Oh wow that is a great set up! Your Lighting Stack has just giving me an idea to something I 've been meaning to work on, I have a 5 foot Octabank and when I have done full body shots the exposure past the knees of the subject gets darker. I am getting a Super clamp with a Pin and attach a second Light like you have shown here on this video. Thank you for sharing such great Lighting Set up, much success and health to you Mr. Ian Spainer!
Thanks very much for the helpful video. Would you be able to talk through your reasons for using the Camranger 2 and its image transmission to the Ipad. Surely the Canon Connect app should be able to do the same job?
@@simonvail458 fir sure CC is an option, however, I’ve used camranger and camranger 2 since their inception. Both I’ve found to be the faster and smoother option. I tether when needed for my clients (typically with a digi tech on set) For the majority of the time however I’ve found this interface to be my best and most reliable option. My clients absolutely love it and the dual band option has allowed me to have clients see images in near real time while interacting on the shoot via zoom. All reasons to use this tech. It’s not for all, but for me, no need to change.
Great video Ian. Thank you for sharing. One question: what about the third strobe you had bouncing off the ceiling?. Was this light only used for video pourposes? Or was it an additional fill light for the photo?.
You may be looking at the LED behind the stack? this is for the video. Often I will use that same LED (Westcott L120-B) to create more light on my set to add some light for focus purposes. The FJ400 has a built in LED as well. Either can be used as modeling lights for better focus. There are occasions that I will fire a 3rd strobe into the room bounced off a ceiling or into a V-Flat to add some fill to the set- if so, usually 2-3 stops below my key light. This is really useful to add information into a capture- which you can then remove in post if you want. Hope that helps!
I have done something similar by mounting a small strip box closer to the base of the c-stand to simulate an Eye-Lighter. I may give this a try, but I wonder how well your setup deals with glasses for a volume headshot situation?
Great question- For me the combo of the silver interior and diffusion gives me what I would signify as soft pop. Which just fits my style. There's no right or wrong, it's all about creating the right look for your clients/subject and (for me) creating a style that my clients come to recognize as my work.
My ceiling is maybe 10’mbut I use this style of light in a multitude of locations. Absolutely you can use smaller umbrellas but note with my subject seated I didn’t need the full height. Alternatively, the top light doesn’t need to be set so steep- so you always have options to play with the lights. All in all 9’ you can still drive the light down from the top. Best to play around with the limited space and find the best option for you- even with a subject who is standing. 😊
For setting lights its much simpler to just drape white and black wash rags over a stand and: 1) set aperture for desired DOF; 2) turn on fill and raise power until texture is recorded in the black towels; 3) turn on the key light and raise power until until white towel is 1/3 stop under triggering the clipping warning. What that 1-2-3 procedure will do is match the dynamic range of the scene at the distance of the targets EXACTLY to the dynamic range of the sensor of whatever camera you are shooting with with optimal Zone 10 specular / Zone 9 smooth white / Zone 8 textured white separation in the highlights and Zone 0 black void / Zone 1 hint if shape/ Zone 2 shadow texture the same as seen by eye. Because both black and white are optimally exposed any clothing and skin will be reproduced similar to how they are perceived by eye under the lighting. From that “fit scene to sensor” just add more fill in step 2 making the black towel gray at capture for lighter, softer looking shadows in the midtones, then selectively burn-in the darker areas or globally adjust with levels and curves. From that seen by eye baseline exposure if darker ‘harder’ looking shadows are desired be aware if less fill that is required to record detail in the black towel is used the image file at capture will have nothing but noise in the darkest shadows. For noise free shadows start with enough fill to record detail on the sensor then pull the shadows back down with levels and curves, and / or burn in selectively for noise free shadows. The “butterfly” lighting pattern with key directly over fill on the camera axis has always been my “goto” for starting any portrait session with a new subject because there are no unfilled shadows even when the person turns their face. It allows the subject to just move around without needing to worry about lighting pattern and shooting the subject full face with that symmetrical pattern makes it easy to see if the face is asymmetrical in any way and determine their “best side” in an oblique pose to hide it. I learned that back in the 1970s apprenticing with and assisting Monte Zucker. When moving the key light off axis there is an advantage to keeping the fill on the camera axis: no unfilled shadows. Those aren’t a problem if using large umbrellas in a small space with white walls and ceiling because both key and fill bounce the light off them like an overcast day from all directions. But if using soft boxes and going for a low key look moving fill off axis will always create unfilled dark voids in the lighting pattern. If you always start with just the fill and look critically at a subject’s face for the shadows it creates your eye will become accustomed to to spotting those unfilled voids, which with digital sensors wind up filled with nothing but noise in areas the key light also shades like smile lines 😊
100000000% disagree. A light meter literally gives you the response of the power of the light source to match with your camera... this is not some new invention to trivially spend money on. If you want to understand light properly, and save time. Light Meter.
@ It only works when the sensitivity of the meter’s ISO exactly matches the camera’s and then only ensures that the middle tone value the meter is calibrated reproduces the midtones correctly. The highlights and shadows might not be. Film ISO didn’t always match the ISO on the box either why back in the days of film photographers would meter to set lights then shoot Type 55 Polaroids to verify the exposure. With digital you set the lights with the meter then check the highlights and shadows with histogram and playback. What the towels do is simply provide consisted benchmark targets for the two extremes of the tonal range. Set the Fill and Key for detail in both and exposure is optimal technically and from that you can do anything you want creatively. I worked as a lab technician at National Geographic in the mid-70s and we’d get samples of every batch of Kodachrome Kodak produced and test them for actual film speed and other qualities and then buy the entire run of which ever tested the best. The photographers were then told how to adjust the the ASA (prior to 1974) ISO speed (after 1975) The calibration point for metering changed between the ASA system (18%) and ISO (12.8%) which is why the spike from an 18% card filling the viewfinder on a digital camera’s metering doesn’t wind up in the center and if you base exposure on centering it the highlights will not be correctly exposed. The best gauge for exposure is the last shot take and looked at with the eyeballs.
Rofl. A key lite and a fill. And this guy thinks he can name it after himself! The dumb thing about one stand setups is it just makes it difficult to make small adjustments to the individual lights.
Respectfully, it’s just one technique, if I wanted two individual lights I wouldn’t be doing this. Lights are individually controlled here (which perhaps you missed), to work together to create one large light source as explained in the video. The name is a bit tongue in cheek, affectionately coined by a fellow photographer, obviously, it’s a common set up as point out by the recognition of a similar set by Arnold Newman…realize these videos are for photographers of all levels. For any educational appearances, my goal is to inform new photographers and for the advanced photographers hope they pick up even just a single new idea for their approach. Ultimately, it’s all with good intent. 🙏🏻
Epic tutorial, well done Ian!
Oh wow that is a great set up! Your Lighting Stack has just giving me an idea to something I 've been meaning to work on, I have a 5 foot Octabank and when I have done full body shots the exposure past the knees of the subject gets darker. I am getting a Super clamp with a Pin and attach a second Light like you have shown here on this video. Thank you for sharing such great Lighting Set up, much success and health to you Mr. Ian Spainer!
awesome!
Love this video. Great job my friend. I learned something today. Thanks for sharing.
So glad you enjoyed it! 🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌
Sweet!
Awesome tutorial Ian! I will try your set up out in the near future!
Thanks very much for the helpful video. Would you be able to talk through your reasons for using the Camranger 2 and its image transmission to the Ipad. Surely the Canon Connect app should be able to do the same job?
@@simonvail458 fir sure CC is an option, however, I’ve used camranger and camranger 2 since their inception. Both I’ve found to be the faster and smoother option. I tether when needed for my clients (typically with a digi tech on set) For the majority of the time however I’ve found this interface to be my best and most reliable option. My clients absolutely love it and the dual band option has allowed me to have clients see images in near real time while interacting on the shoot via zoom. All reasons to use this tech. It’s not for all, but for me, no need to change.
Great clip thanks for the breakdown. Just wondering how this set up goes with people that wear glasses.
I’ve used something similar though without a boom as I don’t have time because I’m in various locations. But I like this idea and look a lot.
Thank you for the great video! Which light stand and boom are you using? I can imagine that you need a heavy duty light stand for your setup.
Avenger rolling c-stand with an avenger mini boom does the trick. Not super heavy.
Good stuff Ian
THANK YOU!
Great video Ian. Thank you for sharing. One question: what about the third strobe you had bouncing off the ceiling?. Was this light only used for video pourposes? Or was it an additional fill light for the photo?.
You may be looking at the LED behind the stack? this is for the video. Often I will use that same LED (Westcott L120-B) to create more light on my set to add some light for focus purposes. The FJ400 has a built in LED as well. Either can be used as modeling lights for better focus. There are occasions that I will fire a 3rd strobe into the room bounced off a ceiling or into a V-Flat to add some fill to the set- if so, usually 2-3 stops below my key light. This is really useful to add information into a capture- which you can then remove in post if you want. Hope that helps!
I have done something similar by mounting a small strip box closer to the base of the c-stand to simulate an Eye-Lighter. I may give this a try, but I wonder how well your setup deals with glasses for a volume headshot situation?
This is a lazy solution, but the latest iteration of Evoto gets rid of glare from glasses incredibly well.
Hi Ian. Great video. What is the ceiling height in that room? I recognized this set-up from a shoot a few years ago with Robert Patrick.
My ceiling is about 10’. Thx!
@@IanSpanier That beats the heck out of standard ceiling height of 8'. I'd love that extra 2', but that's life. Thanks for the response.
Thanks for sharing your technique, can you explain more on why you choose silver interior umbrellas?
Great question- For me the combo of the silver interior and diffusion gives me what I would signify as soft pop. Which just fits my style. There's no right or wrong, it's all about creating the right look for your clients/subject and (for me) creating a style that my clients come to recognize as my work.
@@IanSpanier Thank you!
Thanks Ian. What if you don’t have that ceiling height… put smaller umbrella on top? Most places around here have 9’ ceilings. Thanks.
My ceiling is maybe 10’mbut I use this style of light in a multitude of locations. Absolutely you can use smaller umbrellas but note with my subject seated I didn’t need the full height. Alternatively, the top light doesn’t need to be set so steep- so you always have options to play with the lights. All in all 9’ you can still drive the light down from the top. Best to play around with the limited space and find the best option for you- even with a subject who is standing. 😊
I use the same setup for headshots with not a ton of space. I use the 22in softbox on top and the 33 in on bottom.
I first saw this application in photo school…1978; a teacher showed me a lighting setup…from ARNOLD NEWMAN. From the 1960’s😮.
I saw it ten years earlier...Richard Avedon, also from the 60s.
@@kirkdarling4120 These are the MASTERS. They are all who I get all my influence from...so I love it! Great comments.
What's the setup holding the monitor for the subject? Thanks in advance.
That’s a tether tools iPad mount on a superclamp 😊
@@IanSpanier Thanks a lot.
Could you have used white instead of silver umbrellas? If it were a couple can you use a 53" instead of 41 umbrella?
OF COURSE
do you use a fill reflector?
Nope! Sometimes I’ll add a V-Flat world flat with back for more depth or white to fill if desired.
I may have missed it, but what iPad program are you sending images to over WiFi?
Looks like cam ranger
See previous comment same question!
What is your iPad connected to?
Were you at ISO 1000?
No iso was 200 I believe.
Can you post a link of the setup with 1 light stand with 2 lights?
Most people call that an umbrella tree.
Ok, but what if the customer is wearing glasses?
For setting lights its much simpler to just drape white and black wash rags over a stand and: 1) set aperture for desired DOF; 2) turn on fill and raise power until texture is recorded in the black towels; 3) turn on the key light and raise power until until white towel is 1/3 stop under triggering the clipping warning.
What that 1-2-3 procedure will do is match the dynamic range of the scene at the distance of the targets EXACTLY to the dynamic range of the sensor of whatever camera you are shooting with with optimal Zone 10 specular / Zone 9 smooth white / Zone 8 textured white separation in the highlights and Zone 0 black void / Zone 1 hint if shape/ Zone 2 shadow texture the same as seen by eye. Because both black and white are optimally exposed any clothing and skin will be reproduced similar to how they are perceived by eye under the lighting.
From that “fit scene to sensor” just add more fill in step 2 making the black towel gray at capture for lighter, softer looking shadows in the midtones, then selectively burn-in the darker areas or globally adjust with levels and curves.
From that seen by eye baseline exposure if darker ‘harder’ looking shadows are desired be aware if less fill that is required to record detail in the black towel is used the image file at capture will have nothing but noise in the darkest shadows. For noise free shadows start with enough fill to record detail on the sensor then pull the shadows back down with levels and curves, and / or burn in selectively for noise free shadows.
The “butterfly” lighting pattern with key directly over fill on the camera axis has always been my “goto” for starting any portrait session with a new subject because there are no unfilled shadows even when the person turns their face. It allows the subject to just move around without needing to worry about lighting pattern and shooting the subject full face with that symmetrical pattern makes it easy to see if the face is asymmetrical in any way and determine their “best side” in an oblique pose to hide it. I learned that back in the 1970s apprenticing with and assisting Monte Zucker.
When moving the key light off axis there is an advantage to keeping the fill on the camera axis: no unfilled shadows. Those aren’t a problem if using large umbrellas in a small space with white walls and ceiling because both key and fill bounce the light off them like an overcast day from all directions. But if using soft boxes and going for a low key look moving fill off axis will always create unfilled dark voids in the lighting pattern. If you always start with just the fill and look critically at a subject’s face for the shadows it creates your eye will become accustomed to to spotting those unfilled voids, which with digital sensors wind up filled with nothing but noise in areas the key light also shades like smile lines 😊
100000000% disagree. A light meter literally gives you the response of the power of the light source to match with your camera... this is not some new invention to trivially spend money on. If you want to understand light properly, and save time. Light Meter.
@ It only works when the sensitivity of the meter’s ISO exactly matches the camera’s and then only ensures that the middle tone value the meter is calibrated reproduces the midtones correctly. The highlights and shadows might not be. Film ISO didn’t always match the ISO on the box either why back in the days of film photographers would meter to set lights then shoot Type 55 Polaroids to verify the exposure. With digital you set the lights with the meter then check the highlights and shadows with histogram and playback. What the towels do is simply provide consisted benchmark targets for the two extremes of the tonal range. Set the Fill and Key for detail in both and exposure is optimal technically and from that you can do anything you want creatively.
I worked as a lab technician at National Geographic in the mid-70s and we’d get samples of every batch of Kodachrome Kodak produced and test them for actual film speed and other qualities and then buy the entire run of which ever tested the best. The photographers were then told how to adjust the the ASA (prior to 1974) ISO speed (after 1975) The calibration point for metering changed between the ASA system (18%) and ISO (12.8%) which is why the spike from an 18% card filling the viewfinder on a digital camera’s metering doesn’t wind up in the center and if you base exposure on centering it the highlights will not be correctly exposed.
The best gauge for exposure is the last shot take and looked at with the eyeballs.
Rofl. A key lite and a fill. And this guy thinks he can name it after himself! The dumb thing about one stand setups is it just makes it difficult to make small adjustments to the individual lights.
Respectfully, it’s just one technique, if I wanted two individual lights I wouldn’t be doing this. Lights are individually
controlled here (which perhaps you missed), to work together to create one large light source as explained in the video.
The name is a bit tongue in cheek, affectionately coined by a fellow photographer, obviously, it’s a common set up as point out by the recognition of a similar set by Arnold Newman…realize these videos are for photographers of all levels. For any educational appearances, my goal is to inform new photographers and for the advanced photographers hope they pick up even just a single new idea for their approach. Ultimately, it’s all with good intent. 🙏🏻
Nothing new
For you. But for people wanting to use a different set up it is