I decided this week that I didn’t feel like putting myself in front of the lens, so I got Lynn to model for me.  It wasn’t to difficult to get her to do that since she’s been dying to pose in front of the Westcott Modern Vintage background that I recently purchased.

Setup Shot:

A three light setup was used here.

1. Main light was a B800 in a 52" silver PLM without the white diffusion fabric.
2. Hair light was also a B800 in the normal reflector with a tight grid (I think 20°) on it.
3. Background light was my new B400 with a really tight grid on it, I believe this one was 10°.

I essentially tried all new lighting techniques with this shot, with the exception of the hair light, and found out some things that I didn’t like about it.

First off, I used the PLM without the diffusion fabric.  I’ve heard a lot of talk about how contrast-y it is, and how much “pop” it creates.  This does create a contrast-y modifier.  Unless your subject has flawless skin, I would not recommend using it on bare skin.

Next was the background light. This is the first time using a grid on the background light.  I feel like I definitely over did it on how tight I went.  10° was too tight for the length of this shot.  It probably would have been more appropriate on a headshot.  I also feel like I had it too low, causing it to not fully direct the viewer’s eyes to Lynn’s face.

Final thoughts.

• Well it was a nice relief to not be working both ends of the lens, and to just focus on the model and the image.
• Continue to play with my lights and modifiers to see what works and what doesn’t.  Removing the diffusion fabric from the PLM was a great example of this.
• Continue to practice posing Lynn, so I get experience in communicating with my subject.

As always, feel free to chime in below.