Your Guide To Better

Pictures......

....Lighting Techniques For Digital And Film

By: Chris Burfoot A.M.P.A. A.R.P.S. C 2003

In Association With:
Prolinca
Studio Flash Systems
A Simple Guide To Studio Lighting
Techniques
What type of light?
Traditionally, continuous lighting was always
used in studio situations. However, in more
recent years and in the vast majority of
studios, electronic flash is now the norm.
Tungsten (continuous) light has the
advantage of being a little less expensive
than flash, but unfortunately the many
drawbacks out-weigh this.
The main problem with tungsten light is that
it generates more heat than light, the colour
of the light it produces is very yellow and
it gets worse as the bulb ages. This means
that you have to use either a tungsten
balanced film or a filter on your camera to
compensate. There is also a very limited
range of accessories.
Anyone who has spent any time either side
of the camera with tungsten light will know
all about the heat it produces. This can
make your subject very uncomfortable and
due to the brightness, causes the iris of the
eye to close right down. It is often the case
that eyes look more attractive with a larger
pupil.
With bright tungsten With studio flash the iris
light the iris closes right does not react fast
down. enough to be a problem.
The disadvantage of using a standard
on-camera type flashgun is that you can’t
see the lighting until you get your photos
back!
Studio flash overcomes this problem by
using a modelling lamp which should mimic
the light produced by the flash tube. This
enables you to set up your lighting with the
confidence of being able to see what you
By Chris Burfoot A.M.P.A. A.R.P.S.
are going to get! - WYSIWYG - What
you see is what you get!
However, various makes of studio flash
have modelling lamps which are not
always equal. I have always used the
Prolinca/Elinchrom system because of
the advantages they give me. Firstly
the modelling lamp bulb is exactly in
the centre of the flash tube and almost
the same size. This means that the
modelling light is virtually identical to the
flash - WYSIWYG!
Another big plus of this system is the
huge range of accessories, the secure
accessory fitting and the performance of
the flash. The flash duration is very fast,
typically over 1/2000th sec. This means
that not only will it freeze action, but
there are no problems mixing the flash
with daylight, and using a fast shutter
speed. Recycling times are also very
fast, generally less than a second! So
I never miss a shot! Big problems can
occur if your shutter is faster than the
flash!
What do I need to buy?
You can start off with a very basic outfit.
Pictured below is the Prolinca Home
Studio starter set. It consists of a flash
head, a stand, a reflector and a brolly.
We will discuss the use of brollies later,
but this will give you the basics to enable
you to produce very
acceptable portraits
of your family or
friends.
This one head
starter kit costs just
over £200 + Vat.
OK, lets have a brief
look at how a studio
flash head works
and what you can do
with this outfit.
1
How does a flash work? substance to the subject. Because the
If you look at the front of a studio flash is a very small light source it is
flash head you will also a very hard light source. We will talk
see a flash tube - later of hard and soft lighting effects.
on this Elinchrom By moving the light around to the side
example, the tube is we can achieve two things very easily.
the circular one with Firstly we remove the shadow from the
a modelling lamp in background and secondly we now have
the centre. (The a “lit” and an “un-lit” side to Laura’s
higher output 250w face.
Halolux is fitted to
this head.)
The modelling lamp provides a continous
light so that you can see the effect you
are creating.
The flash tube on the standard head is
horseshoe shaped with a terminal on
each end. The glass envelope is filled
with a non-conductive gas and wrapped In this example we have also placed a
around this is a trigger wire. The flash blue background behind our model. The
energy is stored in capacitors within the contrast is now far too high between the
main body. Voltages are extremly high two sides of her face but it does tell your
so never take one apart! brain that she is a 3 dimentional subject
When the flash is fired a 25,000 volt rather than a cardboard cut-out!
charge is run through the trigger wire We could now add a second light from
ionising the gas. This allows the power the left to fill those shadows. But we
to pass between the terminals and in must be careful, if our second light
doing so, energy is released in the form was set at the same power we would
of heat and light. All this happens in be back to flat lighting and two sets of
around 1/2000th second! shadows!
So let’s leave our second light in its
Let’s take some pictures! box for the moment and use a reflector
I am sure that there are occasions when panel.
it is very convenient to pop a flash on Using a reflector panel
top of your camera and yes, this is
the way camera manufacturers design
them to work. The trouble is that it’s
probably the worst place to put it!
Light from the camera position causes
many problems. Firstly you can see
the very unattractive “Red-Eye”. This is
caused by the flash
reflecting off the rear
surface of the eye.
Secondly it gives a
In this example we have turned the
heavy shadow on
models’ shoulders away from the camera
the wall behind the
and added a silver reflector panel to the
subject and thirdly it
left side. It is quite amazing how much
has produced a very
light can be bounced back. We have still
flat light that shows
retained a difference in light levels on
no shape or
the left and right of her face keeping the
2
3D effect.
How high should my light be?
Generally speaking
for flattering lighting,
light should come
from above. Light
from below is very
un-natural as you
can see! There was
a very old camera
club rule that nose
shadows should go down but should
not cut into the lip. I don’t believe in
rules for lighting - it depends on what
you are trying to achieve. The lighting
style above would make a great “evil”
theatrical portrait!
Hard Light - Soft Light
One of the basic principals of lighting
is that “The bigger the light the softer it
is”.
You can see from the example that the
on camera flash is a very hard light, it
is also very small - about 2x1cm! The
other photographs so far, have been
taken with a studio flash fitted with a
16cm reflector. This has the immediate
effect of making the light softer simply
because it is bigger. But if we shoot
the head into an umbrella we can make
our light source bigger still and we
can spread the light over a larger area
softening it further.
Think about nature. In the desert in
Africa the Sun is a tiny point source of
light and it therefore gives a very hard
high contrast light. We all know that the
Sun is immense but because it is 93
million miles away, in relation to us it
looks very small. On the other hand if
we think about a typical summer in the
UK where we have cloud cover from
horizon to horizon, the whole dome
of sky becomes our light source. This
gives very soft light with hardly any
shadows.
Making Light Softer
So, let’s fit an umbrella onto our light
and see what happens. Tip: When using
a brolly don’t forget to adjust it so that
the modelling light is filling, but is not
spilling over the edge of it - don’t waste
your light!!
By adding a silver brolly to our head we
have increased the diameter of the light
from 16cm to 85cm. We are also now
using reflected light rather than direct.
The light is softer and more flattering.
Note that we have still retained the
shading on the left and the background
has become darker as there is not so
much light falling onto it.
Silver brollies retain a reasonable amount
of contrast and “sparkle”. They are also
very efficient so very little light is lost. For
a more natual look a white brolly could
be used, or, softer still a white translucent
one. The translucent brolly can be used
in two ways. Either in “shoot through”
or reflective modes. Take a look at the
following examples.
Adding a second light
We have seen that by lighting from
the side we can make a subject look
more three dimentional. But to add that
extra depth to the photograph, we should
unpack the second head.
To give good separation between your
subject and the background a second
light can be used in two ways. To light the
background or to back-light the subject.
We have, however, to be careful that the
light from the second head goes where
we want it to! By fitting a snoot or a
honeycomb to the head we can control
where the light falls. (see page 8)
3
 In the previous example you can see
how a splash of light on the background
livens the whole picture up and gives
more depth. Now let’s turn the second
light around and back-light Laura.
e.g. if the main light is giving a reading
of f11, the fill should give a reading of
f8. Don’t forget to take another reading
with both lights and set that as your
aperture. By adding a third head as a
background light we put that little extra
depth into our picture.

You can see how a little light from

behind gives separation from the
background and brings the hair to life
Using a Soft Box
showing its true texture and colour. Hair Softboxes are available in the Prolinca
absorbs light and can look very dull if and Elinchrom ranges in various sizes
not lit. The splash of light over Laura’s from 40cms square up to the amazing
left shoulder emphasises the fact that Octa which is almost 2 metres across!
she is three dimensional. The most useful sizes for portrait work
Of course if you have a third light you are the 70cm or 100cm square, although
can light the background as well or you the Prolinca 60x60cm is great value for
can back-light from both sides! money and works very well. Remember,
the bigger the light the softer it is. To
Using a main and fill light get the softest light from your softbox
In this next set-up we have replaced - get close! If used just out of view of
our reflector with a “fill” light. Our main the camera, it will give you a lovely, soft,
or “key” light is fitted with the same diffused light. The bigger it is the more
silver umbrella and placed at the side “wrap-around” it will be - a 100x100cm
position as before. In addition to this was used in these examples.
we have used our second head, fitted
with a translucent, or “shoot through”
umbrella. This fill light is placed close
to the camera position slightly higher
than the subject. It is set to give one
f-stop less light than the main light
onto the model. This can be easily set
up using a flashmeter and by taking
readings from each head individually.

Main

Fill
4 With and without a white reflector.
 You can totally change
the look of a portrait
just by changing the
background colour and
adding a back light! Now
we have a completely
different look.

As you can see from the diagram, this is
the same set-up but with the addition of
a back-light which “lifts” the picture from
the page.
But for a totally different look, let’s try
“Butterfly” lighting with the softbox. This
is achieved by placing the main light
directly in front of the model, but quite
high. As you can see this gives light
from above, so our shaded side is now
underneath her chin. Incidently, this
technique is called “Butterfly” lighting
because the nose shadow is supposed
to resemble one! (I’ve never seen it
myself!)
Hard and Soft Together!
There is no reason why a hard light
source cannot be mixed with a soft one.
It has the advantage of giving a very
flattering effect, but still retaining some
“punch”. Have a look at the shots below
and before you look at the diagram, see if
you can work out where the lights are and
what accessories I have used.

The same set-up was used for both

photographs. I used
just three heads,
The light from above gives a similar one softbox, one
result to the first example in this 21cm reflector and
section. Instead of the left side of one honeycomb.
Laura’s face being in shadow, it’s now The set is made very
under the eyes, nose and chin where simply with some net
we need some “fill”. By placing a silver curtaining, fur rugs,
reflector on her lap and another either a beanbag and a few
side,or by using a Lastolite “Triflector” old tea-chests! The
we can achieve a superb portrait which net curtains are threaded onto a child’s
emphasises the model’s eyes. hoop which is hung flat to the ceiling.

Honeycomb

Draped nets

5 Main
Fill
Shooting with two softboxes
For the softest, most flattering
lighting, two softboxes will give
lovely results.
In this case one 100x100cm and
one 70x70cm softbox have been
combined. As you can see, the main
light was placed on the right of the
camera and the fill, set at 1 f-stop
less was to the left. A third head fitted
with a honeycomb was directed at
Digital or film?
the back of Laura’s head to spill over
her shoulder and bring out the detail
in her hair.
The lighting hasn’t changed! But just
look at the difference a change of
background has made!
Shooting still-life
The techniques used for still-life are
just the same as those shown for
portraits. Lighting to show shape
and form is from one side. In this set-
6 to get the job done.
up a 70x70 softbox has been placed
at one side to give the effect of light
through a window. A reflector panel on
the right bounces the light back to fill
the shadow side.
The easiest way to photograph
products with a shadowless
background is to use the Colorama
Mini-Cove which can be painted any
colour you like.
All the examples shown here were
taken on a Canon 10D Digital
camera.
Lighting techniques are the same for
film. The real difference with digital
is that you don’t need quite as much
power, but for both you do need power
stability. Throughout this publication, I
have used the Elinchrom Style 300S
system which offers an amazing power
range from 9 up to 300 watt seconds!
This also provides stability of +/- 1%,
so every exposure is the same and
the colour balance will be consistant
thoughout.
We looked earlier at what you will
need to create and control the light.
You can find detailed information about
the more advanced accessories at the
back of this guide.
As stated already, you can easily
start with a simple one head kit which
can then be expanded to match your
developing skill and requirements.
Elinchrom and Prolinca in particular
offer some very effective low cost
solutions. But the main advantage
of over 25 years experience in the
business... is that they can provide
every accessory you could ever need
Using a Flashmeter - don’t panic! Metering several heads.
The first thing to do is to set your As we have seen, taking a meter
camera to manual! It doesn’t matter reading from a single head is very
how clever your camera is, you can’t simple. But what about when you start
use it on “auto” with studio flash! using multiple heads? It is actually
You need to set your shutter speed very straight forward.
to the syncronisation setting for Let’s say we are using a main light
electronic flash (see your instruction and a second light on the background.
book). If in doubt set it to 1/60th The first step is to take a reading from
second. This leaves only the aperture the main light as explained previously
to set which will depend on what the and set that as your aperture on your
ISO rating of your film is. For general camera. Follow the diagram below to
studio work, to optimise quality I balance subsequent lights.
would recommend you stick to 100
ISO.
Take second reading
Next, set the film ISO onto the meter here to measure light
and connect the sync lead between falling on background.
your main light and the PC socket on
the meter.
For this example let’s say that we are
taking a portrait with one light and
we are using 100 ISO film. Hold the Take first reading here
and set aperture onto
flashmeter in front of your subject’s the camera
face and point it at the light. Press the
button on the meter to fire the flash
and it will read the light falling on your
subject, giving you a recommended
aperture. Set this on your camera and
fire away! - I told you not to panic! It’s
as easy as that. = Flashmeter (a rather large one!)

Use the diffuser cover when reading flash. If the reading from the first position
On/Off control. is, say, f11 that is what you set on
your camera. If the reading from the
Mode button and mode
display. Used to set
background light also gives f11 the
Flash/Daylight mode background will be the same density
Shutter Speed
When the flash is
as the subject.
fired correct aperture
is shown here.
For a lighter background increase
Set your film speed
Sync lead from
the flash head
the power so that the reading is more
with this button. plugs into here.
than f11 e.g. f16 (= one stop brighter)
For a darker background the reading
should be f8 (=one stop darker). Tip:
If you run out of adjustment on your
head it can be moved closer for more
In the picture above I have shown a
light or away for less. - Double the
typical flashmeter and its functions.
distance = 2 stops less.
They will vary from make to make
The same principal applies to hair
but most are similar in the way their
and back lights. - Easy isn’t it!
controls function. The meter above
also works with ambient light which is Learn the rules - so you know
very useful if you are combining flash how to break them properly!
and daylight.
7
 the reflected light can add to the fill
Lighting accessories. and pick up colour casts!
We have already discussed the more Softboxes:
popular accessories like honeycombs The softest of all - and the bigger they
and snoots let’s take a look at what are the softer they are. Their effect
they do. is similar to the shoot-through brolly
Snoot: but the light is much more controlled.
The Snoot produces a hard edged For head and shoulder portraits a 60
circle of light or 70cm square
and is one of the softbox will work
most popular well. For half to
accessories. It three-quarter
is conical in length the
shape and fits 100cm square
onto the front of is better (can
a head. Mainly used as a backlight or even be used for full length if your
hair light with good tight control. subject is not too tall)! If you ever get
Honeycomb: the chance to use an Elinchrom Octa
The honeycomb produces a soft you will be spoilt forever!
edged circle of light. Mainly used as Focussing Spots:
a back or hair light or for putting We have all seen the spotlight effect
a graduated circle on stage which gives a perfect circle
of light onto the of light. The same system is available
background. for studio flash. Within the Elinchrom
Many people and Prolinca ranges there are a
(including myself) number of “spotlight” accessories.
prefer the effect of The Minispot:
the honeycomb to This has a focusing lens and a
the more harsh effect of the snoot. separate holder for “gobos” and
A variety of honeycombs are available filters. “Gobos” are metal discs with
which give different angles of various patterns
illumination. Honeycombs are often cut out of them,
used with coloured filter gels to which can
change the colour of the be projected
background. through the
Umbrellas: spotlight to
We have already discussed the give different patterns of light on the
various types of umbrellas. To recap: subject or background.
Silver brollies are very efficient, this The 18/36 Zoom Spot:
means very little light loss. They give This provides a similar effect to the
a punchy sparkle to your pictures. Minispot but also has a zoom control
W h i t e to vary the angle
reflective of illumination. It
brollies give is supplied with a
a natural soft complete system
light, which of accessories
is ideal for including masks,
children and gobos, a filter holder and filters.
older people. Translucent (shoot-
This is just a small selection of the most
through) brollies give the softest,
popular accessories. Take a look at
most diffused light. However, they
www.elinchrom.com or the system leaflet
are not so efficient. In a small room 8 for more ideas!
 Your Notes

M u st visit
N ote - c hrom
E l i n
The N ote -
te at Ch
Web Si .com On-Li eck out the
nca www.t ne demos o
www.eli heflash n
centre
.com

9
 Quick Reference Guide

Main

Fill

Page 4. Using two heads, main and fill

Page 2. Using One Head and a reflector panel

Page 4. Using a softbox and reflector panel

Page 3. Using one head with a brolly and a reflector panel

Page 5. Using a softbox with reflector panels

Page 3. Using one head with a brolly and a background light
with a honeycomb and a reflector panel

Page 4. Using one head with a brolly and a backlight with Page 6. Shooting still-life
honeycomb and reflector panel