Calling the pros - How was this shot? (some nudity)

[paulbuceta]

I'm wondering how this picture was shot.

http://www.paulbuceta.com/ringflash.jpg

Judging by the even shadow around her I'm guessing it was with a macro ring flash, however, I didn't think they were powerfull enough.
Is there another form of ring flash I'm unaware of?

HELP!

[Conk]

Not likely. It is most likely shot with regular studio lighting. The fact that there is even shadowing is just a matter of light placement and also that she is standing very close to the background. I'm guessing that there may have been barn doors used to concentrate the light the way it is. I have no idea why though as the bright spot really takes away from the rest of the image by drawing my eyes off of her. That in my opinion is a no no. :D

[charlesu]

My guess is that she was shot with two strobes, one each just to right and left of the camera. This would explain much of the evidence int he picture.

Why are you asking?

[paulbuceta]

I do a lot of glamour and fashion photography and have had a few requests for this type of shot.
I agree it's a bit cold but mark my words, this style of model shot will be real hot in the upcoming year.

[iwatkins]

The shot itself is very effective, I would just move the background back six foot and use something non reflective.

And I cannot work out if that is a waste of good drink or not ;)

Cheers

Ian

[robertwgross]

I got this effect one time by shooting with a half-opaque pale gray background. I had lights behind the background shining through it. Then I had lights in front lighting up the subject normally.

---Bob Gross---

[paulbuceta]

BUT - What I'm most interested in is the type of flash used.
I actually like the even shadow all around her.
I'm guessing it's a powerfull type of ring flash - Does such a thing exist?

[RichardtheSane]

I, like many others here, seriously doubt it is a ring flash.

A ring flash would not give the effect you are seeing there.

[Vegas Poboy]

I've been playing with Strobe lighting lately & Strobes was used due to the area it's covering But I also believe this is two shots in one. The even shadow all around the model, that would have to be front high lighting but look at the background area where it shows the reflection that is in the center of the shot & no depth. Also dealing with water you would have to be very of power & backdrops. Just my opinion.

[CyberDyneSystems]

I think the shadow is fake.. PS work.

Look at how strong it is even where it comes into the bright reflection on the backdrop.. it is just too even and perfect. Look ar\t the way it follows the curve of her right elbow around corners and does not change the throw of the "shadow"

Look at her right hand,.. the "shadow" is seen on both sides of the hand.. and yet her hair next to her neck has cast a "shadow" to the left of the image. Even with a perfectly centered light.. the shadow can not be cast evenly on both sides of her hand.. once you moce off center.. the shadow would only be on one side (the off center side)

Is there a larger copy of this image somewhere? It's a little small to reliably detect PS work.. but still that is my guess. A "halo" effect added in PS.

[leony]

OK. This is a red-painted wall. That's the background. The light is only one ring flash. It's not Canon Macro Light MR-14EX. It's a studio ring flash. If you're closer than 2-3 feet to it when it goes at full power, you get 2nd degree burns... really. It is rated at 9600 w/s per minute. That is you can blow whole 2400 w/s in one shot through it, 3 times/minute without damaging the tube. I've seen this thing melt styrofoam coffee cups when set off accidentaly at full power.

http://www.profoto.com/product.php?catId=76&productId=103

This type of setup was very comon in the early 90's fashion work.

You have limited control of the shadow by adjusting the distances from flash to model, and model to backgorund.

You can acheive the same look by shooting with macro ring-lite, except they're not quite powerful to give you distance and small apperetures like studio flashes.

This light is rarely used by itself in fashion now because of dated look. It is a standard equipment set up in any fashion studio in NYC or South Beach. Usually used as one of lights in the set up for beauty photography as a source of flat and even light.

If you have to ask about price, you can't afford one.

[leony]

For all those in disbelief, here's 2 shots where ring flash was the ONLY light source. Except the one with the table lamp, of course. The lamp also is lit.

If you look carefuly, you can see the halo going 'round.

You loose the halo as the subject-to-background distance increases. This is why you see halo on the bed and not so much on the wall.

In the second image, you get the standard "blob" of light reflected from the background. If the background is not reflective (like in regular seamples paper), you don't get the blob of light in the middle, just the halo.

both images shot by Chad Boutin, used without permission for learning purposes.


http://www.a-leon.net/forum/ring1.jpg http://www.a-leon.net/forum/ring2.jpg

http://www.ampimage.com/Behind%20the%20scenes/pages/Behind03.htm

[RichardtheSane]

I stand corrected

And I like your setup :)

[paulbuceta]

Thanks so much.
I'm going to pick one up just as soon as the finaces permit.
I'll be sure to post some here.

[CyberDyneSystems]

I big bright ring flash,

You learn something new everyday. (on a good day anyways :) )
Thanks for this Paul and Leony.

[leony]

Bloo Dog. THe images/links are not related. Just examples of different looks you can get with a ring flash, if you're not just using it as an on-camera flash.

The images in the link, the guy is shooting with a round reflector that is put on a ring flash. sort of like a mola reflector, but not quite. If you've ever seen a beauty dish set up, that's what it looks like.

There is a shadow under the hanging hand. If you pay attention, it's there. It is very thin because the hand is very close to the bed sheet, and is quite easy to miss.

kudos on the 60's and 70's note. you're 100% right about that. The trends in fashion come around every 30 years or so, so there was a little of a comback for the flash in the 90's as well. Infact, if you look through past issues of Vogue you'll see a lot of ring flash images.

parabolic reflector would produce the highlights, but would not make the halo around the model. they produce a directional but wide light.

in regard to catch lights, digital retouching is a normal and accepted step in the fashon process. no one admits it, but stretching, pulling, airbrushing, liquify, dodging/burning, creative masking and texture re-painting are done on just about every fashion-y image you see.

i know one photographer that goes and retouches the catch light to get rid of cherios rings - for aesthetics. most don't though.

In my experience, the only time you get a cherios catch light is if you're really close to the model. in full length shots or even beauty shots with a 100mm lens, you just get a white spec.

Check out a very good acquaintance of mine's site: http://www.chunglee.com (http://www.chunglee.com/) - go to Beauty, then to Ring. Look at those beauty shots - all shot with a Pro-Foto ring flash on Acute2 system. A couple i've actually withenssed being shot.

To save you time:

http://chunglee.com//content/beauty/ring/ringbeauty01.jpg

http://chunglee.com//content/beauty/ring/ringbeauty04.jpg

http://chunglee.com//content/beauty/ring/ringbeauty07.jpg
see? no cherios.

[leony]

If you can produce same lighting with a spotlight, I bow to you. Can you post an example and the shot/diagram of the set-up?

This guy's clients like his images enough to hire him. Advertising is not there to be pretty - it's there to sell a product. Glamour is there to be pretty.

Ring-lights were actually designed to be used for macro and table-top photography. Just so happens that fashion shooters of the past liked to experiement and liked the result. Editors of magazines liked the result as well - and so it was born.

Once you've got a pack, the ring-flash head is under US$1,000 - That's about 1 week worth of rent for a medium loft in New York City, so it's not way out of reach for people in that market. Lease for a 1200 square foot loft (for those in Metrics: 110 square meters) is $4,000 per month in NYC for commercial no-living space.