Lighting Techniques for Photographing Model Portfolios: Strategies for Digital Photographers

(C. Jardin) #1
the longer body shots. Additionally, look at the shot of the finger (facing
page, bottom right) and notice how much brighter the model’s hand is than
her face—even though it is only about 18 inches closer to the flash. When
working with models and flash, the model must not vary her distance from
the flash source; if she does, your exposures will be inconsistent. The impor-
tant factor is the distance from the flash to subject, not the camera location.
For the last photo in this sequence (7-24), I used a single flash source over
themodel’sheadandastighttothewallaspossible.Thislightwasfittedwith
a 7-inch parabolic, which had a diffusion gel on it. Small barn doors on the
parabolic kept the light from spreading out too far. It’s a dramatic lighting
look that fits the emotion the model is portraying.

Add Lens Flare.


Lens flare generally appears as bright circles, shimmering lines, or smears of
light across a photograph. It can also appear as a film covering the entire
photo. Unfortunately, most commercial clients dislike lens flare passionately;
they consider it the mark of an amateur. However, some editorial fashion
CREATIVE TECHNIQUES 111

7-19, 7-20, 7-21, 7-22, 7-23 (facing
page).Notice how the flash falls off and
how the subject’s distance to the cam-
era affects the exposure of her skin
tones.


7-24(above).A single light was used di-
rectly over the model’s head to produce
a dramatic conclusion for this series of
storyboard images.

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