Howto Build A Light Setup

Studio Lighting: How to Build a Light
Set-up
Studio flash photography often
appears to be complicated and
confusing for the new
photographer. The tangled,
twisted mess of light size, power,
angle, position, direction, etc… can
be daunting to say the least. Not to
mention the need for extra
equipment such as backdrops, light
stands, modifiers, reflectors and
the lights themselves. Wow!
Already seems like too much huh?
You might find yourself thinking, “I
can just use the giant light source
in the sky that is available everyday
and be done with all this other
mangled mess of an
armamentarium.” At times I would
not disagree with you, as the natural light from the sun is hard to beat
and is in great abundance, however, when I look at how much my
understanding of light and shadow has improved from my many
unsuccessful studio lighting shoots, the value of learning this sort of
lighting is tremendous. And yes I did say “unsuccessful shoots!”
Strangely enough, when I got started with photography, studio lighting

was one of the areas in which I was most interested. Not the easiest
place to start I can assure you, but it definitely does not need to be as
awkwardly bemusing as it first appears. Now this article is not meant to
be a full on detailed description of what lights or modifiers to buy or an in
depth scientific analysis of the inverse square law complete with physics
equations and Einstein like theorems. It is more of a reason of why to get
started with studio lighting and to break through any mental barriers that
might be in your way. I promise you, once you get your feet a little wet
and wild in the studio, you will not only love it, but also find that you have
a better eye for light even when you are out at the wee hours of the
morning trying to capture that perfectly beautiful sunrise.
To shoot my studio work, I use simple, durable yet economically feasible

equipment. I currently use a set of Alien Bees strobes from Paul C. Buff.
There are a lot of other brands of strobes out there, but these have
worked well for me and fit within my budget. Now, you do not necessarily
need to use strobes. Westcott has their Spiderlite TD continuous lighting
system that also could suffice. Basically any system of lighting can work
fine. You could use a couple of lamps with a shower curtain liner to
diffuse the light if you want. Don’t get too hung up on the equipment at
first, but try to understand how to position and control the lighting to get
the desired results. I am trying not to get pulled into a discussion about
equipment, but admittedly some equipment is required. In order to move
on, I would recommend getting a good book or two on studio lighting to
give you a thorough description of some lighting basics. Two that I have
personally found useful are Master Lighting Guide for Portrait
Photographers, by Christopher Grey or Basic Studio Lighting: The
Photographer’s Complete Guide to Professional Techniques, by Tony
Corbell. There was also a nice post here on DPS recently called One Light
Portraits: Simple Elegance, by Rick Berk.
Whew! Let’s move on and get into some of the nitty gritty of setting up a
studio portrait shoot. Lately, I have been working on some creatively
themed portrait shoots as a personal project. The basics of what you
need for a shoot are simple. You need a background and a willing model
or subject. This can be a plain wall in your house and a close friend or
even some fabric taped to the wall with a bowl of fruit on a table in front
of it. My theme was fire, so first I went to the fabric store and found an
interesting black/grey charred looking swath. A quick aside, if you want to
find some really cool backgrounds in the U.S. go to a fabric store around
Halloween and they will have some really great stuff. Next, I got a hold of
a local model, the fabulous Brittney and set-up a time for the shoot. I also
hired the amazing Dina Bree Nast a local make-up artist here in Denver,
Colorado. I must say, and this is just my own opinion, but if you have
never hired a make-up artist for a shoot, you have to try it as the results
are spectacular and it will reduce your post-processing time
tremendously.
Okay, the date, model, MUA and backdrop were set. Next and most
importantly, how do I design the lighting set-up. A little planning goes a
long way with a studio shoot. When you are just getting started you do
not want to have to deal with moving a lot of lights around or having your
subject face the wrong way and have shadows in places where you do
not want them. A sure fire way to avoid this is to first give your subject a
stool or a chair to sit on. This will keep them in one place at the same
distance and proximity from your lighting set-up and your background.
Secondly, stick to one lighting set-up and limit the shoot to it. You want to
focus on getting the shot that you want and not be constantly worried
about fumbling with the lights. If you are more focused on the lights and
everything else going on with the equipment, you will not pay attention to
getting a great pose and expression and let’s be honest, the lighting can
be less then perfect if you capture the right moment. Finally, you would
like to have an idea of what sort of depth of field at which you would like
to shoot. If you want the background slightly blurred go with a wide open
aperture of f/2.8-f/4. In my plan for this shot, I chose f/8 as I wanted to
capture a bit of the look and texture in the background as I felt it
complimented the shot. Additionally, I keep my ISO low which for my
Nikon is 200 and my shutter speed I usually leave at 1/125 of a second.
Thus, my camera settings are set already and I have not even taken a
shot yet.
I always start my lighting set-up with the position and exposure setting of
the main light or the one that will be responsible for lighting the subject.
In this shot, I already know I want my aperture around f/8 so that I can
capture that background detail. This already let’s me know where I want
my main lights exposure to be set. Now, there are two ways to set the
main light’s exposure. You can use a light meter or you can wing it by
taking some practice shots and checking your histogram and adjusting
accordingly. Either way works well even though many people have
opinions about one way or the other. Personally, I use a combination of
both. So what about position of the light?
To start out with, I think using a
glamour or butterfly lighting set-up
(named for the shadow pattern
created beneath the subjects nose) is
very easy and is incredibly flattering
for the subject. To achieve butterfly
lighting the main light is set directly in front and slightly above the subject
with the light angled down toward the subject. As a beginner, having the
light directly in front of the subject is useful cause if the subject turns
their head one way or the other they will still always be within the range
of the main light. I used a 36-inch strip softbox in this set-up placed
about 2-3 ft from the subject in the horizontal position to achieve a
narrow, soft beam of light that would not spill onto the background very
much. Then I took a few shots to see what it looks like.
As you can see with just the main light, the

subject is adequately exposed, however, I
cannot see the background and the subjects
dark hair blends in so much with the
background that you cannot see the outline
of her hair. What does this tell me? I need to
light the background as well as the hair to
separate her from the background and gain
some depth to the image. Since my theme
was fire, I wanted to incorporate some colors
that would support the theme. This made me
think of reds, oranges and yellows. So to light
the background I set a strobe just up off the
floor angled up at the background with a standard reflector attached,
however, I decided to place a red acetate gel over the light to give a little
color to the background and support my theme. To set the power of this
light I turned off my main light and took a few practice shots with only the
background light on to see how it looked and adjusted the power of the
light until I liked the look.
Here you can see with only the
background light, I have a nice subtle red
glow to the background that also brings
out the interesting texture to compliment
the fire theme of the shoot. The
background light also wrapped around
the subject just a little bit, likely bouncing
a touch off the white surface of the
softbox in front of her, giving a red tinge
to the shadows. If I did not want this extra
red in the image I could have moved my
subject farther form the background, but I
liked the effect so I left it alone.
Next, I needed to separate the subject’s

hair from the blending into the background. I set up an additional light
right behind the subject just below her shoulders and directed it with a
standard reflector at the back of her head. I decided to add a yellow
acetate gel over this light to hopefully give a bit of a fiery glow to the hair.
Again I turned out the other lights and I took a few shots to see how it
looked and adjusted it as needed.
As you can see, I now have a nice burning glow that highlights the outline
of the hair and separates the subject form the background adding some
depth to the image. I also get a little more of the yellow light reflecting of
the strip softbox and filling in the shadows of the face with a bit of a
golden tinge. When I looked back at the photo of the main light by itself I
decided that this slight tinge would add some warmth into the shadow
area and really compliment the photo. I have to admit this was a happy
accident as a result of the light set-up.
Next, I took a few shots of just the background and hair light together to
check how the two looked combined.
What do you think? A pretty nice combination that provided the shot with
the fiery look I wanted, while also serving to bring out the background
and help the subject stand out. To be
critical, I was not pleased with the
illumination of the subjects right ear, but I
figured I could work with angles possibly
to make it more subtle. Finally, I turned
the main light back on and took a few
more shots to see how all three lights
looked together. I was very pleased with
the result and felt that the little bit of red
and yellow that spilled over into the
shadows of the subjects face really
helped to compliment the look and bring
it all together. At this point the light and
camera settings were never touched and
all I had to
do was shoot and make sure I got the
pose and expression I wanted, which
when working with someone like the
experienced Brittney was super easy. Is
the light perfect? Definitely not, but it all
comes together to produce a nice unique
portrait.
I hope by going through my thought process step-by-step for this shot
and by showing the effects of each light separately that it gives you a
little insight into working with studio lighting and how you can construct
an image one light at a time. Having total control of the lights is a bit
scary, but once you start taking some baby steps with it, I promise you it
will make all aspects of your photography better. Studio lighting is all
about the direction and intensity of light and how it transitions and
compliments into shadow. Wait, isn’t that what all photography is about?
So go ahead and jump in head first. Inevitably, you will make a lot of
mistakes, have many over and underexposed images, and end up with
plenty of shots of which you are not proud, however, you will also
absolutely get some fantastically, fascinating photos and learn a lot about
the the interplay and visualization of light and shadows. Plus, let’s be
honest, don’t we have these same problems with any shoot? Any shot
involves the light, background and subject and how we decide to capture
and expose the image. Being able to control the light should actually
make getting a great capture easier.

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Studio Lighting: How to Build a Light

Strangely enough, when I got started with photography, studio lighting

To shoot my studio work, I use simple, durable yet economically feasible

As you can see with just the main light, the

Next, I needed to separate the subject’s

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