124 Setting up a Home Studio
a fl ash head, providing lots of nice, soft backlighting. The camera is
slightly above the object and directed down so that the rear softbox is
not in view. The light to the right foreground provides some fi ll and
is set about 1.5 stops below the rear softbox. (Most studio fl ash heads
have variable output. Make sure those you buy do.) To the left of the
subject is a white card to add some fi ll light to reduce harsh shadows.
If shadows are still too harsh, try using the Dodge tool in Photoshop,
a large soft-edged brush and low opacity around 12%, to gently lighten
the shadows selectively. It’s a great cheat! I have used this lighting
setup in the next shot, Figure 7.5. A simple two-fl ash lighting setup
like this works well for a variety of subjects. The white card effectively
becomes a gentle third light. You can switch the card to the right and
try playing with the exact light positions.
Figure 7.6 illustrates another example where similar lighting
has been used to make the most of a Chinese takeout dinner. (And,
yes, my family and I did eat this food a few moments later!)
The difference is that the main rear light was moved to the leftFIGURE 7.5 “Paperclips.” © Douglas Freer