PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER | OCTOBER 2019
The art direction of the inspiration im-
ages was not only about the styling, it was
about the mood created by the lighting. It
reminded me of nightclub lighting, which
is typically mounted near the ceiling. For
my main light I placed a Mola Rayo just in
front of the subject, high and to my left at a
fairly extreme downward angle. If you don’t
have access to one of these high-end reflec-
tors, a small beauty dish or a 15-inch or
so reflector will do the trick. You just need
the lighting to be directional and hard. The
light from this modifier measured f/11 next
to the model’s face.
To further shape the light I placed a
homemade cucoloris along the front edge
of the modifier to cause the light to fall off
on the lower part of Ken’s torso.
Because of the steep angle of the main
light, the model’s facial features and hat
cast shadows. I used a Mola Setti, which
is a 28-inch white beauty dish, placed to
my right (out of shot) to counteract this. A
diffusion sock over the reflector created a
large solid white circular surface reflected
in the model’s glasses. The trick was to set
the power level so that it preserved detail
in the shadows without eliminating them
altogether and killing the mood. I set the
power so that the exposure from the mod-
ifier measured f/6.3 when measured under
the hat. The reflection in his glasses was
underexposed, so I brightened it in post.
Building on the general motivation for
the shot, I used a strong hair light—really a
hat light—with a gridded stripbox boomed
over the model with the power set so that
the exposure on the top of the hat mea-
sured f/10. I used the grid to keep it from
illuminating the background from the top
to the bottom. I thought the rest of the light
bouncing around the room would light the
background. Once everything was dialed
in. I took the photo at f/10.
As much as I advocate for getting it right
in camera, I’m not infallible. It turned out
that I had seated the model too far from the
background and didn’t notice on set how
dark it was. It fixed it in post by boosting
the background exposure by about a stop. •John Gress is a commercial photographer
based in Chicago. johngress.com