- Using Studio Flash (Called Strobes)
- What to Do When You Can't Turn Your Strobe Power Down Any Further
- Firing Your Studio Strobe Wirelessly
- Softening Harsh Studio Strobes
- Where to Position Your Main Light
- Adding a Hair Light
- Getting a Different Look Without Moving the Lights
- Want Softer, More Even Light? Feather It!
- Studio Backgrounds
- Using a Pop-Up Collapsible Background
- One Background, Three Different Looks
- Getting Super-Saturated Background Color
- Reflectors: When to Use Silver or White and Where to Position It
- Using Grid Spots
- How to Use a Light Meter
- Which Mode Should You Shoot In?
- How to Set a Custom White Balance In-Camera
- Rim-Light Profile Silhouettes Made Easy
- Using a Fan for Windblown Effects
- The Advantage of Shooting Tethered
- Using a Gray Card to Nail Your Color
- Don't Light Your Whole Subject Evenly
- How to Light a Couple or Small Group
- Big, Beautiful, Wrapping Light
- Edgy Lighting for Athletes
- Hurley-Look Headshot Lighting
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Using a Pop-Up Collapsible Background
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Another quick and flexible studio background is a pop-up collapsible background that instantly folds up into a small, flat circle, but expands to be a full studio background in a matter of seconds. The one I use is a 6x7’ Westcott Masterpiece 2-in-1 Collapsible Illuminator Background with white on one side and black on the other. It sells for around $220, and I also recommend buying the Illuminator stand to hold it up, which is another $90, but unless you can stand there and hold it up (or have somebody else hold it up), it’s worth its weight in gold. So, with this background, anytime you want to shoot, you just open the round plastic case it comes in, pull it out, and it pops up, ready to go. You put it on the Illuminator background stand, and you’re ready to go. Another advantage of this particular background (over the seamless paper route) is that it’s very portable, lightweight, and you can set it up in literally seconds—by yourself. The only downside is it doesn’t go all the way to the floor seamlessly, so it’s fine for 3/4-body shots, but not full-body shots. One more thing: although I use the black/white version, these collapsible backgrounds come in all sorts of patterns, looks, sizes, and colors.
Using Off-Camera Flash to Light Backgrounds
If you want to add a light to your background (aiming back at your seamless paper), but you don’t want to go through the extra expense of adding a second studio strobe, if you have a standard off-camera flash (like a Nikon SB-910 or a Canon 600EX-RT), you’re in luck. You can set either of these off-camera flashes to become wireless slave flashes, meaning that when your studio strobe fires to light your subject, it automatically triggers your off-camera flash to light your background.