My favorite lighting set ups

My 4 favorite lighting setups 

     My favorite lighting set up personally is the 16' beauty dish with sock. I love hard shadowing and the way it gives dimension to the face. I feel like this lighting is interesting and dynamic. I would say it's best suited for creatives or perhaps online dating profiles. It can be used for corporate head shots, but is more artistic than commercial in it's aesthetic. 

     Ironically due to it's compact size this lighting modifier is what I use for onsite product and food photography. I am attracted to the way this light creates such beautiful shadowing, and really lends some dimension to my compositions. 

     Taking my favorite modifier and adding in a reflector makes this light appear more "commercial". Basically softening the shadowing on the face but leaving a lot of dimension this photo is anything but flat. I would recommend this for an updated commercial photo, online dating photo, or acting headshot. You'll notice that the reflector also lightens up the background. In this case I am using an 8' silver reflector that really throws the light back. A smaller reflector directed on the face will not fill in your background the same but it will soften your shadows for a less dramatic lighting effect. 

     My 60" Brolly box is a cherished light modifier. I really love the romantic and soft light it throws on my subjects. I am, primarily a single light setup photographer and these two light mods are my "go to's". You'll see that this light can almost mimic natural light which is great in the winter months here in the midwest when it gets dark at 4pm. I use this for the majority of my corporate clients. It is also dynamic in shadowing and doesn't flatten the face. 

     The challenge with such a large light modifier is low ceilings. This image, shot in studio with 14' ceilings allows for me to really work with the light. Onsite, with low or 8' ceilings this mod can feel like it's taking up the room... but it's worth it. 

     You can see by adding in my 8' reflector in this case I am lightening the shadows on the face but not really changing the background lighting. This is due to the size of the modifier itself and directing a larger pool of light everywhere. The side effect of this again, is soft beautiful even light. The reflector just throws enough light back onto my subject as to lighten my shadows without removing them and keep I the dimension to the face and not flatten my image. This is a great go-to light set up for my corporate head shot clients and is often how I shoot my clients onsite. This light is interesting and doesn't appear to be "studio portrait" or "classic" but still conveys professionalism. 

     Finally as a comparison here is a shot of just natural afternoon window light and my 8' reflector again. You'll see that the Brolly most mimics this afternoon lighting and looks quite natural. I do love natural light for head shots and will always try to capture that first. The studio has large banks of windows and it really casts great light. I suppose it helps that the windows haven't been cleaned since the 1970s so the grime softens the light. I'm not kidding. Lol, the dirtier your windows the more diffused your light. So if you're getting really harsh shadows from your window light consider putting the window cleaner down for awhile and letting them get a little grimy for this diffused look! 

     Special thank you to Mike Bredon for being my lighting model. I really have a great time working with Mike! I just noticed how these images get a little less smiley as they go down, lol but I shot them in reverse order! Goes to show how goofy I get to work out some smiles! Thanks again Mike!