I've said before that I occasionally give myself skill building exercises to work on lighting setups. These exercises are like dress rehearsals so that when it's time to set everything up for an official session, there is no guesswork.
Since I've been watching some videos about fashion lighting, I decided to set up the lights with the goal of creating a brighter scene than I normally do. I also wanted to reduce the shadows since I often create darker shadows for a moody feel.
The way I set everything up, I created a kind of light tunnel with my light coming from one side, and a reflector bouncing light back from the opposite side. Clothing was selected to compliment the scene: white shirt to tie in with the background, and tan pants and shoes to tie in with the floor and old crates. I gotta say, it didn't hurt that the skin tones also complimented the tones in the scene.
Initially I left the composition as wide as possible, but expected to crop later. The wider composition gave me room to not fall out of the frame while standing in front of the camera. As I started looking at the results, I realized that the wider composition worked better than expected.
The simple elements added layers to the image: backdrop overlapping the reflector on the right, followed by the subject and chair, then the wooden crates and floor in the foreground. Simple, but adds some visual interest
The seated poses below were just to add some variety. For a regular session, we would have gone through a series of poses and expressions, but for this setup, just two or three were good enough.
Things went smoothly for this exercise, and it can be said that things went smoothly because, as with other things in life, practice makes perfect. While a fashion look won't fit all situations, it's nice to have options for a studio session. If you like these results, and you're interested in a session with a bright fashion-inspired look, don't hesitate to send a message.
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