Project365 - Portrait Lighting

Introduction

When I come across subjects that interest me, I tend to do a fair amount of research. These include "How To" tutorials, and I especially love YouTube for this. While researching off-camera flash photography (sometimes called "strobe photography"), I came across a series of videos in the YouTube Channel "CamCrunch". The title that caught my eye first was entitled "Low Key Photography". The setup seemed straight-forward, and the tutorial clear, so I thought I'd give it a try.

The Setup

Camera - Canon 60D, Flash - Canon 430EX II, Lens - 40mm f1.8

The rig is straightforward, the camera is set to ISO 100, aperture f1.8 and the shutter speed to 1/250th of a second. Interestingly, this is the fastest shutter speed attainable, due to the sync speed between the camera and the flash (did I mention once before that I REALLY need to look into a pair of PocketWizards ?!?). The signalling between camera and flash happens via an infrared beam, which limits the sync speed.

The flash is placed on a tripod, above and to the side of the model. Without the flash, these camera settings will effectively expose a black image - which is what we want. The flash is then set up to have a very narrow beam (105 mm), and the lumens dialled down to 1/32 of full power. As the video suggests, we should see the subjects face floating on a black background.

The Photos

Dialling in the camera. I was fiddling with the settings to get the background black. Not even close !

First attempt... While the tutorial was pretty straight-forward about how to set up the shoot, I spent about half an hour getting the flash set up correctly. Obviously, this first shot was too bright - amongst other problems.

 

This image is heading in the right direction. While overall the background was dark(er), I was still getting a lot of "spillover" light, owing to the wide beam from the flash, and the power of the flash. Seemed every time I set up the wireless, I lost control of the flash settings. I had to google how to set up the flash to do what I wanted - on the camera !

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, I had the flash intensity correct. Now all I had to do was figure out how to get the beam narrower, to avoid the spillover effect. The softer light has a less harsh effect on the overall photo.

 

Here, it's all coming together. I have the light intensity creating a soft glow and the background is nice & dark. If the leather in the chair hadn't been so reflective, it would also have faded to black.

 

Now that I figured out the setup, it's time to prove I can repeat it. In this image, I changed locations & my model. I'm pleased with the results. With some more practice, I believe that I will be able to reproduce this look at will. Next up - putting a second flash behind the subject to create depth !

 

Lessons Learned

While this was a fun shoot, I came to realize that it was more complex to set up than I realized. I spent some time learning where the controls were and how to control them. I like the output, and think I will enjoy this technique for portraiture.