Tips for High Key Photography (Contains lady images)

How far is the model from the background?

last shot looks like you are getting loads of light spilling back off the background

also, what modifier are you using on your flash ?
 
Not far if I'm honest, only about 3foot.

I'm using youngan 622c with 568exii's. Cheap but seem pretty good! Have the light next to me in a 24inch soft box
 
Thoughts...

1. Horrible pose and lighting
2. Blown out on the right hand side, again not a fan of the 'pose'
3. Best of the bunch, pose showing her curves and probably accidental but the overblown background wrapping round her gives a nice ethereal look.

3 is the closest to what i would personally say is high key lighting.

All depends what final look you want / were aiming for but my advice is if you have the room move the model away from the background. You're turning it into a huge light source and it's wrapping around her as light spill. It's generally not a good look. Alternatively move the model closer to the background and light them both from only your key light. You'll need to move the key light back from the model / bg so it lights them evenly. The idea being light falls off quickly the closer it is to something so by moving the light further away the fall off won't be as great between the model and bg so they are more evenly lit from a single source (Google inverse square law and light fall off).

Three with some PP work could be a good image :)
 
That's for the thoughts. I'm going to have another go tomorrow. At the moment I've been running with just 2 flashes. As I said, one behind the model, the other next to me. The one behind the model has no soft box on, the other has. I'll try make some more room and move the model away from the backing.

You think I need the one behind her close to her but looking at the bg, and the other close to me again but further back away from the model?
 
Stinky said:
You think I need the one behind her close to her but looking at the bg, and the other close to me again but further back away from the model?
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It all depends what look you want which will define where to place the lighting. If you don't have a set idea and just want to play then i'd start with just the key light only. You can do a lot with just one light, worth a watch (the 1st example is a product shot after that he's shooting a model):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZmNP2TxUNA

If you do want to use both lights then remember to light everything independently, so get your main light set up how you want it then light the bg separately.

To stop the spill and get a nice defined edge / sharpen everything up you just need to get more distance between the model and the bg.

No.3 as a BW image works really well but i'm a sucker for BW images.
 
Sh4rkie said:
If you do want to use both lights then remember to light everything independently, so get your main light set up how you want it then light the bg separately.
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This is the best advice when it comes to using flash IMO.

Don't make things more difficult for yourself by trying to dial two speedlites in at the same time. For a high key portrait, I would firstly set the background lighting up so that it is overexposed as evenly as possible, but only just so. You don't want it to be blazingly overexposed but only enough to just blow the highlights, however it might be difficult to do this with the one speedlite. Once that was set up I would then worry about the softbox. Remember to play with camera settings (aperture, shutter and ISO) and not to become too transfixed on the lights only.
 
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You have the right idea. Where are you shooting? :)

I'd move the model away from background, Use just the one flash on your background at first and blow it out. Use your blinkies (YouTube or Google) to check its blown out, then set up for next flash to light your model. Get her to work on a pose, I'd have the eyes open and grab some catch light in there. Get yourself a cheap reflector to help fill in any shade :).

I find high key stuff works better with fashion etc.

For the look in your 3rd pic I tend to go low key. (Just me)

Just started with this stuff myself and have had good and bad days, like low key best.

https://500px.com/keithholt1
 
Don't know if you are a reading or video type of guy :)

Can I recommend both that I found easy to follow for building up light as the people above have described.

"Mark Wallace Live, working with speedlights in the studio" I bought it for $10 in the same but of course it's readily available elsewhere for free..... He goes through a light at a time and shows you the impact. Perfect for a speedlighter. It's 4 hours long. If you like it there's also a series called 'the shot' where he does similar. Goes through the whole process start to finish.

Invaluable book I have found on Speedlights:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mastering-C...eywords=mastering+canon+eos+flash+photography

That's become my bible, every time I forget or get confuzzled with my old man brain ;) Again goes through light by light.
 
I will have a good look though all these thanks guys.

Im shooting in quiet a small place, i think I'm going to try and reposition everything to give myself more room.

Thanks again guys
 
The whole white BG thing.

A number of big rules.

Light spill is the enemy. It will cause edge destruction (the last image).

Too much light on the BG will cause all lenses to struggle to preserve detail and contrast.

My setup guide would be:

1) Get the BG light sorted. I would suggest that the BG is *just* clipping. Set the camera to show the image with 'blinkies turned on' flashes the image where the exposure is clipped.

Set the camera to manual at the aperture you want for the subject - say - 1/100th, F8. Then slowly increase the BG light until it starts to clip. You will need to get the light as even as possible over the BG. You should be aiming to over expose the BG by as little as possible.

2) Get the subject into shot as far from the BG as possible to limit spill. You can even flag the BG so that only the smallest margin around the subject is lit.

3) Set the subject lighting.

In an ideal world with only the subject lights on the subject would be nicely lit against a BLACK BG. With only the BG lights on, the subject should be a perfect silhouette.

This is almost impossible to achieve.

Both shots below are not too far off straight out of the camera. Minimal alterations. Although lightroom is very good at overexposing any of the floor that needs to be "whitened".

This is with the BG set to F11 and the subject shot at f8, subject is about 7 feet from the BG:

eg2.JPG


The last thing to consider is the floor. I use a shiny white floor made from panels intended for industrial shower/bathrooms. I reckon this looks LOADS better than the white vinyl that a lot of people use.

eg1.JPG
 
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Nice, Like the idea with the floor. The studio I've been using has a painted floor, So anything with the floor showing is mucho post processing work.

But yeah, As above. The blinkies help loads when setting up :)

Love messing with lighting me :D
 
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