I've been wanting to do a top lit photo for a while. I've always been attracted to little pools of light places. It's kinda like a moth to a street light.
I got this thing called a speed grid a few weeks ago. Basically, it's a honeycomb that you shoot a strobe through. The science behind it is super simple actually, but would take longer than I have to explain in full. In essence, a speed grid constricts the light, much like a snoot, but instead of leaving a hard edge it makes a really nice gradient to shadow.
I think I've talked about this before.
I wanted to use a grid as an overhead spot light, so to speak. It would shine down on me, so I'd be the only thing illuminated in darkness. Surprisingly, it worked about perfectly on the first try. It was almost too easy. The chair was lit beautifully and you could make out my form but nothing of my face or features. Perfect creeper lighting.
Which got me thinking. How could I make this super creepy with the one light I had left? (mini light doesn't count cause that thing is a Nuke)
I came up with this. I would illuminate just my face with a snooted strobe. Just the strobe would be too bright, even at minimum power, so I'd have to find someway to tone it down. Why not use a dark purple gel? I'm trying to make this creepy so why not color my face purple? And again, it worked almost perfectly on the first try. I had to bring the strobe closer to me to make it a bit more constrained and bright.
End results looks as follows
It's kinda a weird photo, I'll admit. But this was an exercise in lighting, not trying to make myself look good.
Is it just me or does it look like I have a floating chair?
As I mentioned before, there are two strobes for this. One above me with a 1/8 grid and one just to my right and at head height. The second one is snooted and gelled purple. Both are at 1/128 power. Wait, that's a like. The gridded 560 is at 1/64/ I'm amazed at how powerful those 560s are. Minimum power and they are too bright most of the time.
In Lr I really didn't do anything. I upped the clarity in my hair and raised the highlights just a bit. Other than that, this is what it actually looked like in the real world.
In Lr I really didn't do anything. I upped the clarity in my hair and raised the highlights just a bit. Other than that, this is what it actually looked like in the real world.
Camera settings are: f2.2 (for minimal use of power on the strobes, 1/80 (for ambient light killing powers) ISO100 (for low noise)
50mm on a 7D...blah blah its my usual set up.
On thing I haven't talked about is why I use ISO100 and not 200 or 400. I could be using a higher ISO and then stop down the aperture and still have the same exposer, but I don't. Even on the 7D, a semi-pro model, there is noise that becomes very apparent in darker areas. If you were to view this at 100%, you would see A LOT of noise in my shirt and shorts. and I was only at ISO100. Granted, this is before any noise reduction, but still. I try to never shoot at high ISOs unless its absolutely necessary and/or it's very bright out. Noise isn't as apparent in light areas. Or when it's cold out. A cold sensor and camera will produce less noise than a hot one. Heat is of course just more energy, and this energy introduces more noise when the computer in the camera reads the sensor data. So rule of thumb, shoot low ISO and in the cold to get the best results. Unless you have say a 5DmkIII. Then you can shoot all day long at 3200 have people thinking you're shooting at 100.
If only I had $3500....
Well I gotta get back to studying common respiratory illnesses and how to treat them. See you tomorrow.
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