Pay close attention to how Emily uses diffused lighting ratios and depth-of-field and focuses the lens on the subject, while blurring out the foreground and background. Try this technique for your next senior portrait or outdoor editorial portrait session….it is not just for fashion anymore!

This time we see Emily using a Mola Softlight Dish instead of a beauty dish for overpowering Sunlight with diffused flash. And from what I can tell, Emily is still using an Alien Bee monolight and Vagabond battery pack. While a beauty dish can offer a similar diffused flash light quality, the wavy curves and distinctive shape of the Mola dish lends a softer light quality. For those photographers already using a beauty dish, I suggest diffusing your dish further with a sheet of ripstop nylon. Just drape it over your beauty dish and secure it with a few $.49 clamps from the local HomeDepot. You may find white ripstop nylon at your local fabric store for about $8 per sq/yd…it’s very inexpensive folks!

Overpowering Sunlight with diffused flash video example below.

I used one of my large 5′ x 8′ white ripstop nylon panels to further diffuse the 22′ beauty dish. The diffused flash to daylight lighting ratio is about 1:2, the Sunlight is about 1 stop brighter than the diffused flash exposure. No retouching for lighting at all!

I would like to point out that Emily’s success is not just about overpowering Sunlight with diffused flash and great lighting ratios. Obviously there is much more going on in her images such as styling and posing and location research. Emily has a concept and theme for each fashion story she shoots. She uses camera technique and composes her images to tell a story and photographs the wardrobe well. Fashion shoots include wardrobe and makeup/hair stylists and models. When I shoot fashion, the entire shoot theme is discussed beforehand so everyone is on the same page. In each case I email location scouting images and/or Google Maps links to the entire crew and models.

For Strobist portrait lighting using speedlights I have a different suggestion for overpowering Sunlight with diffused flash lighting ratios. The easiest and least expensive solution for creating a soft diffused flash light quality is by constructing a 3′ x 3′ PVC frame and attaching a white 3′ x 3′ ripstop nylon fabric to the PVC panel. I prefer the heavier 1 3/4 inch PVC over the 3/4 inch PVC as the heavier PVC does not flex in a mild breeze. PVC is about $3 for 10 feet and the corner joints run about $1.50 each.

I use 2″ elastic cloth bands in the corners to quickly secure the fabric to the panel. A sewing machine is required to sew the elastic fabric bands to the ripstop nylon. Don’t have a sewing machine?…….use Craigslist to find an affordable seamstress….simple as that.

ADDITIONAL TIP: The Strobist speedlight photographer may need to use 2 speedlights for diffused flash lighting ratios when overpowering Sunlight with the white ripstop nylon fabric. This applies to a fill flash lighting ratio….and may not completely overpower the Sunlight. It really depends on the brightness of the Sunlight, your flash power,  AND whether you are photographing full length or just 3/4. My experience from Brooks Institute photo school 20 years ago, the Vivitar 285 did have enough power for a 3/4 headshot using a 3′ x 3′ ripstop nylon panel with a panel distance of 4 feet to subject. As I recall, this worked quite well with my 4×5 film camera and ISO 100 sheet film with an F/stop probably around F/5.6 or F/8…..which is plenty for headshots and portraits on a digital camera with full-frame or DX sensors.

The diffusion panels can be attached side-by-side and used as massive softboxes. Below is a series of images I created with 3 panels and one 600w/s monolight. While I own 4 monolights, I primarily shoot with 1-2 lights 90% of the time.

One may certainly purchase pre-made diffusion frames/panels from Larson Lighting for several hundred dollars each…..or you can build your own for about $30 and a few hours of your time. There are many ways to construct the diffusion panels on the internet and there are just as many different suggestions for diffusion fabric. Walmart shower curtain material for $1.99 just looks like &#$% and may even cause you to have very ugly highlights in the eyes as several photographers have noticed. Spend $5 more and you get the real thing that lighting companies use.

Overpowering Sunlight with Diffused Flash is an easy technique to master with a bit of practice. I suggest that the photographer create a test of different lighting ratios. I might begin withe a 1:1, 1:2, and 1:3 ratio of daylight to diffused flash. One of the lighting ratios will look just right to your eyes. Now you have a lighting formula that you can repeat over and over again.

20 years ago I made 5 panels that are 5′ x 8′ each, complete with fabric for about $200 and one Saturday afternoon. The first set of diffusion panels I later sold to a very well known portrait photographer, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, after assisting him one day. He just loved the diffused light quality and decided to use the fabric in his NYC studio.

I still have and use the diffusion panels for many of my commercial shoots today. Many…..many… professional fashion and portrait studios still use fabric panels because of the fantastic natural light quality they produce. Just because we don’t always see diffusion panels in YouTube lighting videos does not mean panels do not exist. I learned real lighting secrets by assisting great Los Angeles fashion photographers….and got paid to learn and see how they light and shoot ad campaigns.

Overpowering Sunlight with Diffused Flash is an excellent technique for giving your portfolio a fresh new look. The lighting tools are not very expensive and in most cases, we already own this lighting gear. Your only real homework is to test out the different lighting ratios and find one that works best for your shooting and visual style.

RELATED POSTS

Location Fashion Shoot Tutorial with Lighting Diagrams

One Light Low Key Editorial Fashion Lighting

One Light Lookbook Lighting Tutorial

Heffner Models Fashion Shoot with Satin Panel Lighting

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Zeroplusplus Photography Tutorials - Photography Techniques and Tutorials for the Photographer

Overpowering the Sun by 1 stop

The tools required are a 160w/s or better monolight and a portable battery pack. If you subject is close to the flash, 160w/s is enough. However, when the Sun is very bright or at “high noon” or the flash is far away, then I would recommend a 320w/s flash unit. I can recall at least one instance where I used a 1000w/s monolight because the Sun was extremely bright at the beach…and the beauty dish was 12ft away from the model.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzqfB564-Cg

Why is so much power from a flash? The problem or issue really lies in the slow flash sync shutter speed of our DSLR’s. In most cases, the DSLR has a top flash sync of 1/250th or maybe just 1/160th of a second. If we set our f/stop for proper exposure outdoors at 1/250th shutter speed, our f/stop will fall around f/11 or even f/16 on sunny days. Overcast days and early morning or sunset this f/stop will change to f/5.6 or f/8. At sunrise and sunset 160w/s is just fine, but for “high noon” and bright sunny days, I recommend at least 320w/s. Experiment with how much you overpower the Sun. I prefer to use one of three different lighting ratios…. 1:1, 1:2, and 1:3 usually provide the most flattering and optimal results. Simple lighting and great composition, it really is just that easy!

I found two videos by Southern California fashion photographer Emily Soto. I really enjoy her photographic style and simple approach to lighting. Pay especially close attention to her composition. Notice how she uses the foreground and places it out of focus for adding depth and emotion to the images. Later we see her assistant holding flowers in front of the lens for an interesting compositional image revealed later in the final images (the model holding a huge flower).

In the following videos, we see a Alien Bee monolight, a Vagabond II Portable Power System, as well as a 48″ Octabox w/Grid and also a Mola Dish. I prefer to use either a 22″ Beauty Dish or the 48″ Octabox w/Grid because of the round catchlights (like the sun) that both modifiers produce. A softbox will naturally work just fine, but you will have square catchlights. Use a grid on either your octabox or softbox to control the light spill on the foreground. Angle the lighting modifier so that it only lights your subject….not the entire grass field in front of your subject!

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At first I was only going to write a reply, but after looking at the length of it, I realized that it was becoming more of a post than a reply, lol. Valters Preimanis of Photologs.net also had a question about the panels.

I first learned of the DIY Panel System after watching a Dean Collins video back in the winter semester of Brooks Institute of Photography in 1988. I constructed 4 panels and my lighting improved 1000% overnight. I still fondly recall my teachers and classmates looks of astonishment during Fashion Class critique. The all asked “how the hell did you light the model, the light, the shadows, and the skintones look amazing”.  My teacher Harry Liles, a 30 year LA advertising photography veteran, was especially amused by my simple and inexpensive lighting setup. That single image earned me early access to the expensive Comet strobes that were only available to the upper classman at the school.

In those days, lower division classmen were only allowed to light with Mole-Richardson tungsten lights for the first 1.5 years. I hated those lights with a passion. Imagine yourself photographing people with a 4×5 view camera, tungsten lights, a 1/30th of a second shutter speed, changing 4×5 film holders and cocking the shutter, directing and posing models…..all while wearing heavy Kevlar gloves because the Tungsten lights were so damn hot. Sweat just dripped off my forehead because of the heat. AND all this time I was nervous as hell shooting agency models because I had no idea how to pose or direct. The models probably thought I was a Guy-With-Camera and horny, LOL.

Photographer/Instructor Extrodinare Harry Liles by Chris Orwig

So I like to think that I played a small role in introducing Dean Collins to Brooks Institute, This panel lighting system was all new at the time and many of the instructors had only heard of it. As competitive as the students were at Brooks and Pasadena Art Center at the time, I only shared my lighting modifiers with my favorite teacher Harry Liles.

Looking back today, I should have shared this info with my classmates. But in those days at Brooks, students were extremely competitive towards each other. I was just caught up in it and naive. Creative competition is a good thing as it creates better images for all of us. The way student competition was handled and encouraged at Brooks in 1989 …….. and the other 4 top other top photography programs is not what I would consider as a creative learning process. Ahhh, the indiscretions and naive nature of youth. I do not miss being a 26 year old photography student again. Today,  I shoot 1000% better at 46 years of age, my life experiences create the images…..the gear I use today is not important nor does it create the images Tim and I shoot.

Art directors want great images that make them look good. Art directors want images that sell products. Art directors want to create art…..deep down inside. We all want to create beautiful images that our peers will admire…..and judge us by….big laugh. Now back to the article……

Later in 1990 when assisting the top LA fashion photographers, all I saw were panels and V-Banks. We shot ads for GAP, Guess, United Colors of Benetton, Italian Mode editorials, Vogue editorials, Elle editorials, and Harpers Bazaar. I remember how funny it was seeing $100 panels used for international ad campaigns…..and just a couple of mix matched Speedotron lights hooked up to a really beat-up Profoto 7 pack.

My first real fashion assisting gig was for Dominick Guillemot. I have to say that this was the coolest crew to work with. Dominic shot Guess and GAP fashion ad campaigns all day long, 5 days a week….damn he was busy! 7 assistants, two guys just loading the Hasselblad backs and five of us lower human equivalents making coffee and moving lights. The 5 French assistants watched me unscrew a Gitzo tripod that had fallen into the ocean….and laughing at the new German assistant (me) trying to figure it out……I was stressed as hell as I wanted this job more than oxygen.

Are softboxes the true evil, absolutely no! They have a place in modern photography ever day. Many of our favorite shooters use them every day. Why is Thorsten such a badass about the panels……try them out and you will see. End of story.

Annie Leibovitz used to rent the 20′x20′ silk panels for her shoots, one of my roommates assisted her and told me all about her setups….but that is another post, lol.

In 1995 I assisted NYC portrait photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders on a shoot. We photographed sportscaster Bob Costas using all my lighting gear and panel modifiers. After the shoot, Timothy walked up to me and said “I would like to buy your nylon panels for my NYC studio…whats your price?”

So now, the really cool thing about the panels. With all the DSLR’s now capable of shooting HD video, Tim and I use the panels to light our video sets as well. After all, the movie industry is where we originally stole the panel lighting modifier from anyway.

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Seamless paper users take note: I shoot between f/2.8 and f/5.6 to avoid or minimize seeing the ugly seamless paper ripples in the background. A shallow depth-of-field will help blur the paper ripples. In the images below I shot on a painted cyc wall….but I still shoot near wide open to avoid seeing cyc wall blemishes.

Editorial fashion photography is my favorite fashion style since I can shoot whatever poses I like. Modeling agency’s also like editorial fashion as the images demonstrate that a model can move well. But it is not just about movement…the model must also have a believable expression and display confidence in the wardrobe.

The two models I photographed, Ellie and Cassland, are with TCM Models & Talent. They were both brand new to modeling at the time. The agency booker did warn them that I like difficult poses and they would be asked to “bust a move”.

Knowing beforehand that this was the second shoot for the two girls, I wanted to spend my time and energy on posing and great facial expressions. As it turned out, both Ellie and Cassland quickly adapted to the studio environment and crew. We ended up photographing some of my favorite editorial fashion images.

Ellie J photographed with the white satin panel

Ellie J white satin panel lighting diagram

My friend and designer Oscar Milano Mai was kind enough to provide the wardrobe and styling for the shoot. Oscar provided the jewelry and directed the hair and makeup as well. All I had to do was light, shoot, and pose.

I never changed the lighting pattern throughout the shoot, we simply changed the props and poses for variety. We added some good music, I happen to like commercial-free internet streaming radio.

Cassland white satin panel fashion lighting

Ellie J 2 white satin panel fashion lighting

Cassland2 white satin panel fashion lighting

Happily, the images from this shoot, immediately provided both new models with paid shoots at local photography studios and also in the Los Angeles area. I have since photographed Ellie and Hayley again on several fashion campaigns with local designers.

When photographing model portfolios I use the KISS principle…..keep it simple stupid, lol. The single goal is to get the model local work as quickly as possible. In turn, this makes me more valuable as a photographer and the modeling agency sends me more paid model portfolio shoots.

A great resource for wardrobe designers and wardrobe stylists and hair/makeup artists is Model Mayhem, I use local talent from MM all the time.

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My designer friend Dr. Robert Whaley asked me to photography four of his designs. The models are from Heffner Model Management in Seattle. The first model, Elina Ivanova, was on ‘America’s Next Top Model’. These 5 images easily became a favorite on several photography websites. I was kinda dumb-founded by all the requests for the lighting diagrams, so here they are.

Elina Ivanova satin panel low-key fashion lighting

This is a very simple and basic low-key lighting setup. The white satin panel is on the right and the strobe head is placed fairly close to the fabric. Be careful to not catch the fabric on fire, modeling lights get REALLY HOT.

On my left side I placed a second 5′ x 8′ white satin panel to act as a fill-reflector. Dark dresses such as this dress need a bit of kicker fill. For a white wedding dress you may not even need a fill reflector.

As you will notice in the lighting diagram, the strobe head is placed directly to the side of the model….and she is facing towards the light.

Try experimenting by moving the strobe head to the left or right of the panel to create a Rembrandt (triangle of light below the eye socket). With this simple lighting setup I can create a side-light or a Rembrandt lighting pattern just by moving the strobe head a few feet across the white satin panel……in seconds…..and no need to re-meter the lights!

Contrast ratios are easily controlled by the second white satin panel to the camera left. Additionally, we can control the size of the light on the model by moving the right-side strobe head further or closer to the white satin panel. Try doing that with a softbox!The lighting diagram is for the above image and the image below.

Elina Ivanova satin panel low-key fashion lighting diagram

Elina Ivanova 2 satin panel low-key fashion lighting diagram

The next three images of the white dresses, are photographed with the exact same lighting pattern…with the exception of the white satin panel fill. The dresses being white, do not require any additional fill light. A simple one light and white satin panel lighting setup.

This was a shoot for designer Madina Vadache featuring three of her dresses on two models from Heffner Model Management.

In case you are wondering what color background I used, it is called “Thunder Gray”, available as seamless paper by Savage. I use a small swatch booklet of Savage paper samples and had Home Depot match the paint….much cheaper than constantly replacing paper. The “wall” I use is commonly referred to as a cyclorama or “cyc wall”, similar to what skateboarders use. It is possible to build one using inexpensive materials from the local hardware store, about $600 plus 20 hours labor.

Heffner Model Management - satin panel low-key fashion lighting

Heffner Model Management2 - satin panel low-key fashion lighting

Heffner Model Management3 - satin panel low-key fashion lighting

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Try this low key lighting setup for your next portrait shoot as well. Everyone loves the low key portrait look, especially the magazines. If you still doubt me, please take a look at one of the greatest portrait photographers, Albert Watson…..see, told ya, lol.

The designer left it up to me as far as how I wanted to shoot this. The studio cyc wall was beginning to look a bit faded and needed a fresh coat of paint, perhaps a dark gray might look nice. I took a piece of “Thunder Gray” seamless paper to the local HomeDepot and asked the paint department to match it with their groovy paint color analyzer. $30 later, I had a few gallons of inexpensive matte finish “Thunder Gray”.

I learned a long time ago, the photographer needs to make the subject comfortable in the first 5 minutes of entering the studio. I have music playing and the studio is clean, bottled water and fresh fruit in the refrigerator, kinda like having company over for cocktails.

A while back I shot this series of images for a local clothing designer and modeling agency. This was Hayley’s second time in front of the camera and she did an amazing job. Modeling agencies like to see images with personality, movement, confidence, and expressions in the eyes. Hayley didn’t require much posing instruction, she just looked at herself in the mirror and knew she looked great.

One light low key portrait or fashion lighting diagram

For lighting I used a single 5′ x 8′ white satin panel. I could have used 2 nylon fabrics doubled up as well, either way works just fine. Over the lower 1/2 of the panel I attached a black cloth, and this gave me the darker gradation below the knees. Power is a 500 w/s mono-head, set at about 250-300 ws…..F/5.6 has plenty of depth-of-field for the average person….not just skinny models, lol.

Matte paint is supposed to be flat and non-reflective…..but we may still have a bit of shine or glare…just like seamless paper. At any rate, the black cloth does a nice job of feathering the light and reducing glare from the floor area.

To control or adjust the lighting contrast, simply move the mono-head closer or further from the white satin panel. If the mono-head is 1 foot from the panel we have a small circle of light or a specular light source. But if we move the mono-head 3-4 feet away from the fabric, we now have a large circle of light or a large diffused light source.

If you have been following my lighting diagrams and articles, you may have noticed, the lighting modifiers are between 6-12 feet from the subjects or models. There is a simple explanation for this. I wish the light to be even when it strikes the model, regardless of whether it is specular or diffused lighting. I eliminate the hot-spots with distance. And yes, even softboxes have hot-spots.

Take a few moments and try this simple experiment at home in your backyard, works best at night or in a darkened room. Set up a softbox 45 Degrees camera left or right, about 12 feet from your subject and take a shot. Now move that softbox 4 feet from your subject, still 45 Degrees off camera center, and take another picture.

Open the two images, side by side in Photoshop, and you will notice a significant difference in hot-spots and contrast. Which distance has a more even light quality from head to toe?

Why do I use panels, well, here are a few reasons.

1) The panels allow me to adjust the image contrast very quickly by moving the mono-head back and forth. I don’t move the panels…just the mono-head to panel distance.

2) The circle of light that strikes the panel feathers slightly at the outer edges of the circle. This softens the light fall-off in the shadow areas or darker regions. In contrast, the softbox has a very crisp edge… where the diffusion material meets the black frame, and thus no feathering at all. This may be fine for many folks, I simple prefer soft shadows, lol.

3) I like the round catchlight in the eyes. The panels in the slideshow resemble the Sun on a soft hazy day. Skin texture looks natural and smoother than what I get with a softbox. I mimic the light quality of the Sun in the studio.

4) The fabrics are machine washable, light, and travel very well. For airline travel I leave the PVC frames at home, and just pack a few small & light 8′ stands and clamps. Stretch and hold the fabric between light stands with $3 clamps, done in seconds.

5) Expense, 5 panels cost about as much to make as 1 good quality XL softbox. I can also use panels as giant reflectors or to diffuse the Sunlight outdoors. For product and food lighting they are superb as well.

Don’t take my word for it, lol. I copied what the movie industry has been doing for 100+ years. Many well known photographers have adopted similar lighting setups, they just don’t discuss it.

As always, zero Photoshop post production on the lighting in these images. Only basic whitebalance, exposure, and a film curve.

This lighting is so easy, even a caveman could do it.

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Four days ago, last Monday, Tim and I photographed Madina Vadache’s Spring 2011 Collection. The week before, we all met and had a short production meeting. We discussed which model we would like to use as well as the shoot location and the overall look for the catalog or lookbook images.

Madina also wanted a few editorial fashion images for the “splash page” of her new website. For the editorial images, we decided to use the lobby area of her condo building. The lookbook setting would be a corner of her design studio, a modern looking window with white blinds.

We can only show a few images, as the collection has not been released for public viewing.

The lighting diagrams are listed below:

Fill & Backlight Umbrella Fashion Lighting Diagram

Key & Fill Umbrella Fashion Lighting Diagram

Shoot-Through Umbrella Fashion Lighting Diagram

Tim and I had to work pretty fast on the editorial images. We used a basic architectural lighting technique, bouncing umbrellas off of white surfaces. For the Key Light on the model, we slid the mono-head all the way forward on the shaft, giving us a soft spotlight effect. The 3 editorial images took about 1 hour to light and photograph.

For the lookbook images we used the 5′ x 8′ White Satin Panel/22″ Beauty Dish setup. We added a black cloth to the lower half of the panel to reduce glare from the wood floor tiles.

Beauty Dish/Satin Panel Catalog Lighting Diagram

Simple lighting and zero Photoshop post production for lighting fixes.

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The panels when used as we did in the video below, offer a very soft light quality for elderly subjects. Or, we may use the same panel setup for beauty lighting.

For the creative senior portrait, I might suggest the octabox ring light modification. This ring light modification looks great for fashion, musicians and editorial portraits as well.

One of the difficulties of photographing outdoors in Seattle, the weather is unpredictable. For commercial photography, Tim and I modify the light quality…on the fly… as the weather conditions change.

Perhaps you are photographing a senior portrait or engagement photo or even a formal wedding portrait on a cloudy day. Try the “bare octabox” as a backlight, maybe add an orange gel. Now you have completely changed the overall look and you are offering your clients options.

We have clients that may only be available on a certain day and time, and they need that sunny look on a cloudy day? Now we have a solution and get the job.

Creative lighting options make us more valuable as photographers. Give your client a reason for choosing you over the 20+ other photographers down the street. Having the lowest price on the block is a no win situation…and we do not always get a job based on fee.

As an art director once said to me, ” we hire photographers that give us images we couldn’t shoot ourselves”. Well…there you have it….

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1) DIY Nylon Panel – soft and diffused lighting for $50
2) Bare Octabox – mimic the 10am or 2pm Sun
3) Grided Octabox w/ToughFrost Disc – removes the center hotspot
4) DIY Octabox Ring Light – ring light shadow without the harshness

Early on in our careers, Tim and I assisted many commercial photographers, and were very fortunate to learn a variety of lighting modifiers and lighting techniques. The “Creative Lighting for People Photography” video tutorial demonstrates the 50 most popular lighting techniques we use for our commercial photography.

Aimee - Octobox Ring-Light Modification

Melissa - Naked Octobox Modification

Aimee - Nylon Panel System

Melissa - Nylon Panel System

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