Whyrnutz
Setup Shot
We shot this after hours on the conference room table in the office where she works. I based this setup on one of the single-light setups Dean Collins does in his Basic Lighting DVD. If you haven't ordered the set yet I strongly recommend that you do - there's a TON of information there. David is 100% right, the guy is amazing! (Disclaimer: Neither I nor anyone I know is affiliated with Software Cinema in any way. Otherwise I wouldn't have had to pay for them.)
The strobe on the left is firing into ripstop nylon clamped to the ceiling grid to put diffused light on her face while raw light goes directly past to the background (a piece of fabric donated by my sister-in-law). A piece of white foamcore acts as a fill on the right. The strobe in the back on the right provides the hairlight. Note the cardboard gobo above the fill card to prevent lens flare from the hairlight. There's also a fan sitting on the chair directly in front of her. And the reason she's smiling is because she's sitting on a comfy moving blanket.
Lessons I learned from this shoot:
1. Buy more clamps.
2. Binder clips work in a jam if you weren't smart enough to bring enough clamps.
3. Rig up some kind of modeling light not only to help focus but to close her pupils down as well. I ended up turning the fluorescent lights back on and it still wasn't enough to get those baby blues poppin'.
4. Get a plexiglass mirror and some kind of light stand adapter for it for a hairlight.
Things I did right:
1. I remembered the moving blanket!
2. Did I mention I remembered the moving blanket? Oh.
Setup Shot
We shot this after hours on the conference room table in the office where she works. I based this setup on one of the single-light setups Dean Collins does in his Basic Lighting DVD. If you haven't ordered the set yet I strongly recommend that you do - there's a TON of information there. David is 100% right, the guy is amazing! (Disclaimer: Neither I nor anyone I know is affiliated with Software Cinema in any way. Otherwise I wouldn't have had to pay for them.)
The strobe on the left is firing into ripstop nylon clamped to the ceiling grid to put diffused light on her face while raw light goes directly past to the background (a piece of fabric donated by my sister-in-law). A piece of white foamcore acts as a fill on the right. The strobe in the back on the right provides the hairlight. Note the cardboard gobo above the fill card to prevent lens flare from the hairlight. There's also a fan sitting on the chair directly in front of her. And the reason she's smiling is because she's sitting on a comfy moving blanket.
Lessons I learned from this shoot:
1. Buy more clamps.
2. Binder clips work in a jam if you weren't smart enough to bring enough clamps.
3. Rig up some kind of modeling light not only to help focus but to close her pupils down as well. I ended up turning the fluorescent lights back on and it still wasn't enough to get those baby blues poppin'.
4. Get a plexiglass mirror and some kind of light stand adapter for it for a hairlight.
Things I did right:
1. I remembered the moving blanket!
2. Did I mention I remembered the moving blanket? Oh.