Broad lighting vs. Short lighting

[Mark McCall]

A clip from my book.

I really had to compress it to upload. It may affect the text quality.

[J.A.F. Doorhof]

To be honest I would have made the ratio a little bit bigger now the difference is not as good shown as could be.
Maybe use a grid to accentuate the difference and post the softbox pictures as a second result.

[KellyL]

Mark, that is amazing how different the face looks with the two types of lighting. I need to concentrate more on the short lighting.

[rebeccah]

Thank you Mark. The difference is remarkable. I really appreciate your posting this - really helps me.

[Tareq]

Thank you very much

[craigsexton]

Mark, I never knew you have a book out. What's the name and where can we buy one?

Craig

[Worm324]

Thank you Mark!! I was struggling with this very issue today

Great example and thanks for posting.

Jay

[Photog4U]

Thank you Mark...your example makes it very clear...

[keithallenlaw]

I would like to see the same framing and posing of the subject.
I know this is probably difficult but just move the lighting only.
I notice the images you posted read the exact same in the
properties but the images are different sizes. Only a tad
but different. Don't get me wrong Mark, I always respected
you knowledge. In theory, and apparently in practice this
looks good. Please forgive me but was the constraints
unlocked when resizing the right one? Stretched?

Sorry for the interrogation but I'm skeptically amazed at the
difference just the lighting can do in these examples.
Thanks for the demonstration and further indoctrination
on this subject.

[notsotechie]

Mark good point in showing diffrent aspect of lighting.
but do notice broad lighting creates shadows on one side example where there is hair shadow on the neck and nose shadow on the right side of the cheek.
but this is well pointed out about diffrent lighting postion.
great demo

[TonyK]

The short lighting is more flattering for this subject hiding excess skin around her neck in the shadows.

Different subjects call for different lighting techniques.

Mark, THANKSAHEAPBUDFORHELPINGSOMUCH! (if you can read that more power to you ).

Take care,

[Mark McCall]

Originally Posted by craigsexton

Mark, I never knew you have a book out. What's the name and where can we buy one?
Craig

Craig,
I never got an email from the site on this post. Sorry it took me so long to respond.
Our Studio Brochure on CD is a 5 time An-Ne Award winner for excellence in Photographic Marketing. The book is a 50 page tutorial on creating one for your studio. At one time, there was a link on this site to download it FREE for 'Camel members.
I also have a PDF series entitled "How To" which is being rewritten over the next few months with newer images.
Send me a PM if your interested.

Our transcript, "The Complete Digital Wedding" is in the hands of the publisher. If it's picked up, it'll be 10-12 months before it's on store shelves. We'll have an iPod and PDF version of the book ready for download as well.

Originally Posted by keithallenlaw

I would like to see the same framing and posing of the subject...... Please forgive me but was the constraints
unlocked when resizing the right one? Stretched?

Sorry for the interrogation but I'm skeptically amazed at the
difference just the lighting can do in these examples.

Keith,
I do not use a tripod in studio, so I got the two composures as close as possible after moving the main light.
The image is not stretched or manipulated in any way.
The difference in lighting is created solely by moving the main light.

[kgphoto]

Mark, (Decided to share the idea here as well)

Have you ever used a good camera stand, like a Foba by Sinar Bron? I would encourage you to try one, you might be real surprised at how well they work and how closely they simulate working hand held but still give the precision of a secured camera.

You can go floor to ceiling in less than a second and "float" a camera in an XYZ pattern and then lock it down with a twist of a knob.

I lock the base wheels and use the center rotating column and I can move forward and back almost 8 feet and floor to ceiling.

Kirk

[Mark McCall]

Kirk,
Just my opinion, but I don't see the advantage of using a camera stand in studio. For the record, I used to use a Bogen camera stand. I have many friends who use a camera stand as well.

Reason being is that, under studio lights, your flash duration, (about 6,000th of a second for the Novatron 600 if memory serves) actually becomes your shutter speed, even if your shooting at 60th, 125th or 200.
Your subject simply cannot move fast enough to blur anything.

Shooting handheld, especially with children, allows me to work faster.

[Brooks]

In the studio I always use a camera stand because I shoot with a Mamiya RZ and medium format digital back, tethered to a Mac and because most of my work is table-top, product, food and illustration. When doing complicated lighting it's good to have the camera position be consistent.

If I were to use a DSLR and if I were shooting people, I'd be tempted to shoot without a stand or tripod but it's so much easier to control the crop and background lighting placement etc. when the camera is supported in one place. having the weight of the camera, even a DSLR, supported by a stand also means less fatigue when shooting all day.

At full power the flash duration on my Speedotrons (4800ws packs) is only 1/300 second because they have large, rather than small flash tubes. So with that slow flash duration, camera movement is an issue when shooting people.

[Mark McCall]

Subject movement, as it show up in print, comes from ambient light not flash, so I'm curious why your having an issue.
Even at 300 flash duration, a low ISO (which I assume your using), you shouldn't have any subject movement or blur, even if the camera room lights are on, and modeling lights at their highest output.