Rim light can be critical in portraits

Nikon D750, Nikon 85mm ƒ/1.8G, ISO 100, ƒ/9, 1/200

My friend contacted me and wanted me to reshoot their son's senior photo, but match the background. Here is one of the photos from the session. Below is the lighting diagram and settings for the photo.

The softbox on the right of the camera is -2 EV compared the the main light on the left. Depending on which way the subject faced I would alter the set up so the one he is facing was the main light and the other light was acting like a fill.

To make this photo work I believe the hair light behind the subject helped to rim light the subject just enough to separate him from the background. Without it the tux would have blended with the background and created a near merger.

My preference is a muted background which for me helps to separate the person from the background.  I just changed the background and added a light to the background.  Below is the lighting diagram for you.

Your goal should be that the background compliments the subject and doesn't do anything to distract from the subject. You also want to be sure your subject doesn't blend into the background. As with all rules there are times to break them.

Using strobes outside to overcome shadows

I wish I had taken a before photo, but trust me the statue was lost in the shadows. Another problem is when the student is reading the sun is above and her face is in the shadow.

I added two strobes using a grid on each of them. Here is the setup for this photo:

I underexposed the scene about -2/3 of stop. Then I just was sure that the flash on the student's face was around ƒ/8 and on the statue it was more like ƒ/10 to just help lighten it up just a bit more and help this not be in the shadows but help add value to the photograph. 

Same model but different looks

Nikon D4, AF NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4D, ISO 200, ƒ/8, 1/160

I am not going to comment too much on today's blog of photos.

These are all of the same young lady and all shot in a couple of hours. We changed the outfits, makeup, and lighting.

Nikon D4, AF NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4D, ISO 200, ƒ/8, 1/160

Notice how much of a different personality comes through by changing backgrounds and lighting.

Nikon D4, AF NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4D, ISO 200, ƒ/8, 1/160

Bangs vs. No Bangs changes her face.

Nikon D4, AF NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4D, ISO 200, ƒ/8, 1/160

I think without the bangs makes her face look narrower than with the bangs. I think changing the colors she is wearing helps change the mood.

Nikon D4, AF NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4D, ISO 200, ƒ/1.4, 1/80

All I did here to change the setup was not use the strobes inside the softbox, but used the modeling lights. I custom white balanced using the ExpoDisc. I also opened up the ƒ-stop to ƒ/1.4 to give that really shallow depth-of-field which created a silky smooth transition from front to back in the photo.

When she put her hair in a ponytail she became yet another personality.

Nikon D4, AF NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4D, ISO 400, ƒ/1.4, 1/125

Shooting slightly down at her and then shooting more eye level also changes the mood she creates for the viewer.

Nikon D4, AF NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4D, ISO 400, ƒ/1.4, 1/125

Backing up with the Nikon 85mm and showing her shoulders and more of her hair let a little more body language into the portrait.

Nikon D4, AF NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4D, ISO 400, ƒ/1.4, 1/125

Really taking her sultry look further was to play it up with outfit and lighting.

Nikon D4, AF NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4D, ISO 200, ƒ/8, 1/200

Using a grid light on her face rather than the softbox created a harsher look and then adding red to the background helped me accentuate the red lipstick. I also brought the aperture back up to make her razor sharp from front to back.

Nikon D4, AF NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4D, ISO 800, ƒ/1.4, 1/125

Same outfit, lipstick and by changing the background and using the softboxes without flash I was able to soften up the exact same person and outfit.

Nikon D4, AF NIKKOR 85mm f/1.4D, ISO 800, ƒ/1.4, 1/125

Lesson from all these photos is that you can do a lot if you have different outfits and mix up your lighting and even lens choice.

3 Light Modifiers for Flash

Bounced Light into Umbrella Silver/White 

These examples show using a bounced light into an umbrella outside and everything stays the same except the shutter is slowed down to allow more of the ambient light of the outdoors to light the background for us.

Using an Alien Bee B1600 on 1/32 with bound sliver/white umbrella

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/200

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/100

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/50

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/25

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Shooting the light through a white umbrella 

Everything is the same in the example above but we changed the light modifier to shooting through the umbrella verses bouncing.  See if you can see a difference.

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/25

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/50

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/100

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/200

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 Shooting with a 10º Spot Grid

This is going to another extreme of not lighting everything but mainly just the model's face. Other than the light not lighting the shirt can you see any other differences?

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/200

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/100

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/50

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/25

These are just wider shot of the same thing above so you can see the light fall off from the grid light.

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/25

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/50

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/100

Nikon D4, Nikkor 28-30mm, ISO 200, f/5, 1/200

I used the PocketWizard Mini TT1 to trigger the flash

I used the PocketWizard Plus receiver on the flash to trigger the flash

 Try this yourself and see what kind of results you get. Maybe try a large white bed sheet to shoot your flash through and bounce to see if you get different results using it over your umbrella or soft box.