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Tutorial - simple, effective portrait setup

posted by ihedgehog, May 30, 2008 12:24 PM — 21 comments

Ok, here we go.

Necessary things you will need:

1. Characteristic model ;)
2. Studio, garage, hotel room or even your flat, or anything - just keep it dark. You can use gobos as we did to remove light coming from the sides so that your softboxed flash is the only source of light on the scene. Don't have a pro gobo? Don't worry. Use anything. REALLY. Just keep it dark.
3. Set up a flash light (or a continuous light) on a stand, lighting your model from left or right angle. Make it soft. Use softbox or other diffusion modifier if you don't have a softbox. I have used Bowens's flash, if you must know. It was flashing on approx. 20% of power, although - as usual - I don't remember the exact settings (so don't take the picture descriptions for granted). Ha. Use your heart ;)
4. Shoot.

Yeah, it's that simple. Here's the diagram for all of you:



The rest is post-processing. Grzesiek's photos were all processed in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop and that's where all the nice colours and tones are coming from, plus a bit of sharpening.

And we're both very glad that you like them.

:D

If you'd like to see more of our work, visit these websites:

Wojtek Kutyla Photography
Grzegorz "Pencilrebel"

And entire set of this particular series on Flickr (in a shared folder with other portrait photos): here!

Thanks for reading :)

Studio lighting diagram uses PSD file created by Kevin Kertz.

Comments | RSS

1. posted by crisderaud, May 30, 2008 6:18 PM

Your work is fascinating and I love these photos of you.


2. posted by ihedgehog, May 30, 2008 6:24 PM

Thank you :)


3. posted by crisderaud, May 30, 2008 6:26 PM

I would like to have a little setup like this if Bowens wasn't so expensive. Similar results could be achieved with a remote SpeedLite and home made softbox attachment or diffuser screen.

It would just be great to have the real equipment for the job.


4. posted by ihedgehog, May 30, 2008 6:27 PM

You don't need Bowens, Pro-Foto or any other expensive cr*p to do this :) All you need is a diffused source of directional light and a dark space. :)


5. posted by Grzesiek, May 30, 2008 11:25 PM

When & Where next session mate ?


6. posted by ihedgehog, May 31, 2008 10:45 AM

:D

Soon. I hope.


7. posted by sollunaris, Jul 25, 2008 8:02 AM

Thanks for the outline, etc.

Your photography is fantastic and the game was really pretty genius!!


8. posted by anasdear, Aug 5, 2008 11:07 AM

i love that....>>


9. posted by Szorstki, Oct 1, 2008 8:13 PM

Very nice potraits ;) Regards


10. posted by panda5_inc, Oct 8, 2008 1:49 AM

"Pencilrebel" is awesome...i want to take photos like that!!!


11. posted by jadey919, Oct 11, 2008 9:54 AM

Stunning photography! And the Pencilrebel website is SO much fun!


12. posted by i_deas, Feb 7, 2009 1:58 PM

hi, wanna ask about this method... are u using tripod? how about shutter speed?

thx =)


13. posted by azzorri, Mar 10, 2009 12:58 PM

Thank you so much


14. posted by patronnus, Mar 21, 2009 5:04 PM

Perfect. May I use a spotlight? Is it work?


15. posted by ihedgehog, Apr 10, 2009 1:26 PM

@i_deas: no tripod there, camera was hand-held. Shutter speed? Hmm, don't remember now... Wait. Exif will tell us ;) Ah, ok. Speeds were oscillating around 1/200 sec.
Sorry for the delay in answering :?)

@patronnus: spotlight? You may try, but I'd suspect that a big softbox will be better, giving more even light... Depends on the effect you want to achieve :)


16. posted by Lunitaire, Jun 29, 2009 4:25 AM

What happened to the diagram? It seems to have disappeared. Is it just me or is the picture missing?


17. posted by ihedgehog, Jul 24, 2009 10:04 AM

The diagram has been deleted from the server, sorry. I do not have a copy anywhere... :/


18. posted by veab, Sep 6, 2009 8:27 AM

what if the background is garden or park? is ot possible to make it a potrait?
thanks..

veab


19. posted by heizeljoy, Nov 18, 2009 2:47 AM

nice post..
im using it on my project
http://www.beta-pix.com/


20. posted by py155045, Dec 6, 2009 5:22 AM

nice job


21. posted by aszxc, Jan 27, 2010 4:24 AM

Thank you so much

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