The object of this little exercise is to assess the various different lighting techniques and setups that I could use when taking portrait photos. I tried a few different combinations of the 3 light sources (2 flashes and a reflector).

The Equipment

• Camera is a Canon 550d
• Key (main) light is a Speedlite 580exII (Canon Flash) with a 3m hot show extension cable – setup as Master)
• Fill light is 430ExII (Canon Flash) -setup as slave
• 2 light stands, a reflective umbrella, a 16cm/12cm softbox attachment
• A piece of black cardboard for the background
• A collapsable circular reflector (24 inch)

• Red dots indicate fill light positions
• Blue do is the backlight position (if used)

On Camera Flash

Flash was fixed on the camera hot shoe, as the camera was rotated into a portrait orientation it was about 20cm off to the left of the lens.

Harsh Direct Flash

Flash pointed up 45Degrees, bouncing off the ceiling

Flash pointed straight up 90Degrees, bouncing off the ceiling

Key Light (45 degrees) + a Reflector

Key light was positioned (without an umbrella) as show in the top diagram, no fill light and a 30″ reflector placed over to the left hand side (indicated by diagram green line ). The silver reflector clearly takes away the shadows on the left hand side of the face, the gold reflector giving a orange/warm glow.

Key +No Fill

Key + Fill Silver Reflector (10cm from subject)

Key + Fill Gold Reflector (30cm from subject)

Key & Fill at 45 Degrees, changing the ratio

Key light (no umbrella) with the Fill at Red Position 2 in the diagram, with various ratios between the Key and Fill. To me the fill light looks best at around 1:4 & 1:8.

Key and Fill 45Degrees to Subject (Ratio 1:1)

Key and Fill 45Degrees to Subject (Ratio 1:2)

Key and Fill 45Degrees to Subject (Ratio 1:4)

Key and Fill 45Degrees to Subject (Ratio 1:8)

Key with umbrella + reflector

Key light with the umbrella, no fill light. The umbrella clearly softens the nose shadow.

Key without Umbrella

Key with Umbrella

Key with Umbrella + silver reflector

Key with Umbrella + gold reflector

Key with umbrella + fill

Key + Fill (Pos 2) Ratio 1:1

Key + Fill (Pos 2) Ratio 1:4

Key + Fill with softbox attachment (Pos 2) Ratio 1:1

Key + repositioning the Fill light

Key using umbrella, fill using a softbox in various positions Red 1,2,3,4. I like the effect of positioning the fill silghtly behind the subject.

Fill slightly to the left of camera (Red Position 1)

Fill 45 degrees to subject (Red Position 2)

Fill 90 degrees to subject (to the left) (Red Position 3)

Fill 120 degrees to subject (left and a little behind) (Red Position 4)

Key & Backlight angled

Key with umbrella, and 2nd flash behind the subject (Diagram blue position)

Backlight angled straight up

Backlight angled at subject

Backlight angled at background

Key + Backlight + Relector Fill

info

Next stage is to repeat the experiment with a human subject… I’ll post the study when complete.

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