsh on the Eagles Farewell Tour 1 Live From Melbourne DVD. Disc two opens with the spotlight on Mr. Walsh—wearing an outfit that only he could wear—and a “helmet cam.” Prior to launching into a Henley/Frey/Schmit and company backed version of “Life’s Been Good,” Walsh declares: “It’s time to be silly!”